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I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.~Jay Gould
Mon Jan 09, 2012 at 09:00:00 AM MST
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| Did you know that when Howlin' Wolf recorded "Smokestack Lightning" he foretold that the song would one day be used to advertise a pill that gives a man an erection on demand? If you listen carefully that is literally what the song is about so I don't want to hear complaints from the purists anymore I am sick of it.
Wolf was a self-taught hobby chemist and during breaks in the recording studio he would often sip from his jug and muse about the eventual creation of a compound that could provide enhanced erectile function. He believed it would be sold in the form of a pill. Wolf knew he wouldn't live to see it happen but the song as recorded is truly a bit of pharmaceutical prophecy.
In 1970 Chester (Wolf's first given name) spoke about it to Alan de Pres in the journal Ailleurs:
My records are sold all over the world and I ain't got a fucking dime but one day people will realize that I was the inventor of the idea of making a pill that gives you an erection. I recorded 'proof of concept' in 1956. They couldn't stand it, they asked what the hell I was singing. But they'll understand one day and they will remember me. The one thing I know is they bought me a white Cadillac after that record because Dot Records had done the same for Fats Domino when he sang all those songs about a pill that makes you lose weight. The blues are the roots and the pills are the fruits. |
| hhex65 :: Smokestack Lightning |
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