Sunday, October 23, 2005
This excerpt will undoubtedly encourage you to pick up one or two pertinent issues of BluesWax magazine, if you simply must hear it how it is (and was).
Interview with Blues Impresario Dick Waterman
Part One of a Two Part Interview
INTERVIEW By Bob Gersztyn/BluesWax Magazine
DW: When I was in Mississippi looking for Son (House), we ran into some white guys in pickup trucks. Since we had New York plates on a yellow Volkswagen, they thought that we were down there for voter registration and stuff like that. We told them that we just came down to hear the Blues music and record some of these Bluesmen. So they were sort of amused and kind of befuddled, and they would say, "You come all the way down here from New York City, down here to Mississippi, just to hear that nigger music?" And we said, "Yes, sir." Then they say, "Well you welcome to it, and there's a lot of it, because there ain't a porch here that ain't got a nigger on a chair playing that music." The music was held in low esteem, and with low value. It was not racist, it was just a befuddled confusion that we had come so far, to hear what was just a common commodity that they held in such low regard.
BW: What did you think when the British came to America, like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, playing the Blues and becoming Pop stars with it?
DW: The black Bluesmen figured simply, if you can play it, he's welcome to it, that's all. I think it was more white people who felt young English kids are getting rich on black peoples' money and they would go to the Bluesmen and they would plant the seed of negativity. They would say, "These young white kids are getting rich on your music, and you're getting ripped off. You should be angry." So they planted that discord of anger, but Muddy [Waters] genuinely liked Eric. No doubt about it. And he genuinely liked Keith [Richards] and Mick [Jagger]. After they hit, it changed his lifestyle. He made money, he became well known, he toured at a higher level. The same with Wolf. Through the years Wolf, and Hubert Sumlin's, got really well known. The idea that people were getting ripped off, all of that is about copyright and publishing. That's where the real money is and a lot of black people got really, really rich, off of white people doing their material. Look at how rich Willie Dixon got, or Jimmy Rogers, after Eric Clapton did two of his songs. Then Stevie Ray Vaughan did Buddy Guy's "Mary Had A Little Lamb." A lot of black people have done very, very well when white artists recorded their songs. If you had your house in order with copyright and publishing; a Skip James song is done by Cream or a Fred McDowell song is done by the Rolling Stones. If you have your publishing and copyright house in order they can make money for you. It isn't up to me to be the loyal guardian at the gate with white boys singing black music. Because I think that if you can play it then you're welcome to it, and I know the black people feel the same way. If you can play it, you're welcome to it.
To be continued...
© 2005 Visionation, Ltd.
===============================================
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
(via Ravin' Films ¶ 10/23/2005 07:01:00 PM
Interview with Blues Impresario Dick Waterman
Part One of a Two Part Interview
INTERVIEW By Bob Gersztyn/BluesWax Magazine
DW: When I was in Mississippi looking for Son (House), we ran into some white guys in pickup trucks. Since we had New York plates on a yellow Volkswagen, they thought that we were down there for voter registration and stuff like that. We told them that we just came down to hear the Blues music and record some of these Bluesmen. So they were sort of amused and kind of befuddled, and they would say, "You come all the way down here from New York City, down here to Mississippi, just to hear that nigger music?" And we said, "Yes, sir." Then they say, "Well you welcome to it, and there's a lot of it, because there ain't a porch here that ain't got a nigger on a chair playing that music." The music was held in low esteem, and with low value. It was not racist, it was just a befuddled confusion that we had come so far, to hear what was just a common commodity that they held in such low regard.
BW: What did you think when the British came to America, like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, playing the Blues and becoming Pop stars with it?
DW: The black Bluesmen figured simply, if you can play it, he's welcome to it, that's all. I think it was more white people who felt young English kids are getting rich on black peoples' money and they would go to the Bluesmen and they would plant the seed of negativity. They would say, "These young white kids are getting rich on your music, and you're getting ripped off. You should be angry." So they planted that discord of anger, but Muddy [Waters] genuinely liked Eric. No doubt about it. And he genuinely liked Keith [Richards] and Mick [Jagger]. After they hit, it changed his lifestyle. He made money, he became well known, he toured at a higher level. The same with Wolf. Through the years Wolf, and Hubert Sumlin's, got really well known. The idea that people were getting ripped off, all of that is about copyright and publishing. That's where the real money is and a lot of black people got really, really rich, off of white people doing their material. Look at how rich Willie Dixon got, or Jimmy Rogers, after Eric Clapton did two of his songs. Then Stevie Ray Vaughan did Buddy Guy's "Mary Had A Little Lamb." A lot of black people have done very, very well when white artists recorded their songs. If you had your house in order with copyright and publishing; a Skip James song is done by Cream or a Fred McDowell song is done by the Rolling Stones. If you have your publishing and copyright house in order they can make money for you. It isn't up to me to be the loyal guardian at the gate with white boys singing black music. Because I think that if you can play it then you're welcome to it, and I know the black people feel the same way. If you can play it, you're welcome to it.
To be continued...
© 2005 Visionation, Ltd.
===============================================
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
(via Ravin' Films ¶ 10/23/2005 07:01:00 PM
