Willie Mabon and His Combo: "I'm Mad" (1953)

Willie Mabon (b.1925) was a talking kind of singer with a tongue-in-cheek urban feel. He played piano and harmonica (sometimes at the same time) and at the age of 17, had moved from his native Memphis, Tennessee to Chicago. He recorded firstly as a member of the Blues Rockers. I read somewhere that his style influenced Mose Allison. I believe such a comparison makes a lot of sense.

The blog Be Bop Wino put his music this way: "Willie’s sound was different from the electric blues which was becoming the house sound of Chess at that time. His records were in a roughhouse jump blues style with riffing horns backing up hoarse vocals and pianistic pounding." All this and with with a finger missing from one of his hands.

He became popular in the Chicago area and became a popular R & B singer. He was signed to Chess Records and set his sound apart from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf by featuring piano and sax instead of guitar and harp.

He had a hit in 1952 with a cover of "I Don't Know," a bluesy novelty song that would later be performed by the Blues Brothers on their debut first album.

"I'm Mad" was released in 1953 and made it to number one on the R & B charts that year. It is so matter of fact in it's depiction of a regretful relationship, that I have never played it for someone who has never heard it and didn't burst out laughing.

In 1980. Canadian production house International Rocketship Limited released it's first animated short called "Sing Beast, Sing." The film is an animated story corresponding to "I'm Mad" and is quite amusing. I'm including that short in this post as well.

green, round, wonderful, beautiful world
with the beautiful waters
around the curves
and everything that's, in the world
I hops up and marries me a glamor girl
I'm mad...

Mabon never regained his momentum after leaving Chess. He stopped at Federal in 1957, Mad in 1960, Formal in 1962 (where he stirred up some local sales with his leering "Got to Have Some"), and USA in 1963-64. Mabon sat out much of the late '60s but came back strong after moving to Paris in 1972, recording and touring Europe prolifically until his death.