Little Red Rooster

Willie Dixon's "The Red Rooster"/"Little Red Rooster" uses elements from several earlier blues songs.[1] The theme reflects early twentieth century folk beliefs in the American South that a rooster contributes to peace in the barnyard.[2][3] The image of the rooster appears in several blues songs from the 1920s and 1930s, with two particular songs identified as precursors.[3] Influential Delta blues musician Charlie Patton's 1929 "Banty Rooster Blues" contains the verses "What you want with a rooster, he won't crow 'fore day" and "I know my dog anywhere I hear him bark", which are analogous to Dixon's "I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow 'fore day" and "Oh the dogs begin to bark".[3] Some of the lyrics to Memphis Minnie's 1936 acoustic combo blues "If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)" are also similar. For example, she sings "If you see my rooster, please run 'im on back home", while Dixon uses "If you see my little red rooster, please drive 'im home".[3] Additionally, similar melody lines are found in both songs.[3] For her recording, Memphis Minnie does a full-throated imitation of a rooster's crow.[4] Mimicking animal sounds later became a feature of several recordings of "Little Red Rooster".[5][6]

In the post-war era, Margie Day with the Griffin Brothers recorded a song in 1950 titled "Little Red Rooster" in an updated jump blues style. It is a boisterous, uptempo piece performed by a small combo group.[7] Day's lyrics include "Got a little red rooster, and man how he can crow ... He's a boss of the barnyard, any ol' place he goes"; Dixon's song uses the line "Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way".[8] The original Dot Records single lists the songwriters as "Griffin-Griffin".[9][lower-alpha 1] Day's song was a hit, reaching number five on Billboard's Best Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records chart in 1951.[11]

Howlin' Wolf performing in 1972

Delta blues musician Charlie Patton influenced Howlin' Wolf's early musical development. Wolf later recorded adaptations of several Patton songs, including "Spoonful", "Smokestack Lightning", and "Saddle My Pony".[12] Relatives and early friends recall Howlin' Wolf playing a song similar to "The Red Rooster" in the 1930s.[13] Evelyn Sumlin, who was the wife of long-time Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, felt that several of the songs that were later arranged by and credited to Willie Dixon had already been developed by Howlin' Wolf.[14][lower-alpha 2]

Howlin' Wolf recorded "The Red Rooster" in Chicago in June 1961.[16] The song is performed as a slow blues in the key of A. Although Dixon biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba notes it as a twelve-bar blues,[17] the changes in the first section vary due to extra beats. Lyrically, it follows the classic AAB blues pattern,[17] where two repeated lines are followed by a second. The opening verse echoes Charlie Patton's second verse:[18]

I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow 'fore day (2×)
Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way

As with many blues songs, Dixon's lyrics are ambiguous and may be seen on several levels.[19] Interpretations of his verses range from the "most overtly phallic song since Blind Lemon Jefferson's [1927] 'Black Snake Moan'"[20] to an innocuous farm ditty.[2] Although Dixon described it in the latter terms, he added, "I wrote it as a barnyard song really, and some people even take it that way!"[21] The lyrics are delivered in Howlin' Wolf's distinctive vocal style; music writer Bill Janovitz describes it as displaying a "master singer's attention to phrasing and note choice, milking out maximum emotion and nuance from the melody".[22]

A key element of the song is the distinctive slide guitar, played by Howlin' Wolf, with backing by long-time accompanist Hubert Sumlin on electric guitar.[22] It is one of only two of the many songs recorded by Howlin' Wolf in the early 1960s which include his guitar playing.[23] Described as "slinky" by Janovitz[22] and "sly" by music historian Ted Gioia,[24] it weaves in and out of the vocal lines and is the stylistic foundation of the song.[22] The other musicians include Johnny Jones on piano, Willie Dixon on double bass, Sam Lay on drums,[16] and possibly Jimmy Rogers on guitar.[22]

"The Red Rooster", backed with "Shake for Me", which was also recorded during the same session, was issued by Chess Records in October 1961.[25] Neither song, nor his other songs from the period now considered to be among his best known, entered the record charts.[26][27] Both were included on his acclaimed 1962 album Howlin' Wolf, often called the Rockin' Chair album. "The Red Rooster" also appears on many Howlin' Wolf compilations, including Howlin' Wolf: The Chess Box and Howlin' Wolf: His Best – The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection.[22]

Later, Chess arranged for Howlin' Wolf to record "The Red Rooster" and some other songs with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts for the 1971 album The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions. At the beginning of the recording, Howlin' Wolf can be heard attempting to explain the timing of the song, because as Wyman later explained, "we were kind of playing it backwards".[28] Finally, Clapton (joined in by the others) encourages him to play it on guitar so "I can follow you if I can see what you're doing".[29] Despite their efforts to get it right, according to Wyman, "the Chess people ended up using the old 'backwards' take anyway".[28]

