Goin' Down Slow
{{Short description|Blues standard written by St. Louis Jimmy Oden}}
{{for|the album by Sonny Stitt|Goin' Down Slow (album)}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Going Down Slow
| cover = Going Down Slow single cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = St. Louis Jimmy
| A-side = Monkey Face Blues
| released = {{Start date|1942}}
| recorded = Chicago, November 11, 1941
| studio =
| genre = Blues
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=10}}
| label = Bluebird
| writer = James B. Oden {{a.k.a.}} St. Louis Jimmy
| producer =
}}
"Goin' Down Slow" or "Going Down Slow" is a blues song composed by American blues singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden. It is considered a blues standard
{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Herzhaft
| first = Gerard
| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Blues
| section = Going Down Slow
| year = 1992
| location = Fayetteville, Arkansas
| publisher = University of Arkansas Press
| isbn = 1-55728-252-8
| page = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh/page/449 449]
| url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh/page/449
}} and "one of the most famous blues of all".
{{cite AV media notes
| title = The Prewar Blues Story
| others = Various Artists
| first1 = Jacques
| last1 = Demetre
| author2 = adapted by Waterhouse, Don
| year = 1994
| publisher = Best of Blues Records
| id = Best of Blues 20
| page = 25
}}
"Goin' Down Slow" has been recorded by many blues and other artists, including a noteworthy version by Howlin' Wolf with narration by Willie Dixon. A rendition by Bobby Bland was a hit in both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts.
{{cite book
| last = Whitburn
| first = Joel
| author-link = Joel Whitburn
| title = Top R&B Singles 1942–1988
| year = 1988
| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
| publisher = Record Research
| isbn = 0-89820-068-7
| page = [https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/46 46]
| url = https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/46
}}
Original song
"Goin' Down Slow" "is the lament of a high-roller who is dying":
{{poemquote|I have had my fun, if I don't get well no more (2×)
My health is failing me, and now I'm going down slow
Please write my mother, tell her the shape I'm in (2×)
Tell her to pray for me, forgive me for my sin}}
The song is a moderately slow-tempo twelve-bar blues, notated in {{music|time|4|4}} or common time in the key of B.
{{cite book
| title = The Blues
| year = 1995
| location = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| publisher = Hal Leonard
| isbn = 0-79355-259-1
| pages = 90–91
}}The original recording is in B{{music|b}}. Oden, as St. Louis Jimmy, recorded it in Chicago on November 11, 1941. It was released as a single by Bluebird Records and featured Oden's vocal with accompaniment by Roosevelt Sykes on piano and Alfred Elkins on "imitation" bass.Usually a washtub bass or jug.
"Goin' Down Slow" was Oden's most famous song
{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Shadwick
| first = Keith
| title = The Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues
| year = 2007
| location = London
| publisher = Quantum Publishing
| isbn = 978-0-681-08644-9
| page = 368
}} and he later recorded several versions, including in 1955 for Parrot Records and in 1960 for Bluesville Records. He and Sykes continued their musical partnership well into the 1960s.
Howlin' Wolf version
Howlin' Wolf recorded "Goin' Down Slow" for Chess Records in 1961. Wolf (vocal and guitar) recorded the song as a Chicago blues, with Henry Gray (piano), Hubert Sumlin and Jimmy Rogers (guitars), Willie Dixon (bass), and Sam Lay (drums). Dixon also provided a spoken narrative, alternating with Wolf's vocal passages:
{{poemquote|Now looka here, I did not say I was a millionaire
But I said I have spent more money than a millionaire
'Cause if I had'a kept all the money that I'd already spent
I would've been a millionaire a long time ago
And women? Great Googly-Moogly!}}
It was released in 1961 as a single between his "Little Red Rooster" and "I Ain't Superstitious" releases and included on his second compilation album Howlin' Wolf a.k.a. Rocking Chair Album in 1962. Wolf re-recorded the song in 1970 during The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions with Eric Clapton (guitar), Klaus Voormann (bass), Ringo Starr (drums), and Jeffery Carp (harmonica), which released as a bonus track in 2003.
Recognition and legacy
In 2002, St. Louis Jimmy Oden's "Goin' Down Slow" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks" category.
{{cite web
| url = https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/going-down-slow-st-louis-jimmy-oden-bluebird-1941/
| title = 2002 Hall of Fame Inductees: Going Down Slow – St. Louis Jimmy Oden (Bluebird, 1941)
| website = The Blues Foundation
| date = November 10, 2016
| access-date = February 8, 2017
}}
Writing for AllMusic, critic Bill Dahl notes "Few blues songs have stood the test of time as enduringly as 'Goin' Down Slow'."
{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Dahl
| first = Bill
| title = All Music Guide to the Blues: The Experts' Guide to the Best Blues Recordings
| editor-last = Erlewine
| editor-first = Michael
| editor-link = Michael Erlewine
| encyclopedia = All Music Guide to the Blues
| section = St. Louis Jimmy Oden
| year = 1996
| location = San Francisco
| publisher = Miller Freeman Books
| isbn = 0-87930-424-3
| page = [https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetob00erle/page/204 204]
}} In 1974, a rendition by Bobby Bland was released as a single and reached the Billboard charts, peaking at number 17 (R&B) and number 69 (Hot 100).
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Howlin' Wolf}}
{{Bobby Bland}}
{{authority control}}