| "Sugar Mama Blues No. 1" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Tampa Red | ||||
| B-side | "That Stuff Is Here" | |||
| Released | 1934 | |||
| Format | 10" 78 rpm record | |||
| Recorded | Chicago May 12, 1934 |
|||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 3:26 | |||
| Label | Vocalion (Cat. no. 2720) | |||
| Tampa Red singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Sugar Mama" or "Sugar Mama Blues" is a song that is a standard of the blues.[1] Inspired by earlier blues songs, early Chicago bluesman Tampa Red recorded "Sugar Mama Blues No. 1" in 1934. The song has been recorded by numerous artists, including Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin' Wolf.[1]
Contents |
Country bluesman Yank Rachell recorded "Sugar Farm Blues"[2] February 6, 1934 (Melotone M12958, listed as "Poor Jim with Dan Jackson"). Sonny Boy Williamson I, with whom "Sugar Mama" is often associated, was an early collaborator of Rachell. "Themes that Yank Rachell recorded also turn up in the blues of [Sleepy John] Estes, [Sonny Boy] Williamson, and other artists from the [same] area, and it would be difficult to determine which artist actually created any particular theme".[3]
Tampa Red recorded two different versions of "Sugar Mama Blues" in 1934,[4] shortly after Rachell's "Sugar Farm Blues". Both were medium tempo twelve-bar blues that featured Red's trademark slide resonator guitar work and vocals. "Sugar Mama No. 1", recorded May 12, 1934, features the lyrics often found in subsequent versions of the song:
"Sugar Mama Blues No. 2", recorded March 23, 1934 (Vocalion 2753), has some different lyrics (although recorded first, it was released later, hence "No. 2").
During his first recording session for Bluebird Records on May 5, 1937, Sonny Boy Williamson recorded "Sugar Mama Blues" (along with the single's flip side "Good Morning, School Girl").[5] Williamson's song uses most of the lyrics in Tamp Red's "Sugar Mama Blues No. 1" as well as the overall arrangement. However, his version features a harmonica solo with guitar accompaniment by Robert Lee McCoy, later known as Robert Nighthawk. Williamson later recorded several versions of "Sugar Mama Blues".
Both Tampa Red's and Williamson's "Sugar Mama Blues" were released before Billboard Magazine or a similar service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which version was the most popular.
In 1964, Howlin' Wolf recorded the song as "My Country Sugar Mama" (Chess 1911) with lyrics from the Yank Rachell, Tampa Red, and Sonny Boy Williamson songs. The song was performed as a Chicago blues shuffle with Wolf (vocals and harmonica), Arnold Rogers (tenor sax), Donald Hankins (baritone sax), Lafayette Leake (piano), Hubert Sumlin and Buddy Guy (guitars), Andrew McMahon (bass), and Sam Lay (drums). The song was credited to Wolf as are many subsequent versions.
"Sugar Mama Blues", usually called "Sugar Mama", has been recorded a by many blues and other musicians including Tommy McClennan as "New Sugar Mama" (1940 Bluebird 8760), John Lee Hooker (1952 Chess 1515 and 1965 from It Serves You Right to Suffer), B.B. King (1959 Kent 329), Taste (1969 Taste), and Fleetwood Mac with Otis Spann (1969 Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam in Chicago, Vols. 1–2).