Song of the Day
Young John Fahey discusses chaos theory with his blue singin' pal Son House
Poor Boy - John Fahey Poor Boy is one of the oldest songs in the American blues folkways and it's origin has never been determined and probably won't be. John Fahey who referred to himself as a "primative American guitarist" re-recorded Poor Boy eight different times during his 43 year career in music. Each version had subtle differences from the other ones.
At age 19, Fahey first recorded
Poor Boy his debut album titled
Blind Joe Death, which Fahey self produced and recorded in 1959, partially by the unauthorized access to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's music recording lab in the middle of the night. The first and only pressing of
Blind Joe Death appeared in a generic looking cover with no information about the name of the artist or the titles of the songs.
It's first issue
Blind Joe Death on Fahey's do-it-yourself homemade record label sold 95 copies and the album promptly disappeared without any critical notice. That failed enterprise might have caused many an aspiring musician to throw in the towel and look for a real job, but young John Fahey was a glutton for punishment.
Cover of the 1959 issue of Blind Joe Death
In 1967 Fahey re-recorded the
Blind Joe Death album for Vanguard Records and it sold 9000 copies, a runaway hit by Fahey standards.
By the Seventies his album were creeping toward the 30,000 mark in the first issue. Music collectors were beginning to demand long forgotten and out of issue titles in John Fahey's back catalog and by the time of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo people were standing in block long lines waiting to get their back-ordered copies of Fahey classics like
The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites Ummm...well... maybe not. There really weren't any block long lines... I just got carried away with an great allegorical opportunity.
In reality, by 1990, music critics were hailing
Blind Joe Death as one of the most influential jazz, blues and folk albums of the contemporary era. Nobody could ever quite figure a musical genre to describe Fahey music and he also recorded albums of South American folk music, Indian ragas, Christmas songs, and West Indian music.
Fahey always had a healthy cult following and he earned a living as a working musician for over 30 years. In 1986, he contracted Epstein-Barr syndrome, a long-lasting viral infection that, combined with diabetes and other health problems, sapped his energy and resources. Although the Epstein-Barr virus was finally overcome, the mid-'90s found him living in poverty in Oregon, where he paid his rent by pawning his guitar and reselling rare classical records. The appearance of a major career retrospective on Rhino,
Return of the Repressed, in 1994 boosted his profile to its highest level in years. In 1997, he returned to active recording. Fahey recorded and tour until his death in 2001.
More Notes on the History of Poor Boy
The first known recording of
Poor Boy was made in 1927 by Barbeque Bob an obscure blues guitarist from Atlanta Georgia. Every musician has a gimmick and since Barbeque Bob was a barbeque cook, he performed in a chef's hat and a long apron. Nobody ever figured out if Barbeque Bob was playing music to promote his barbeque establishment or the cooking gig was just a day job until his musical career took off. (Which it never did) The reason why I love the blues is you couldn't dream up the kind of characters I've met in the world of the blues.
Barbeque Bob in full performing regalia
A Partial List of Artists Who Have Recorded Poor Boy
Some of the song titles vary but it's the same old song that's been around since the 19th Century
- Barbecue Bob - "Poor Boy a Long Ways from Home" (Columbia 1927)
- R. L. Burnside - "Poor Boy"
- The Black Keys - "The Moan"
- Furry Lewis - "Poor Boy"
- Mississippi John Hurt - "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home" ("Last Sessions", 1966)
- Gus Cannon - "Poor Boy Long Ways From Home" (Paramount 12571, 1927)
- Peg Leg Sam - "Poor Boy" ("Early In The Morning", 1975)
- Ramblin' Thomas - "Poor Boy Blues" (Paramount 12722A, 1928)
- Howlin' Wolf - "Poor Boy"
- John Dudley - "Po' Boy Blues"
- Booker "Bukka" White - "Po' Boy" (field recording by John Lomax, 1939)
- Rochelle French - "Po' Boy, Long Ways From Home" (field recording by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston, 1935)
- Bo Weavil Jackson - "Poor Boy" - (Paramount 1926)
- The Lords - "Poor Boy" (1965)
- John Fahey - Takoma, 1959
Rolling Stone Magazine Bio of Fahey