Fixin' to Die Blues
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Fixin’ to Die Blues is a blues song written by legendary Mississippi bluesman Booker T. Washington White. Better known as Bukka White – the name given to him by record company Vocalion. It is unclear exactly when he wrote the song. It is unique amongst the Blues “dying” songs” in that its main focus of concern is how death affects the surviving family, as opposed to the more typical blues opinion that death is the natural consequence of a life lived hard and to the full.
Probably the most familiar version of the song is that recorded by Bob Dylan on his first album in 1962. The melody line is significantly different from White’s, and Dylan modified some of White’s lyrics and even added entire verses of his own. It has been noted that Dylan was influenced by Folk Revivalist Dave Van Ronk’s version of the song. This possibility is borne out by Martin Scorsese’s recent documentary on Dylan – "No Direction Home" – where Van Ronk claims that Dylan used his version of “House Of The Rising Sun”, which also appears on Dylan’s first album.
The British shoegaze band Spacemen 3 included an eight minute version on their demo tape For All the Fucked-up Children of this World, and the song Hey Man on their debut album Sound Of Confusion is very similar lyrically.
In 2002, ex Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant recorded a version of the song under the title Funny In My Mind (I believe I’m Fixin’ To Die), to which he added a chorus of sorts. Led Zeppelin would sometimes play the song live during medley performances of "Whole Lotta Love", as documented on Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions.
British guitarist and singer Cypress Grove has recently recorded a version of the song. Grove is a long time cohort and collaborator of Jeffrey Lee Pierce from Los Angeles swamp Blues Legends The Gun Club. In 1992 they recorded an album of blues songs together under the Title "Ramblin’ Jeffrey Lee and Cypress Grove With Willie Love." Both men had intended for the song to appear on this album. But for various reasons it didn’t make the final cut. Jeffrey died in 1996 at the age of 37. A live version of the Ramblin’ album is due shortly, and Cypress Grove’s version of this song (which incidentally incorporates a guitar riff which Bob Dylan played in his first live performance of the song) is his tribute to Jeffrey.
The song is alluded to in the title of another noted pop hit, Country Joe McDonald's "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag, to which it otherwise bears no relation.
