Bob Dylan once wrote, “Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell.” Who am I to argue with that?
Though I’ve listened to a number of his songs (thanks to YouTube), the quintessential Blind Willie mix-and-match (it seems to me) is “You Was Born to Die.” It’s permeated by the wonderfully rich unvarnished DNA of his era — as if you were walking down the street on a Saturday afternoon and serendipitously happened across Willie and a female friend jammin’ on the porch of a small bungalow.
“You Was Born to Die” is pretty straight-forward: a three-chord progression, the foundational framework of so many bluesy creations. It’s a home-brewed batch of tinny strums, string-slides, and slick finger-pickin’. The vocal is clear, confident and super cool — in that southern, street-wise way.
Like I wrote upfront, William Samuel McTier was born May 5, 1898, with one bad eye and went blind in the other. Wiki says he went to a number of specialty schools where he learned to read and write music in Braille. He died of a stroke in his home state of Georgia Aug. 19, 1959, at the age of 61.
Mr. McTier was known by various names: Blind Sammie, Georgia Bill, Hot Shot Willie, Blind Willie, Barrelhouse Sammy, Pig & Whistle Red, Blind Doogie, Red Hot Willie Glaze, Red Hot Willie, Eddie McTier. He learned how to play guitar in his teens. Became a street performer. Recorded his first tune in 1927. Though he was both productive and creative, he never hit the big time.
No matter. He is remembered. Why? For one thing, in the 1970s, his “Statesboro Blues” was revived and refurbished by The Allman Brothers Band. In 2005, Rolling Stone ranked it ranked #9 on its list of “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ranked it #57 on its “100 Songs of the South.”
For another, Robert Allen Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan) wrote a song about him in 1983. The most notable line: “Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell.” Who am I to argue with Mr. Zimmerman — in any of his various incarnations. — jsl
