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0811blog
Get Your Mojo Working
Trying to explain music is like trying to describe love. It can’t be done in words but many have tried.
I suggest you listen to each of the songs I talk about and you’ll know what I mean.
Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, who died last Thursday, will be remembered for recording “The Game of Love” in 1965. Better known as Wayne Fontana, he and his group, the Mindbenders urged everybody to join in and play.
“The purpose of a man is to love a woman
And the purpose of a woman is to love a man
So come on baby
let’s start today
Come on baby and play
the game of love.”
Whether Fontana got his girl to join in his “game of love” is not known but you know he tried.
Bob Dylan once said all of his songs were about two things: breaking up and making up. I think there’s more to his work but he was right about most songs.
The blues and rock and roll will never die because sex will never die and the songs say it all, making you want to get with your girl (or boy) and get down.
In 1964, the Drifters sang about doing it “Up on the Roof.”:
“At night the stars put on a show for free
And darling you can share it all with me
I keep-a tellin’ you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I found a Paradise that’s trouble-proof
And if this world starts getting you down
There’s room enough for two up on the roof.”
That same year, The Drifters again struck gold, not on the roof, but “Under the Boardwalk.”
“(Under the boardwalk) we’ll be havin’ some fun
(Under the boardwalk) people walking above
(Under the boardwalk) we’ll be falling in love
Under the boardwalk, boardwalk!”
They weren’t talking about hot dogs, French fries and the carousel; they were talking about making love under the boardwalk.
In the old days, “making love” referred to paying amorous attention to someone. Things have changed as Van Morrison famously sang about more than amorous attention with his “Brown Eyed Girl.”:
“Sometimes I’m overcome thinking ‘bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you
My brown-eyed girl
You, my brown-eyed girl.”
Little Richard was raw sex and he didn’t mince words, with his promise to “ball tonight.” He was not referring to shooting hoops.
“Got me a date and I won’t be late,
Picked her up in my 88,
Shag on down by the union hall,
When the joint starts jumpin’ I’ll have a ball,
I’m gonna rock it up, I’m gonna rip it up,
I’m gonna shake it up, gonna ball it up,
I’m gonna rock it up, and ball tonight.”
James Brown was the personification of unadulterated sex who just wanted to “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine.”
“Stay on the scene, like a sex machine!
The way I like it is, is the way it is
I got mine, (dig it!), he got his
Stay on the scene, like a lovin’ machine
Stay on the scene, like a lovin’ machine
Stay on the scene.”
Howlin’ Wolf, the great Chicago bluesman, sang about doing the “wang dang doodle all night long” and you can figure out what the wang doodle is.
“Tell automatic slim
Tell razor totin’ Jim
Tell butcher knife totin’ Annie
Tell fast talkin’ fanny
Tonite we’re gonna pitch a ball
Down to that union hall
Gonna romp and tromp ‘till midnite
We’re gonna fuss and fight ‘till daylight
We’re gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long.”
And the Wolf sang about sneaking in the dark to be his girl’s “back door man.”
“I am a, yeah, I’m a back door man
I’m a back door man
The men don’t know, but the little girls understand.
Hey, all you people that tryin’ to sleep
I’m out to make it with my midnight dream, yeah
’Cause I’m a back door man
The men don’t know, but the little girls understand
All right, yeah.”
Muddy Waters, another great Chicago bluesman, was the “Hoochie Koochie Man.”
“The gypsy woman told my mother
Before I was born
I got a boy child’s coming
He’s gonna be a son of a gun
He gonna make pretty womens
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What this all about
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Well, you know I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man
Yeah, everybody knows I’m him.”
Muddy was a straight shooter who didn’t leave anything to the imagination with “I just want to make love to you.”
“I don’t want you, cook my bread,
I don’t want you, make my bed,
I don’t want your money too
I just want to make love to you.
I want you be no slave
I don’t want you work all day
I don’t want ’cause I’m sad and blue
I just want to make love to you, baby
Love to you, baby
Love to you, baby
Love to you.”
And he was certainly ready with “I’m Ready.”
“I been drinkin’ gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
I takes a whole lotta lovin’ to make me feel good
’Cause I’m ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I’m ready for you, I hope you’re ready for me.”
If you’re talking about problems with the mojo, you have to be talking about Muddy’s “Got my mojo working.”
“Got my mojo working but it just won’t work on you
Got my mojo working but it just won’t work on you
I want to love you so bad I don’t know what to do
Going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand
Going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand
I’m going to have all you women, getcha under my command
Got my mojo working.”
Listen to them all for a real kick.