2 O'clock Tunes vs. Tea: BB King Live in Cook County Jail
BB King Takes on Bigelow's Lemon Ginger Tea
Our first 2 O'clock Tunes vs. Tea features the legendary BB King’s famous performance album Live in Cook County Jail. I have never listened to this album. I’m not even sure when we acquired it and added it to our collection. But that makes it a perfect aural accompaniment to this afternoon’s cup of lemon ginger tea - a simple, refreshing, favorite. Let’s get started with a little background information.
Recorded on September 10, 1970 in front of a group of prisoners at Chicago’s infamous Cook County Jail, the album ultimately spent 33 weeks on Billboard’s Top LPs chart and reached #1 on the Top R&B charts. In 2002 it was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
When asked to perform at Cook County Jail, King is said to have thought only briefly before asking “When do you want me?” King recalls thinking the inmates “could use the blues in a good way,” and that a show might “show them that the outside world cares.” Based on the appreciation audible in the recording, it’s clear his speculation was right.
The album begins with the band warming up in the background as a woman takes to the mic to promise of a “wonderful time.” She then mentions a few authority figures present, which elicits initial boos that slide into laughter from the prisoners. Finally, BB is introduced as the “Chairman of Board of all Blues Singers” and as a “warm human being, full of humility.”
With that, the band kicks into “Every Day I Have the Blues,” a raucous and upbeat hello to start the set but then settle quickly into the the slower “How Blue Can You Get.” BB’s famous Lucille and her warm round tones shine in this number that also features horns prominently. The mix captures the natural distance between instruments during a live performance. This is an especially satisfying feature of the album because it mimics the feel of live performance for the living room listener in a way that modern live records, which use technically advanced methods of isolating the individual sound of each instrument, don’t. This isolation allows for further manipulation of instrument levels during the mixing stage which creates a final product that lacks the aural space of the real live experience. But here that space remains. The mix levels lack that modern precision and the effect is all positive.
“Worry, Worry, Worry” is up next and BB’s gorgeous vocal gravel is on full display as it contrasts with the comparatively dialed back piano accompaniment. He growls with frustration:
“Worry worry worry
Worry is all I can do
Oh worry worry worry baby
Worry is all I can do
Oh my life is so miserable baby
Baby, and its all on account of you”
As the song progresses, King taps into his falsetto to further show off the range of his vocal abilities before moving to a call and response with a long conversational address first to the ladies in the audience and then to the men. Here he offers advice for how to deal with conflict in relationships; while his advice is serious he delivers it playfully with humor that elicits laughter from both targets. To the ladies, he says,
“… you must know that the man is
Already grown so you can't raise him over again”
And to the men:
“If you have to fall down on your knees to let
Your woman know that you love her, go on down there
I can see some of you cats got dirty minds in the place this evening.”
Ultimately, the song resolves in the subtle blues gotcha - who’ll be hurtin’ then - a reminder to love instead of hurt each other while we’re still here:
“Someday, baby
When the blood runs cold in my veins
You know you won't be able to hurt me no more baby
'Cause my heart won't feel no pain.”
Side 2 kicks off with a medley of “3 O’Clock Blues” and “Darlin’ You Know I Love You.” Both were hits for King in the early 1950s and they helped establish him as an artist of note. The second stands out as featuring a smoother croon common in the 1950s and quite different from the vocal style featured on “Worry, Worry, Worry.”
These two older tunes quickly transition into “Sweet Sixteen” which earns applause after King sings the first line. This performance is one for which the space between the instrumentation I described earlier helps highlight beautiful Lucille. King’s licks feel especially present and grounded and inspired by his connection with his audience - who King would later describe as one of the most “appreciative…I have ever had.” By this point in his career, King’s managers were courting the attention of a white audiences because though his early fame was founded on the appreciation of black audiences, that fame had ebbed. However, King’s personal connection to that audience most certainly had not. In this performance in front of inmates, 75% of whom were black, King can’t help but reach out with a shared pain of common experience, and demand Lucille speak with them and perhaps for them.
This connection continues in the classic “The Thrill is Gone” in which that goddamn perfect voice is hauntingly held back along with subdued horns to create a sonic distance that feels like loneliness. The piano kicks in a little funk as he sings “I’m free from your spell.” And then the guitar arrives LOUD - muscular and centered - a magical mistake of the mix before pulling back into a call and response with the horns that echo the funk of the earlier piano. A dynamic conversation between musicians ensues. The volume varies down then back up then the tempo slows and speeds back up, then slows again. B.B. and the band play with AND for the audience and the result is both fun and gorgeous.
Before beginning the final song of the set, King engages the audience and expresses his appreciation for their appreciation. "“I would like to do it again sometime if you’d like to have us back,” he says to great applause.
“Please Accept My Love” closes out the set. If that voice doesn’t kill you - nothing will. Showing off his gospel tinged croon, he sells the sweet lilting melody:
“I don't even know your name
But I love you just the same
If you let me hold your hand
Then I think maybe I can make you understand”
Then he brings back that gritty emotional belt for the third stanza before combining both registers in the final stanza to capture the challenging push and pull of love.
“…if you should die before I do
I'll, I said I'll, I'll end my life to be with you.”
The band then breaks into a fun, upbeat outro featuring piano and horns and greeted with loud applause.
King, who accepted no payment for this performance, was so moved by the experience that he went on to perform regularly in prisons. He also formed an organization called the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation dedicated to recognizing the humanity of prisoners and supporting their humane treatment while they served their time.
While the emotional impact of the performance may have influenced King’s assessment, he considered this one of his “greatest performances” and the album is thought by many blues lovers to be one of the genre’s best live albums ever. While I haven’t heard enough live blues albums to offer such an evaluation, it’s undeniable that the performance was inspired. King’s guitar playing and vocal stylings are well captured and the limitations of live recording at the time actually are an asset to my modern ears as the space in the mix adds to the dynamic effect of the performance and helps highlight the emotional power B.B., the band, and the audience felt that day.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars.
If you are interested in reading more about the history and the context for King’s Cook County Jail performance, check out the following:
Please Accept My Love: Race, Culture, and B.B. King's Live in Cook County Jail