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I confess that for much of my life, I'd never even heard of Etta James. I think she came to my attention in the 1990s when her song At Last was used in a Jaguar commercial (posted at the very end). Then I started noticing the tune in multiple movie soundtracks. As beautiful as At Last is, the Etta James song that really captured my attention, I'd Rather Go Blind, is tonight's subject. The writing of it is a bit of an interesting story. From Songfacts.com:
Etta James penned this Southern blues classic during a visit to her friend Ellington "Fugi" Jordan in prison in 1967. The Detroit singer and songwriter had already outlined the song, in which he poured out his grief from being incarcerated not knowing when he would be released. He recalled to Allhiphop.com in 2006: "I got tired of losing and being down. I was in prison and didn't know when I was going to get out. I sat in a piano room and began to write." James and Jordan then completed the song, but for tax reasons she gave her songwriting credit to her partner at the time, Billy Foster, who was a member of the '50s Los Angeles doo-wop group The Medallions. It was a decision that she came to regret as the royalties accumulated over the years.
I encourage you to read the whole article. Without further ado, here is the song.
This song has been covered by quite a few artists, including Christine McVie, Rod Stewart, Beth Hart, and Susan Tedeschi. And all of those versions are good, but the lone cover that I think is even better than the original is by Grace Potter.
Like the Etta James original, Grace Potter's version was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and is included in the excellent multi-artist album, Muscle Shoals: Small Town, Big Sound.
The aforementioned Jaguar commercial:
Discussion (15)
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That is a pretty awesome choice Randy. That's the kind of music my parents played when I was growing up, along with the Big Bands. I'm still going to go with Etta James rather than Grace Potter.
The song I remember in addition to At Last is Stormy Weather.
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I grew up listening to my Mother's Etta James albums. Great choice.
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By the way, I'm not trying to monopolize Saturday Night Classics by taking two in a row. Yesterday I noticed that nobody had signed up for today's slot, so I volunteered.
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If this is the quality, go ahead and monopolize.
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Nobody thinks that. Sometimes there are not enough volunteers and I feel like doing an extra one if one is open. But my idea of classics might be boring and other people know a lot more than me.
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