{"id":6291,"date":"2026-09-26T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=6291"},"modified":"2026-09-26T15:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:16:09","slug":"long-tall-sally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vtxQr5byNHg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He said it himself, the first time I saw him live: &#8220;<em>I am the beautiful Little Richard! The originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll! History alive! Are you glad to see me? Oooo&#8230; I feel so <\/em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">real<\/span><em>! I AM\u00a0 real!\u00a0Shut up! I&#8217;m not conceited&#8211;I&#8217;m convinced!<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6292 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?resize=171%2C171&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"171\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?w=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 171px) 100vw, 171px\" \/>What can I add? I&#8217;m a huge fan and for a while was thinking of doing a book about him. But I&#8217;ve tended not to perform his songs, because&#8230; well, come on: what can one do with a Little Richard song after hearing Little Richard do it?<\/p>\n<p>He wasn&#8217;t like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/nadine\/\">Chuck Berry<\/a>, who wrote brilliant lyrics; he wrote pretty simple lyrics &#8212; perfect, maybe, but simple. What mattered was the performance, the voice, the piano, the whole thing. I saw him three times, all in the space of two weeks, and am forever glad, because seeing those shows in that space of time, I got to see how much variation he brought to every show. For example, he did &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/so-lonesome-i-could-cry\/\">I&#8217;m So Lonesome I Could Cry<\/a>&#8221; at every show, but the first show he called over his guitarist to sit with him on the piano bench and just sang to the guitar, the next time he did it solo at the piano, and the third time he did it with the full band. He performed &#8220;I Saw Her Standing There&#8221; at all three shows, but at the second show he never went to the bridge.<\/p>\n<p>I was reviewing him for the\u00a0<em>Boston Globe<\/em>, so got to talk to his bandleader, the trumpet player, who told me they never knew which song was coming next or how he&#8217;d do it. They just had to pay attention and follow him. It was quite a band, as well: eight pieces, including two bass players, one keeping time and the other, in high platform shoes, popping, slapping, and looking like Bootsy Collins.<\/p>\n<p>No other pioneering rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll star kept their show that fresh, but Richard was always more than just a rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll star. He began as a gospel-tinged female impersonator on the southern club circuit, was recording good blues records by 1951, hit nationally with &#8220;Tutti Frutti&#8221; in 1955, inspiring a wave of imitators that included Otis Redding and<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6293 size-full alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Little-Richard-1960s-e1788201649205.jpg?resize=248%2C259&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"248\" height=\"259\" \/> James Brown, and when they led a new wave of soul music in the 1960s, he recorded some beautiful soul sides, including the magnificent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Egx1WYG0g_o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;I Don&#8217;t Know What You&#8217;ve Got But It&#8217;s Got Me,&#8221;<\/a> written by Don Covay, who also sang second vocal, and featuring Billy Preston on organ and Jimi Hendrix on guitar.<\/p>\n<p>I know a bunch of Richard&#8217;s classic hits from the 1950s, not because I learned them, but because they are part of my cultural DNA. But, again, I&#8217;ve never tended to play them, except occasionally for my own pleasure, and I doubt I&#8217;ll ever post a version of &#8220;Tutti Frutti&#8221; or &#8220;Lucille&#8230;&#8221; but, then again, I would have said the same thing about &#8220;Long Tall Sally&#8230;&#8221; and then I came up with a version of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/kansas-city\/\">Kansas City<\/a>&#8221; that used some older blues guitar licks, and somehow this fell together and I&#8217;ve been really enjoying playing it.<\/p>\n<p>Richard used to explain that he wrote this after Pat Boone&#8217;s &#8220;Tutti Frutti&#8221; was a bigger hit than his original, the idea being that Boone could never match the speed and perfection of his enunciation of phrases like &#8220;Saw Aunt Mary coming and he ducked back in the alley.&#8221; Which, of course, was true. I&#8217;ve posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=beztuoA5N3w\">his full version of that story and some others<\/a> on youtube, and recommend it; he always told his story better than anyone else could.<\/p>\n<p>So anyway, this is my tribute to the originator, the emancipator, the architect, the true King of Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He said it himself, the first time I saw him live: &#8220;I am the beautiful Little Richard! The originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll! History alive! Are you glad to see me? Oooo&#8230; I feel so real! I AM\u00a0 real!\u00a0Shut up! I&#8217;m not conceited&#8211;I&#8217;m convinced!&#8221; What can I add? I&#8217;m a huge &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock &#039;n&#039; roll! Shut up.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock &#039;n&#039; roll! Shut up.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Little-Richard-1960s-e1788201649205.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":655,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock 'n' roll! Shut up.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1\",\"width\":320,\"height\":320},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/long-tall-sally\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock 'n' roll! Shut up.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","og_description":"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock 'n' roll! Shut up.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":248,"height":259,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Little-Richard-1960s-e1788201649205.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)","datePublished":"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/"},"wordCount":655,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/","name":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-09-26T13:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-26T19:16:09+00:00","description":"A classic hit from Little Richard, the originator! The emancipator! The architect of rock 'n' roll! Shut up.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hereslittlerichard.jpeg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1","width":320,"height":320},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/long-tall-sally\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Long Tall Sally (Little Richard)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5371,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/james-alley\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":0},"title":"James Alley Blues (Richard &#8220;Rabbit&#8221; Brown)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"September 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always loved \"James Alley Blues.\" When I wrote a chapter on the poetry of blues for my short history of blues,\u00a0 I quoted it in full as an example of the kind of piece that, although perhaps assembled from various \"floating\" verses,\u00a0 has \"an internal logic that makes it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jane-or-James-Alley-New-Orleans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jane-or-James-Alley-New-Orleans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jane-or-James-Alley-New-Orleans.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5582,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/aint-no-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":1},"title":"Ain&#8217;t No God in Mexico (Billy Joe Shaver)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"January 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I've got a lot of favorite songwriters, and Billy Joe Shaver is right up there. Like most people, I got into him through Waylon Jennings, and in particular Waylon's Honky Tonk Heroes album.I've already done a post about that album's title song, and this is another from the same disc.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Billy-Joe-and-Waylon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/sloop-johnb\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":2},"title":"Sloop John B. (\u00e0 la Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 20, 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The most popular Bahamian fisherman's anthem, first printed in 1916, played in the style of the magnificent Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"john b sails","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/john-b-sails-232x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1468,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/riot-number-nine\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":3},"title":"Riot in Cell Block Number Nine (The Coasters)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Though my record-buying at Dayton\u2019s focused on prewar blues, there were a handful of notable exceptions \u2013 most significantly, a trio of reissue albums on the Atlantic label featuring the Drifters, the Clovers, and \u2013 far and away most memorably \u2013 the Coasters. Aside from Chuck Berry and Ray Charles,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Coasters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Coasters-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5812,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/crazy-arms\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":4},"title":"Crazy Arms (Preacher Jack)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Another country blues, in the sense of being a country hit that has obvious links to the blues tradition -- like Hank Williams's \"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry\" and \"You Win Again\" and hundreds of other examples. Like my version of \"You Win Again,\" this version is influenced by\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jack-and-jerry-lee.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5446,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/north-country-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":6291,"position":5},"title":"Girl from the North Country (Bob Dylan)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"November 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another one I've known forever, and don't even remember learning. It's kind of an anomaly in Dylan's oeuvre, since\u00a0 he tended to be better at break-up songs, and in particular nasty break-up songs (\"Don't Think Twice,\" for example), than at love songs. I've already posted one noteworthy exception\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Echo-Helstrom-e1730414234748.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6291"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6333,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6291\/revisions\/6333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}