Welcome back.

I trust you’re all well and good?

Those of you that stop by these parts on the reg will know that aside from Funk and Soul 45’s, I’m also partial to a spot of Blues now and again. I thought I’d venture back into that crate once again and drop a tasty slice of low down Louisiana Swamp Blues for today’s offering.

Slim Harpo has been a long time favourite of mine, and I always pick up any of his 45’s when I come across them whilst out digging. Today’s cut is ‘I’m A King Bee’ and was his first solo output, having recorded previously with Lightnin’ Slim. Originally born James Moore, his first stage name of Harmonica Slim was changed to Slim Harpo when he was picked up by Jay Millar from Excello Records.

‘I’m A King Bee’ was originally released in 1957, and is on a base level quite a simply put together blues track. However once you look deeper the track is multi layered and very cleverly constructed, right down to the bass guitar mimicking the buzz of a bee and the one note ‘bee sting’ guitar solo. The production is very raw with Slim Harpo’s drawling vocals and the snappy snare standing out the most. His trademark Harmonica kicks in on the back straight, rounding up the 45 nicely.

The single is full of sexual innuendo’s which is fairly strange for a track released to the mainstream at that time. Unfortunately it didn’t chart, although it did become somewhat of an underground hit. It later went on to be covered by several notable acts including The Rolling Stones, The Doors and The Yardbirds amongst others. For me Slim Harpo’s original is the best version, a sentiment Mick Jagger agreed with, having apparently been quoted as saying “What’s the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?”

The fact that ‘I’m A King Bee’ was covered so much probably accounted towards his success amongst white audiences, which was fairly uncommon at the time. Slim Harpo worked rigorously through the 60’s, both on his music and also on his trucking business which he’d set up as a side line. He sadly succumbed to a heart attack in 1970 aged only 46.