Song 126 – Back Door Man

SONG: Back Door Man

ARTIST: Howlin’ Wolf

YEAR: 1961

Listen to it here: 

THE SONG:

Back Door Man was written by blues musician Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961.  The term Back Door Man was Southern slang for an extramarital affair.  Chess Records issued it as the B side to Wang Dang Doodle.  It became a popular standard in the blues and rock community.

THE ARTIST:

Chester Arthur Burnett was born June 10, 1910 in White Station, Mississippi.  He quickly earned the nickname Howlin’ Wolf from his grandfather due to his killing his grandmothers chicks, saying that a wolf would come and get him.  Howlin’ Wolf would sing in the church choir, but life wasn’t super great for him – after his mother kicked him out at 13 he went and lived with a great uncle who treated him badly and had him working all day and Howlin’ Wolf did not receive his education.  After getting beat up by his uncle he ran away to his father’s house (his parents had separated), where he lived happily, even purchasing his first guitar at 17.  By age 20 he had started getting interested and involved in the Mississippi Delta blue scene, watching Charley Patton who he met in 1930 and eventually taught him to play guitar.  He started performing in the south with fellow blues musicians, until one night in Arkansas he was defending the honour of a female friend and accidentally killed her boyfriend with a hoe. No one is quite sure what happened after that, he either went to jail or fled the area.  In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 9th Cavalry Regiment.  He was transferred to Jacksonville Florida where he would cook in the mess hall in the day and perform for his fellow soldiers at night.  He was transferred around a few times before being honourably discharged in 1943.  He returned to Arkansas and helped with the family far, while performing when he could for the rest of the 1940s.

In 1951 the infamous Ike Turner, at the time a talent scout, heard Howlin’ Wolf in Memphis and brought him to Sun Studio to record some tracks.  Sam Phillips became a big fan and became a local celebrity.  By 1952 he relocated to Chicago where he formed a band and was able to attract some of the best blues musicians to the area, not because of his voice but because he paid his musicians well, on time and even included benefits.  He started charting on the national Billboard R&B charts and by the early 1960s saw even more popularity, thanks to young white people becoming interested in his music, including the members of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.  He continued to record, perform and tour through the 1960s, but by the early 1970s he was slowing down thanks to his poor health.  His final performance was in Chicago and gave an ‘unforgettable’ show, receiving a 5 minute standing ovation from the audience.  Apparently when he got off the stage, a team of paramedics had to revive him.  Howlin’ Wolf had been suffering from heart and kidney problems, and in 1970 he was in a serious car accident that further damaged his kidneys.  He eventually went on dialysis and in 1971 had a second heart attack.  In January of 1976 he went into the hospital for kidney surgery, and a carcinoma was found in his brain.  On January 10th he passed from a combination of the tumor, heart failure and kidney disease.

FACTOID CORNER:

Howlin’ Wolf was fastidious about his finances.  He always saved money, had cash on hand, and although was functionally illiterate he studied and earned his GED in his 40s, as well as accounting and business courses to help his career.

Howlin’ Wolf’s great nephew is West Coast rapper Skeme, although they never met as Skeme was born 14 years after Howlin’ Wolf’s death.

KELLY’S REVIEW:

Wow, this is some REAL delta blues!  When someone says the blues, this is exactly what comes to mind for me.  His voice reminds me of the old disc jockey Wolfman Jack (an inspiration for the Wolfman, perhaps?).  Anyhow, I’ve never been super keen on blues singing, and it applies here as well.  I can hear a lot of power and strength and pain in his voice, that’s for sure, but do I love listening to it?  Not really.  And it pains me to say that because I know how influential he is.  It’s a very robust sounding band – guitars, piano, drums.  Everyone right in the pocket and in tune.  I’m actually pretty impressed at the recording quality here, it does SOUND like a gritty, dirty tape.  I never really thought about it until I read about the song, but it’s only one chord, so it’s also pretty impressive that they make an entire song sound interesting just vamping on the one chord.  The lyrics are a bit scandalous for the time, with him being the ‘other’ man.  Because I don’t love the blues, I don’t love the song.  I appreciate the influence that the blues had, but I won’t be adding this to my Discogs wantlist.

HOLLY’S REVIEW:

Ooh, time for some reaaaaally gritty blues! I’ve heard of Howlin’ Wolf before but haven’t listened to him. So first of all, this was totally covered by the Doors, but this version is quite different. Howlin’ Wolf as the singer is portraying some type of predatory guy, and his voice and inflection makes this totally believable. I can’t say I love his voice. The gruffness is great, but it’s surprisingly trebly in range, and seems to lack some of that bass power that I was expecting from this kind of blues. The backing band is slowly grinding away, never really getting a moment in the sun, but is always a huge part of the sound. The drums are interesting because while the guitar and piano seem to swing pretty consistently, the drums (snare especially) almost straighten out from time to time, making it sound kind of lop-sided. This song both starts and ends abruptly, almost as if they hit “record” randomly and then just fade away at the end. Because there are no key changes, and very little range to the song, it does feel like it could be endlessly extended in either direction. Blues is still not something that excites me a ton, and this song probably isn’t going to stick with me either. 

Average mark out of 10:

Holly: 6.5/10

Kelly: 6/10

Other notable versions of this song:

The Doors!

Motörhead.  You know, metal.

Listen with us!

Link to 1,001 Songs to Hear Before You Die spotify playlist: