The Blues Revisited, Top 10 Song In America, 1966

Many of us, who were kids back in the late 1950's and 1960's, did not realize that the music we were hearing, called rock and roll, had it's roots in the black American music known as the blues.

 One of the most recorded songs ever, with pure blues roots, goes back to at least 1925. American blues singer, Ma Rainey (above) made it popular back then and, historically, the tune is considered to be one of the most famous of all of the blues songs. It has been recorded, at one time or another, by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Janis Joplin and others.

In the rock era, as far as single releases, an artist named Chuck Willis took the old blues number back up the charts in 1957 and Lavern Baker had another hit with it in 1963.

It took a "British Invasion" band to propel the song into Billboard's American Top 10.  One of the most famous of the "rockin' blues bands from England was the Animals, fronted by powerhouse lead singer, Eric Burdon. Burdon's screaming vocal rendition of a 40 year-old song, not only made the top ten over here, but it hit #1 in Canada and #8 in Australia. It was the last release by the original Animals, prior to the group breaking up later that same year.

Now you know the name of the group, but you probably don't know the name of the famous song. To be taken back in time, to see Eric Burdon perform a classic, simply click on the play icon on the old TV. Let's face it you need to change channels because you can watch Leave it to Beaver any day.