Rude Mood

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"Rude Mood" is the sixth track on Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut album Texas Flood. It is a blues shuffle instrumental in 4/4 (common time) and played at a blazing 264 beats per minute (making it possibly the fastest song of its genre). It is noted for being very technically challenging.

[edit] Structure

The song starts out with the main riff introduced by the guitar; the bass notes are played quickly with muted notes in between, resulting in a swung, "rude" feel. The bass guitar and drums are introduced after the introduction, establishing the beat that continues to the end. The song can be broken up into many sections, separated by each 12-bar blues progression, with most sections ending in the same fashion as the beginning riff. Stevie Ray Vaughan's inherent sense of timing and precision in his technique allows him to drive seemingly effortlessly through his solo.

[edit] Origin and other information

Rude Mood is a takeoff of a Lightnin' Hopkins song called Lightnin' Sky Hop. Vaughan played this song in several live performances including Live at Carnegie Hall and can be seen on the DVD Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985. There are also versions where he uses an acoustic guitar instead of his characteristic Stratocaster, and it was said that some nights he would take it notably faster or slower than the recorded studio version. The song has been covered by Jimmy Thackery.

Rude Mood was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1983 but lost to Sting's "Brimstone and Treacle".