| "Spoonful" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byHowlin' Wolf | ||||
| B-side | "Howlin' for My Darling" | |||
| Released | June 1960 (1960-06) | |||
| Recorded | June 1960 | |||
| Studio | Chess, Chicago | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 2:45 | |||
| Label | Chess | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon | |||
| Producer(s) | Leonard Chess,Phil Chess, Willie Dixon | |||
| Howlin' Wolf singles chronology | ||||
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"Spoonful" is ablues song written byWillie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 byHowlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work",[1] it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs.[2]Etta James andHarvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of "Spoonful" in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock groupCream.
Dixon's "Spoonful" is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 byCharley Patton.[3] Earlier related songs include "All I Want Is a Spoonful" byPapa Charlie Jackson (1925) and "Cocaine Blues" byLuke Jordan (1927).
The lyrics relate men's sometimes violent search to satisfy their cravings, with "a spoonful" used mostly as ametaphor for pleasures, which have been interpreted as sex, love, and drugs:[4]
It could be a spoonful of coffee
It could be a spoonful of tea
But one little spoon of your precious love
Is good enough for me
Men lies about that spoonful
Some of them dies about that spoonful
Some of them cries about that spoonful
But everybody fight about that spoonful
"Spoonful" has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, such as "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Back Door Man", and in Wolf's own "Smokestack Lightning". It uses eight-bar vocal sections with twelve-bar choruses and is performed at a medium blues tempo in the key of E.[5] Music criticBill Janovitz describes it as "brutal, powerful Wolf bellowing in his raspy style. There are few recordings that equal the powerful force of 'Spoonful,' or, for that matter, any other Wolf/Dixon Chess side."[1]
Backing Wolf on vocals are longtime accompanistHubert Sumlin on guitar, relative newcomerFreddie Robinson on second guitar, and Chess recording veteransOtis Spann on piano,Fred Below on drums, and Dixon on double-bass. It has been suggested thatFreddie King contributed the second guitar on "Spoonful", but both Sumlin and Robinson insist it was Robinson.[6] In 1962, the song was included on Wolf's second compilation album for Chess,Howlin' Wolf.
In 1968, Wolf reluctantly re-recorded "Spoonful", along with several of his blues classics inMarshall Chess's attempt at updating Wolf's sound for the burgeoning rock market. Unlike his 1971The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (Chess LP-60008), on which he was backed by several rock stars, includingEric Clapton,Steve Winwood,Bill Wyman, andCharlie Watts, here he was backed by relatively unknown studio session players. The resulting album,The Howlin' Wolf Album, with its "comically bombastic" arrangements and instrumentation, was a musical and commercial failure.[7] Wolf offered his assessment in an interview withRolling Stone magazine: "Man ... that stuff's dogshit".[8]
TheRock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".[9] It is ranked number 154 onRolling Stone magazine's 2021 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[10] up from number 221 on its 2004 list.[11]
In 2010, the song was inducted into theBlues Foundation Hall of Fame "Classics of Blues Recordings" category.[12] In a statement by the foundation, it was noted that "Otis Rush has stated that Dixon presented 'Spoonful' to him, but the song didn't suit Rush's tastes and so it ended up with Wolf, and soon thereafter withEtta James".[12] James' recording withHarvey Fuqua as "Etta & Harvey" reached number 12 onBillboard magazine'sHot R&B Sides chart and number 78 on itsHot 100 singles chart.[13] However, Wolf’s original "was the one that inspired so many blues and rock bands in the years to come".[12]
Chris Whitley covered the song on his 2000 albumPerfect Day (Chris Whitley album)
| "Spoonful" | |
|---|---|
| Song byCream | |
| from the albumFresh Cream | |
| Released | December 9, 1966 (1966-12-09) |
| Recorded | November 1966 |
| Studio | Mayfair Sound, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 6:30 |
| Label | Reaction |
| Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon |
| Producer(s) | Robert Stigwood |
| Audio sample | |
Excerpt fromFresh Cream | |
The British rock group Cream recorded "Spoonful" for their 1966 UK debut album,Fresh Cream. They were part of a trend in the mid-1960s by rock artists to record a Willie Dixon song for their debut albums.[14]
In an album review forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Cream's rendition as "where the swirling instrumental interplay, echo, fuzz tones, and overwhelming volume constitute true psychedelic music, and also points strongly toward the guitar worship of heavy metal."[15]
For the American release ofFresh Cream, "I Feel Free" was substituted for "Spoonful".Atco Records released the song in the US later in 1967 as a two-sided single (with some pressings misspelled as "Spoonfull"), but it failed to reach theBillboard Hot 100 record chart.[16] To fit the 6:30 album track on a 45 rpm record, side one fades out at the beginning of the instrumental break (at 2:25) and side two begins just before the third verse (lasting 2:28).[17] The unedited studio version made its US album debut on theBest of Cream compilation in 1969.
Cream frequently played "Spoonful" in concert, and the song evolved beyond the blues-rock form of the 1966 recording into a vehicle for extended improvised soloing influenced by the San Francisco music scene of the late 1960s. One such rendering, lasting nearly seventeen minutes, is included on their 1968 albumWheels of Fire. Although the album notes indicate "Live at the Fillmore", "Spoonful" was actually recorded at theWinterland Ballroom.[18]
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