Can't Be Satisfied : The Life and Times of Muddy Waters - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712639993 ISBN 13: 9780712639996

Publisher: Pimlico, 1600

Synopsis

Muddy Waters bestrides American music like a colossus. He invented electric blues and created the foundation for rock and roll. Leaving behind the cotton fields of rural Mississippi, he moved to Chicago, plugged in an electric guitar and changed the world. In Can't be Satisfied, Robert Gordon gives us Muddy's epic, rollicking, up and down life as we've never read it before. Combining the most extensive research and interviews ever done on Muddy with a writing style as rich, poetic and powerful as the music he writes about, Gordon transports us: we are alongside Muddy in the cotton fields as he is discovered by Alan Lomax; we are on the South Side of Chicago as Muddy and his band become stars and innovators; and we follow Muddy through scores of women, hits, bottles of booze and moments of divine grace. A must for blues and rock fans, Can't be Satisfied is a brilliant work of musical archaeology.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Gordon has written for major music magazines in the US and England, and has contributed to several books. Gordon is the author of It came From Memphis, a book about Memphis music and culture published in 1995. His book about Elvis on tour, The King on the Road, was published in 1996. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gordon's biography of Muddy Waters starts on Stovall's farm, where a barefoot McKinley Morganfield--Muddy's birth name--heard that "a white man was looking for him." That was Alan Lomax, who recorded guitarist Muddy's repertoire (see appendix for a list) for the Library of Congress. Muddy "didn't know what did he mean by the Library of Congress," but he got wise soon, moved to Chicago, switched to electric guitar, and created the quintessential urban blues sound. Throughout, Gordon details the gritty life reflected in Muddy's lyrics--you almost need a scorecard to keep up with the familial and extra-familial affairs of Muddy, his wives, and his outside women--rather than slings music theory, thereby creating the least tidied-up biography of a bluesman in ages, it seems. He makes Muddy the musician, Muddy the man, Muddy the parent, and Muddy the tool of the (not so) sainted Chess brothers come alive. You can feel the ugly winds of racism, hear the cacophony of the Chicago ghetto (Muddy's house stood on the dividing line between the Blackstone Rangers' and the Devil's Disciples' turfs), and share the exhilaration of Muddy's music--not to mention his way of living: told that liquor was killing him, he switched to champagne and recorded "Champagne and Reefer." Packed with facts, copiously referenced, and featuring a foreword by blues aficionado and riff-copper Keith Richards, this book is absolutely essential for any popular music collection worthy of the name. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Pimlico
• Publication date: 1600
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712639993
• ISBN 13: 9780712639996
• Binding: Paperback