Country Blues > SOTM - Song Of The Month
SOTM - February 26, 2016 - Ground Hog Blues
Blues Vintage:
My song of the month is Ground Hog Blues.
It's a blues tune played on both piano and guitar, in different keys and tunings. Performed in solo, duo and combo settings.
Groundhogs are most common in the northern parts of the United States, but have been known to populate parts of Texas, particularly the northern areas around Dallas.
Obscure bluesmen complaining about groundhogs were from The Lone Star State. Lil' Son Jackson, Willie Reed, Willie Lane and Ramblin' Thomas were from Texas (although Thomas was born in Logansport, Louisiana. He relocated to Deep Ellum, Dallas in the late 1920s).
Is this song literally about the frustrations of a groundhog rooting in the backyard or does it involve the same old sexual innuendo? ("a mule kicking in my stall", "somebody's fishing in my pond").
In any way Clifford Gibson explains the question as follows;
From Sneaky Ground Hog;
There's a reason why I call him a groundhog
Cause that rascal can't be seen
But he's not really no groundhog
He's just an ordinarily human being
There's a sneaky old groundhog been rooting around my home somewhere
Because I can tell a difference in my baby's love affair
The earliest version of this song dates back to 1928 named "Dirty Ground Hog Blues" recorded by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport. Davenport was an excellent piano player. He learned to play organ in his father's church. Both his parents were musicians. It looked like he was going to follow in the family footsteps until he was expelled from the Alabama Theological Seminary in 1911 for playing ragtime. Davenport's early career revolved around carnivals and vaudeville and also played rent parties in Chicago. He moved to Cleveland in 1930 and recorded with Sam Price. In 1938 he suffered a stroke that affected his piano playing for the rest of his life. He died in 1955. Talent scout H.C. Speir told researcher Gayle Dean Wardlow that Davenport was the best piano player he ever heard. Most recordings credit Davenport as the writer of Groundhog Blues.
Cow Cow Davenport - Dirty Ground Hog Blues - October 25, 1928, Chicago, Ill.
Unfortunately it's not available on YouTube but you can find the song on Document Records.
Ramblin' Thomas - Ground Hog Blues, Ground Hog Blues No. 2 - February 9, 1932, Dallas, Tx.
Ground Hog Blues No. 2 was discovered from a ultra rare Victor 78 and released on Document Records (Too Too Late, Vol. 2)
Ramblin' Thomas played his version in vestapol. This is take 2.
Willie Reed - Some Low Down Groundhog Blues - September 26, 1935, Dallas, Tx.
Blind Mack with Kid Stormy Weather (piano) - Rootin' Ground Hog Blues - 16/17 October 1935, Jackson, Miss.
Another piano version.
Big Joe Williams with Robert Lee McCoy (guitar) and Sonny Boy Williamson (harmonica) - Rootin' Ground Hog - May 5, 1937, Aurora, Ill.
Big Joe Williams is the first one (that I know of) that changed the perspective of this song. Instead of complaining about the groundhog he is the groundhog himself (I'm a rooting groundhog).
Sonny Boy Williamson - Groundhog Blues with Blind John Davis (piano), Charlie McCoy (guitar) Alfred Elkins (bass) and Washboard Sam (washboard) - December 11, 1941, Chicago, Ill
Sonny Boy Williamson did a version probably picked up from Big Joe (he played harmonica on his record) although he completely changed the lyrics making it almost an original song.
Willie Lane - Prowlin' Ground Hog - mid-1949, Fort Worth, TX (uncertain)
John Lee Booker (Hooker) - Ground Hog Blues - April 26, 1951
John Lee Hooker's version is probably the best known.
Clifford Gibson - Sneaky Ground Hog - December 18, 1951, St. Louis, MI
"Lil' Son" Jackson - Ground Hog Blues - 1960, Dallas, Tx.
I first heard this song by "Lil' Son" Jackson and I still like his version the best. Although I wonder why he choose to keep the song so short. (only three verses, clocking 2 min. 15 sec.). "Lil' Son" Jackson played the song a la Lightnin' (good old key of E). He sounded so much like him that the song mistakenly appears on a compilation album of Lightnin' Hopkins even titled Groundhog Blues (Sittin' In With).
The Groundhogs - Ground Hog - Tony McPhee - guitars, vocals and Ken Pustelnik - drums November 1970, London, UK
Tony McPhee apparently liked the song so much he renamed his band The Groundhogs (previously called The Dollar Bills) after he took it over (and steered them towards the blues). The Groundhogs played with John Lee Hooker in 1964, when John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were unable to fulfill a commitment to back Hooker on the final week of his British tour. Hooker told McPhee how much he liked working with the band and agreed to use The Groundhogs as his backing band on his next visit to England. Hooker was back in 1965, and not only used them as his band but also recorded an album (Hooker and the Hogs). Oddly they did not record Ground Hog Blues but the song appears on the 1971 album Split.
"Squeeze Me Tight" - Billy Boy Arnold with Mel Brown (guitar), Billy Flynn (guitar), Bob Stroger (bass) and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums) November 1/2, 2007, Toronto, Canada.
Not sure why Billy Boy Arnold's version is called "Squeeze Me Tight" (based on Sonny Boy's) but it's cool to hear how this number get's a Chicago blues treatment.
If you want to learn this song for yourself check out John Miller's Texas Blues DVD lesson. He'll discuss "Lil' Son" Jackson's version.
Thanks for checking out my song of the month and take good care of yourself, harry.
jaycee:
Thanks for posting this Harry. Great way to spend some of Thursday night, listening to all the different versions of this song.
Lignite:
Washboard Sam and the Chicago Four - I'm A Prowlin' Groundhog - Melotone 6-10-55, 1936
Stuart:
dj pointed out two more:
http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=136.msg18503#msg18503
Scroll up a bit for Lil' Son Jackson lyrics
Lastfirstface:
Nice choice of song! Sam Chatmon footage from the Lomax Archive:
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