(wind whistling)
(train rumbling)
(bright somber guitar music)
- My guitar is my wife.
I once was married and if I would decide to practice
with my guitar in the bed a little bit, she had to get out.
I don't know if that's caused us to stay married long,
but I said that,
"When I met you, I had a guitar.
And I guess when we leave one another,
I'ma still have a guitar
'cause my guitar done took me around the world."
(rhythmic somber guitar music)
♪ A gipsy woman told my mother ♪
♪ Just before I was born ♪
♪ You gotta boy child comin' ♪
♪ Gonna be a son of a gun ♪
♪ You gonna make pretty women ♪
♪ Run and jump and shout ♪
♪ Then the world gonna know ♪
♪ What's this all about ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm here ♪
♪ And everybody knows I'm here ♪
(rhythmic somber guitar music)
♪ You know I'm a hoochie coochie man ♪
♪ And everybody knows I'm here ♪
♪ On the seven hour ♪
♪ On the seven day ♪
♪ On the seven month ♪
♪ Seven doctor say ♪
♪ You were born for good luck ♪
♪ That you see ♪
♪ I got $700 ♪
♪ Don't you mess with me ♪
♪ Don't you know I'm him ♪
♪ Everybody knows I'm him ♪
(rhythmic somber guitar music)
♪ Well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man ♪
♪ Everybody knows I'm here ♪
♪ I got a black cat bone ♪
♪ I got a mo jo too ♪
♪ I got the john the conquer root ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna mess with you ♪
♪ I'll make you little girls ♪
♪ Lead me by my hand ♪
♪ Then the world gonna know ♪
♪ That I'm your hoochie coochie man ♪
♪ And I'm here ♪
♪ And everybody knows I'm here ♪
(rhythmic somber guitar music)
♪ You know I'm a hoochie coochie man ♪
♪ And everybody knows I'm here ♪
(rhythmic somber guitar music)
(guitars humming)
(guitar scratches)
(gentle dreamy music)
- So Mr. Guy, tell me why the Strat?
- The first one I saw was Guitar Slim with a Strat
and I thought it was a joke
'cause all I knew was acoustic guitar
on the catalogues that we was getting in the mail.
The band would play for 20 or 30 minutes and they'd say,
"Ladies and gentlemen, the star, Guitar Slim."
And all of a sudden, the back door come open
and somebody had him across the shoulder
and he's coming in like a little baby, playing this guitar,
riding this guy's shoulder,
and he dropped him on the stage.
And I say, if I ever learn how to play,
I'm gonna be a Strat Cat.
When I heard you play, I said,
"That sounds something like Guitar Slim,
B.B. King, and myself."
I said, "I gotta talk to you to get to know you."
And I would like to know what brought you to the Strat?
- For me, you were definitely one of the reasons
'cause a lot of blues guys
and a lot of gospel guys in my area,
that's all I saw them using was Strats.
You know, for me the specifics of the Strat
has always been trebbly-sounding pickups.
You know, you can get really, you know,
a nice blues screaming sounds.
For me, it's definitely a part of the arsenal
whenever I need it.
(rhythmic somber music)
I can remember watching some old videos
of you playing the sunbursts with the maple neck,
and that's like one of your oldest guitars
in your arsenal, right?
- That's the first one.
When I first went to England in 1965,
that was Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page,
and Eric Clapton sleeping in the van
and when I got to know 'em, they say,
"You know, I didn't know a Strat could play the blues."
Rolling Stone magazine come over to me and Jeff,
calling us the Strat Cats,
'cause all of 'em want Ball Strats
after they saw me play in England in 1965.
(rhythmic somber music)
I opened my first blues club, August the fifth, 1972
on the south side of Chicago
and I stayed there 20 or so years,
and I saw a lot of blues club closing up and disappear.
And I said,
"Well, I'ma try to do that
like I'ma try to keep the blues alive."
There was so many great guitar players
and they all would look at me and say,
"What are you doing? What is that you got?"
That's why I used to throw it
and do things like that.
I remember, they say I threw the Strat up
and somebody put the spotlight on me and I couldn't see it.
It passed me and hit the floor and when it hit the floor,
it hit it like this and it was making noise,
and I just took my feet and ran across the string.
They said, "He's playing it with his foot."
I do some crazy things now with drumsticks and all that,
playing the guitar.
And that's why, you know, you can't beat a Strat,
'cause you can beat it, you can scratch it,
but you can't stop it from playing.
A legend?
I think they give you that
so I don't let that bother me, man.
That's just something I was blessed to get.
I don't even worry about it anymore,
trying to please everybody because that's impossible.
I turn this damn thing on and say,
"I'ma give you what I got. You take it or leave it."
When I get the tone I want out of the Strat,
it'd been giving me that ever since I locked myself
into one so many years ago,
and I just go now and when I'm playing for the audience,
I say,
"Buddy, pick that guitar up and give it the best you got."
And it'll give you the best it's got.
And that's the way I look at it every night I get ready
to play the guitar.
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ I worked five long years for one woman ♪
♪ And she had the nerve to kick me out ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ But I want you to remember ♪
♪ I think these two guys are playing a Fender ♪
(Kingfish laughs)
♪ Uh-huh ♪
♪ Hey, I want you to, God ♪
♪ Let y'all know ♪
♪ That we here are, we're playing the Fender ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ That's what the blues is all about ♪
♪ And I want you to remember ♪
♪ You can say what you wanted ♪
♪ Got a job at the steel mill ♪
♪ Chucking steel just like a slave ♪
♪ Five long years every Friday ♪
♪ I went home with all of my pay ♪
♪ If you ever been mistreated ♪
♪ You gotta know just what I'm talkin' 'bout ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ Five long years with one woman ♪
♪ She had the nerve to kick me out ♪
♪ And here's another one ♪
♪ I finally learned a lesson ♪
(light melancholic guitar music)
♪ I should have known long time ago ♪
♪ The next woman I married, she gotta get two jobs ♪
♪ And she go out to work and help in bring some dough ♪
♪ I've been mistreated ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ And you ♪
(lips buzzing)
(Kingfish and Buddy laugh)
♪ You know what I'm talking about ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
♪ Problem is for one woman ♪
♪ She had the nerve to kick me out ♪
(rhythmic melancholic guitar music)
(soft playful guitar music)
(amplifier humming)
- Yeah.
That what you call the Strat Cats.
(Kingfish laughs)
(Buddy chuckles)