I've never been hit by lighting, but today, out of nowhere, I felt a jolt of 'lectricty run all down my arm. 

Sometimes you think you know something. Sometimes you think you've got a handle on things. Sometimes you think you've got it all worked out. You think you do...and then something happens...something that makes you start the fuck over. 

I was walking to The Tube this morning to go to work. I had my iPod shuffling through one of my fave playlist that I made: Blues with a Feelin'.  It's a bow-down list of front-row tunes from my fave musics: blues, country (Waylon & Willie country, not today's bullshit country) and good ol' southern Stax and Shoals R&B and soul...and a few other bits and pieces thrown in for good measure. 

The something that happened today was something that never happened before. Today teacher and pupil went toe to toe courtesy of the all mighty shuffle. One of the bits and pieces in this playlist is "I'm so glad", by Cream. I am not a big Cream fan, but I like this song...mostly because its a Skip James tune. Skip James did the original version as far back as 1931.  Cream released their version in 1966.   

I listened to the Cream version. I like the "rolling" feel of the track. The guitar travels along as Jack Bruce bellows out a thick, leathery vocal. At about 1:25 in the song, the EC Express leaves the station and roars on down the tracks. Not bad...not great.

At this point I walked through the turnstile and made my way to the Piccadilly line to catch my train to work. On my way down the escalator, Skip James came on to play his (the) version of "I'm So Glad". 

I guess I wasn't paying attention, because I didn't realise that the same song was playing; however, it wasn't the same.  This version was in black and white. There were hisses and pops and snaps and crackles...but it had that familiar rolling guitar riff in it. "Oh, shit...that's Skip James".  I clicked nine o'clock on the iPod's wheel and started 'er over. I had heard this before, but hearing James' original juxtaposed with Cream's version was what caused the jolt. I'm no purist, but I couldn't get over how thin and frail the Cream version sounded next to James.  

Cream, Clapton in particular, tried so hard on their version. They could never have matched the believability of James' original and I'm sure they knew it. It must have been so frustrating to have been the caliber of musician as those guys were and to know that they were never going to be as good as Skip James...or anyone else of that ilk and era. The thought of knowing that after hearing James and Johnson and Honeyboy and House, everything you did, no matter how grandiose and inflammatory you may play it, you were never going to be able to touch the truth in that old black man's burden. 

The important thing is that they listened.  They listened to what James did and how he did it and they did their best to deliver the goods. They were influenced. 

As a music fan, you know that influence is the lifeblood of "passing it on".  It is how a song from a black and white 1931 finds it way from the juke joints of Mississippi to London's Royal Albert Hall in the technicolor 1960's. If you break the joy of being a music fan into three parts, a third of it is listening to music, a third of it is learning about music and a third of it is about sharing the music and those learnings with other music fans.  This is what Cream did, the Stones did, the Grateful Dead did, what early Fleetwood Mac did, what Gram Parsons did...what Bob Dylan is still doing on each of his last four brilliant studio albums.  

Shit, this is why I am a fan. I can't play a lick, but I can sure appreciate one. I love the listening, the learning and the lending of my knowledge accumulated through a passion for music. After today, I decided that this weekend I am going to go back and listen to a few paired up classic then and now's and see how the wannabe's learned from the old timer's. 

I'll be sure to share what I find out...

p.s. if you have any suggestions of song pairings, serve 'e, up in the comments. Cheers.