Trouble No More (song)

"Trouble No More" is an upbeat blues song first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955. It is a variation on "Someday Baby Blues", recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935.[1] The song was a hit in 1956, reaching number seven in the Billboard R&B chart.[2] The Allman Brothers Band further popularized the song with recordings in the late 1960s and 1970s.

"Trouble No More"
Single by Muddy Waters
B-side"Sugar Sweet"
Released1955 (1955)–1956
RecordedChicago, November 3, 1955
GenreBlues
Length2:40
LabelChess
Songwriter(s)McKinley Morganfield a.k.a. Muddy Waters (credited)
Muddy Waters singles chronology
"Mannish Boy"
(1955)		 "Trouble No More"
(1955)		 "Forty Days and Forty Nights"
(1956)

Background

Several blues musicians have interpreted and recorded variations on "Some Baby Blues".[1] "Muddy Waters calls his 'Trouble No More' and Big Maceo titled his 'Worried Life Blues'. Be that as it may ... they all derive from Sleepy John Estes' 1935 classic 'Someday Baby Blues'."[3]

As he did with "Rollin' Stone", "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Walkin' Blues", and "Baby Please Don't Go", Muddy Waters took an older country blues and made it into a Chicago blues.[1] Waters also modified the lyrics, using "Someday baby, you ain't gonna trouble, poor me anymore" instead of Estes' "Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry, my mind anymore" (Estes' 1938 version "New Someday Baby" uses "trouble" in place of "worry;" Bob Dylan's 2006 "Someday Baby" uses "trouble, poor me anymore").

Backing Waters were Jimmy Rogers on electric guitar, Little Walter on amplified harmonica, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Francis Clay on drums. Sometimes known as the "Headhunters", a loose group of fellow Chess recording artists, they were instrumental in defining Chicago blues.[4][1]

Other renditions

The Allman Brothers Band recorded their arrangement of Muddy Waters' "Trouble No More" for their debut album The Allman Brothers Band (1969).[5] A 1971 live recording of the song from the Fillmore East was included on Eat a Peach (1972)[6] Both albums were best sellers (The Allman Brothers Band was certified "Gold," Eat a Peach as "Platinum") and brought "Trouble No More" to a new level of recognition.[7]

In 2000, guitarist Larry Coryell along with his sons Julian and Murali recorded the song for the album Coryells.[8][9]

References
  1. Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Muddy Waters". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. pp. 256, 471. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Whitburn, Joel (1988). "Muddy Waters". Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 435. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Liner notes, Mississippi Fred McDowell Live in New York, Oblivion Records OD-1, (2nd. edition 1973).
  4. Wight, Phil; Rothwell, Fred (1991). "The Complete Muddy Waters Discography". Blues & Rhythm. No. 200.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Atco Records SD 33-308
  6. Capricorn Records 2CP 0102
  7. "RIAA Certification". RIAA.com. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
  8. "Coryells overview". AllMusic. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  9. "The Coryells The Coryells". JazzTimes. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
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