The Monday Blues

Here we are at the beginning of another week.  Today Facebook and social media will be flooded with “I hate Monday” memes.

It was Fats Domino who sang, “Blue Monday, I hate Blue Monday! Gotta work like a slave all day….” It was that song that gave me the idea to occasionally serve up a blues song for Blue Monday.

There is a long list of blues “classics” and plenty of blues artists to choose from. I thought I’d feature a few favorites.

Today, let’s listen to one of Elmore James’s  most popular tunes – Shake Your Money Maker.

The song is said to be a mix of a few earlier blues songs dating all the way back to the 1920’s.  The songs were “Shake It Break It,” “Shake ‘Em On Down,” and “Roll Your Money Maker.” This very well may be the case, but it may be speculation.

Elmore James recorded the song in the summer of 1961. His backing band was the Broomdusters (a reference to his song Dust My Broom). It features “Big Moose” Walker on piano, Sam Myers on drums, Sammy Lee Bully on bass, and James on slide guitar.

The song was recorded in just two takes. There was a bit of a miscue on the first take, and the second was the one that they used as the master for the single.  It would be Elmore ‘s last single before his passing in 1963.

The song is among those on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll” and in 2019, the Blues Foundation inducted it into the Blues Hall of Fame as a “Classic of Blues Recording”.