On February 23, 1963, American soul singer Sam Cooke recorded his interpretation of Willie Dixon's song, calling it "Little Red Rooster".[30] The song was first proposed for Cooke's brother, L.C., who was recording some new material at the time. However, L.C. felt the song was not suitable for him. "I said, 'I'm not a blues singer.' So Sam said, 'Well, I'm gonna do it then,'" L.C. recalled.[31] Sam Cooke chose to forgo Howlin' Wolf's gutbucket approach and came up with an arrangement that music writer Charles Keil describes as "somewhat more relaxed and respectable".[32] Dixon's lyrics are delivered in Cooke's articulate vocal style, but with an additional verse:[33][lower-alpha 3]

I tell you that he keeps all the hens, fighting among themselves
Keeps all the hens, fighting among themselves
He don't want no hen in the barnyard, layin' eggs for nobody else

Cooke's musical arrangement follows a typical twelve-bar blues structure and is performed at a faster tempo than Howlin' Wolf's. It has been notated as a moderate blues (92 beats per minute) in 12/8 time in the key of A.[34] The recording took place in Los Angeles with a small group of session musicians. A young Billy Preston uses "playful organ vocalizing" or organ lines to imitate the sounds of a rooster crowing and, following the lyrics, dogs barking and hounds howling.[5] Also backing Cooke are Ray Johnson on piano and Hal Blaine on drums[35] (Barney Kessel has also been mentioned as the guitarist).[22] The song was a hit, reaching number seven on Billboard's Hot R&B singles chart. It was also a crossover hit and appeared at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.[36] "Little Red Rooster" is included on Cooke's 1963 album Night Beat, which reached number 62 on the Billboard 200 album chart.[37] It also appears on several Cooke compilation albums, including Portrait of a Legend: 1951–1964, which was released in 2003.[38]

Howlin' Wolf's original "The Red Rooster" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[70] As well as being a blues standard,[71] Janovitz calls "Little Red Rooster" a "classic song [that] has been recorded countless times, a warhorse for most late-'60s and 1970s classic rock acts".[22] Dixon and Snowden have noted cover versions by Luther Allison, Eddie C. Campbell, the Doors (with John Sebastian), Jose Feliciano, Grateful Dead,[72] Ronnie Hawkins, Z.Z. Hill, Hubert Sumlin, and Big Mama Thornton.[73]

Footnotes

Citations

References

• Billboard (October 16, 1961). "Reviews of New Singles". Billboard. Vol. 73 no. 41. p. 42. ISSN 0006-2510.
• Billboard (December 23, 1950). "Margie Day – Record Review". Billboard. Vol. 62 no. 51. ISSN 0006-2510.
• Bonanno, Massimo (2013). The Rolling Stones: The First 50 Years. LA CASE Books. ISBN 978-8897526889.
• Carroll, Jeffrey (2005). When Your Way Gets Dark: A Rhetoric of the Blues. Parlor Press. ISBN 978-1932559385.
• Davis, Stephen (2001). Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40 Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones. New York City: Doubleday Books. ISBN 978-0767909563.
• Dixon, Willie; Snowden, Don (1989). I Am the Blues. Boston, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80415-8.
• Eder, Bruce (1989). Singles Collection: The London Years (Box set booklet). The Rolling Stones. New York City: ABKCO Records. 1218-2.
• Egan, Sean (2006). The Rough Guide to the Rolling Stones. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-84353-719-9.
• Egan, Sean (2013). The Mammoth Book of the Rolling Stones. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press. ISBN 978-0762448142.
• Eubanks, Bob (January 1, 1965a). "Record Review". KRLA Beat.
• Eubanks, Bob (February 22, 1965b). "Record Review". KRLA Beat.
• Fancourt, Les; Morris, Chris; Shurman, Dick (1991). Howlin' Wolf: The Chess Box (Box set booklet). Howlin' Wolf. Universal City, California: MCA Records/Chess Records. CHD3-9332.
• Fornatale, Peter (2013). 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of the Rolling Stones. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1608199211.
• Gioia, Ted (2008). Delta Blues (Norton Paperback 2009 ed.). New York City: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-33750-1.
• Gulla, Bob (2007). Icons of R&B and Soul: An Encyclopedia of the Artists Who Revolutionized Rhythm. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313340451.
• Guralnick, Peter (2005). Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. New York City: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0316377942.
• Hal Leonard (1995). "Little Red Rooster". The Blues. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-79355-259-1.
• Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Red Rooster". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
• Inaba, Mitsutoshi (2011). Willie Dixon: Preacher of the Blues. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810869936.
• Keil, Charles (1992). Urban Blues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226429601.
• Koda, Cub (1996). "Howlin' Wolf". In Erlewine, Michael (ed.). All Music Guide to the Blues. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.
• Norman, Philip (2012). Mick Jagger. New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0385669061.
• Palmer, Robert (1982). Deep Blues. New York City: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14006-223-8.
• The Rolling Stones (2003). According to the Rolling Stones. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0811840606.
• Segrest, James; Hoffman, Mark (2004). Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-42246-3.
• Trager, Oliver (1997). The American Book of the Dead. New York City: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0684814025.
• Tomko, Gene (2006). "The Red Rooster". In Komara, Edward (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Blues. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-92699-7.
• Wald, Elijah (2004). Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues (1st. ed.). New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0060524272.
• Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.
• Wyman, Bill (1991). Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band. New York City: Penguin Group.