Junker Blues
{{Infobox song
| name = Junker Blues
| cover = Junker Blues Dupree.jpg
| alt =
| type =
| artist = Champion Jack Dupree
| album =
| EP =
| A-side = My Cabin Inn
| B-side = Junker Blues
| written =
| published = 1940
| released = 1941
| recorded = 28 January 1941
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = piano blues
| length = 2:43
| label = Okeh 06152
| writer = Dupree (credited)
| composer = Willie Hall
| lyricist =
| producer =
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Junker Blues is a piano blues song first recorded in early 1941 by Champion Jack Dupree.{{cite web|last=Dahl|first=Bill|title=Biography of Champion Jack Dupree|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/champion-jack-dupree-mn0000197040/biography|publisher=Allmusic.com|accessdate=11 December 2013}} It formed the basis of several later songs, including "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino (1949) and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price (1952).{{cite web|last=Leimbacher |first=Ed |title=Champion Jack Dupree: Junker's Blues |url=http://www.jazz.com/music/2009/5/20/champion-jack-dupree-junker-s-blues |publisher=Jazz.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920032940/http://www.jazz.com/music/2009/5/20/champion-jack-dupree-junker-s-blues |archivedate=2012-09-20 }} The original song is about a drug user's conflicts with life and the law, making reference to cocaine, "needles", "reefers", and life in the penitentiary; and contains admonishments against the use of hard drugs.Garon, Paul (2001) Blues and the Poetic Spirit (2nd Revised and Expanded edition) San Francisco: City Light Books. pp.97-98. {{ISBN|978-0872863156}}
History
The song was written sometime in the 1920s by Willie Hall, a barrelhouse blues and boogie-woogie pianist from New Orleans who was known as Willie 'Drive 'em Down' Hall.{{citeweb| last=Rypens | first=Arnold | title=Junker’s Blues | url= https://www.originals.be/en/originals/3446 | website=The Originals - Prequel of the Hits | date=February 8, 2024 | accessdate=May 5, 2025}} He never recorded, nor did he receive initial credit for this song. Champion Jack Dupree, who was orphaned as a child and was mentored by Hall, often referred to the elder musician as his "father".{{cite web |last=de Heer |first=Dik |title=Champion Jack Dupree |url= https://tims.blackcat.nl/messages/champion_jack_dupree.htm |date=April 2016 |website= This is My Story |access-date=May 5, 2025}}
Dupree was the first to record "Junker Blues", on January 28, 1941, in Chicago for Okeh Records; its eventual A-side, “My Cabin Inn”, had been recorded five days earlier. Both tracks feature Dupree on piano and vocals, and either Wilson Swain or Ransom Knowling on bass.{{cite web | title=Champion Jack Dupree - New Orleans Barrelhouse Boogie | url= https://www.discogs.com/release/6803752-Champion-Jack-Dupree-New-Orleans-Barrelhouse-Boogie | website=Discogs | access-date=May 5, 2025}}
They were released the following year on Okeh 06152, credited to Dupree as composer.{{cite web|title=Junker Blues (1941) / Junco Partner (1951) / 6 Months Ain't No Sentence (1924)|url=http://jopiepopie.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Junker's%20Blues%20(1941)|date=22 October 2013|website=Joop's Musical Flowers|accessdate=16 September 2017}}
In 1958, Dupree released a different version of the song, "Junker's Blues", with lyrics focusing on the allure of hard drugs,Garon, Paul (2001). Blues and the Poetic Spirit (2nd Revised and Expanded edition). San Francisco: City Light Books. p. 98. {{ISBN|978-0872863156}} on his first album, Blues from the Gutter.
Covers
Fats Domino attracted national attention to the song (Junker Blues) by varying the tune, changing the lyrics and calling it "The Fat Man".{{cite book|last=Coleman|first=Rick|title=Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll|url=https://archive.org/details/bluemondayfatsdo00colem|url-access=registration|date=April 24, 2006|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0306814914|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bluemondayfatsdo00colem/page/51 51]}} Domino recorded the song for Imperial Records in Cosimo Matassa's J&M studio on Rampart Street in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday, 10 December 1949. The song, an example of early rock and roll, features a rolling piano with Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. The recording sold over a million copies,{{cite book|last=Broven|first=John|title=Rhythm and Blues In New Orleans, Reprint Edition|date=January 31, 1978|publisher=Pelican Publishing|isbn=978-0882894331|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rhythmbluesinnew00brov/page/30 30]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rhythmbluesinnew00brov/page/30}} and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.
According to some sources, the original version, Junker Blues, served as a template for the 1951 song, "Junco Partner".{{cite book|last=Williamson|first=Nigel|title=The Rough Guide to Blues 1 (Rough Guide Reference)|date=April 30, 2007|publisher=Rough Guides; 1 edition|isbn=978-1843535195|pages=27}} Other sources however claim that "Junco Partner" was the 'national anthem' of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola; and that with each inmate being required, as a rite of passage, to contribute, there are more than 3,000 verses to "Junco Partner".{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Lyr Req: Junco Partner (Dr. John) |url=http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=72879|publisher=Mudcat.org|accessdate=16 September 2017}}
Lloyd Price used the melody of "Junker Blues" in 1952 for his song, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", as did Professor Longhair in 1953 for "Tipitina", for Atlantic Records that same year. A newer recording of Professor Longhair's "Tipitina", was later released on his album, New Orleans Piano, in 1972. Smiley Lewis's "Tee-Nah-Nah" was yet another close copy.
In 1990, Willy DeVille recorded Dupree's 1958 "Junker's Blues" for his Victory Mixture album. English actor and vocalist Hugh Laurie covered "Junker's Blues" on his 2013 album, Didn't It Rain.{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|title=A Review of Didn't it Rain|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/didnt-it-rain-mw0002518703|publisher=Allmusic.com|accessdate=11 December 2013}}