Juke (song)
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| "Juke" | ||
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| Single by Little Walter | ||
| from the album "Best of Little Walter" (album released 1958) | ||
| B-side(s) | Can't Hold On Much Longer | |
| Released | 1952 (original single) | |
| Format | Vinyl Record | |
| Recorded | 1952 | |
| Genre | Blues | |
| Length | 2:44 | |
| Label | Checker Records | |
| Writer(s) | Marion Walter Jacobs | |
| Producer(s) | Leonard Chess | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Little Walter singles chronology | ||
| None | Juke 1952 |
Mean Old World 1952 |
Juke is a harmonica instrumental recorded by 22 year old Chicago bluesman Little Walter Jacobs in 1952. Although Little Walter had been recording sporadically for small Chicago labels over the previous five years, Juke was Little Walter's first hit, and it was the most important of his career.
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[edit] Recording
Juke was recorded on 12 May 1952 at the beginning (not the end, as commonly thought) of a recording session with Muddy Waters and his band, which at the time consisted of Waters and Jimmy Rogers on guitars, and Elga Edmunds on drums, in addition to Little Walter on harmonica.[1] The originally released recording of Juke was the first completed take of the first song attempted at the first Little Walter session for Leonard Chess[2]; the song was released three months later on Chess's subsidiary label Checker Records. The song was recorded by recording engineer Bill Putnam at his Universal Recorders studio at 111 E. Ontario St. on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois. (Coincidentally, several years earlier Putnam had recorded one of the only other harmonica instrumentals ever to become a hit record, "Peg O' My Heart" by The Harmonicats.)
After recording two takes of Juke (the second, a vastly different alternate take finally being issued on a compilation CD over 40 years later), at the same session Little Walter recorded "Can't Hold On Much Longer", which took considerably more takes than Juke to complete. After the completion of Little Walter's recordings, Muddy Waters recorded his only song that day, "Please Have Mercy", backed by Little Walter and the band.
[edit] Successes
Juke reached the #1 spot on Billboard's R&B chart, unheard of for a harmonica instrumental; no other harmonica instrumental ever achieved this feat, before or since. Juke was not only a major success for Little Walter, but it was the biggest hit for Chess or any of its associated labels until that time, and only the third Chess record to hit #1. Juke stayed in the #1 spot for 8 weeks, surpassing both previous Chess #1s, which had occupied the #1 position for a combined total of 6 weeks. The record stayed on the Billboard charts for a total of 20 weeks.
[edit] Impact
The hit song jump started Little Walter's solo blues career, and he became the leader of his own band instead of side man to Muddy Waters.
Juke became the most important and influential song for blues harmonica players of the era, and was expected to be in the repertoire of any serious blues harmonica player; at least in Chicago, blues harmonica players were judged on the ability to play it. In addition, Juke popularized the Chicago blues harmonica technique still in use today by harmonica players around the world: using a small hand-held microphone cupped to the harmonica to produce a dynamic, slightly distorted amplified harmonica sound.[3][4]
[edit] Song
Juke is played as a swinging shuffle featuring a boogie-woogie guitar pattern, and is originally in the major key of E; since Walter played in second position (cross harp), the harmonica he used is actually in the key of A. Juke is a standard 12-Bar blues song, set for the most part in the time signature of 4:4, but its time changes once to 3:4 and once to 2:4. Juke contains 8 choruses.[5]
The harmonica in Juke is deep-toned and plays saxophone-like phrases. Juke is a dynamic song, building and releasing in intensity.
Juke has been covered by the likes of Big Walter Horton, Billy Branch, Paul Butterfield and Carey Bell.[6]
