Re: The Who Digest Vol 3 Num 42

[ScottyTee@aol.com]

<<I would n0t call this a very good example at all, since Page lifted 
it from Bert Jansch's Black Mountain Slide (which has been my 
privilege to hear live recently) and who based it on an old 
traditional tune around the DADGAD guitar tuning pioneered by Davey 
Graham.  And since Pagey emphasises the eastern tinges on the song I 
would hardly say it was related to Delta blues.  Hats of to (Roy) 
Harper would be a better example since it IS 'Shake em on Down' by 
Bukka White.>>

Galvin-
I am amazed at the level of rock and blues knowledge that has surfaced on
this list recently.  Yours is the second e-mail to point out the Jansch
composition, and not only do I stand corrected, but I learned something very
useful as well.  This is the kind of banter I have always wished for on this
list.  I can really get into this line much more than how many different
versions of Magic Bus there are-but that's just me.

I don't mean to just CMA (cover my bum) about screwing up references, but I
feel very strongly that there are bluesy elements to Black Mountain Side.
 Mr. Jansch may have never heard the blues in his life, but that doesn't
preclude the possibility of something sounding bluesy.  Page (and we know HE
heard the blues) plays some strong minor thirds in the major-keyed song, and
the flat seventh chord to four chord is also reminiscent of the blues.  I
know that many people believe that the blues is a form consisting of 12 bars
and three chords, but that's only the surface.  In fact, only recently has
the blues "adopted" this formula.   Muddy Waters had many songs with 14 or
even 12 and a half bar form, and sometimes only two chords. Sometimes the
older bluesmen would follow no set form; they simply changed chords when the
lyrics called for it.

A few years ago, I bought a new Pat Metheny album.  The opening cut featured
a Vietnamese choir.  As I listened to it, I couldn't help but think that it
sounded bluesy!  If you squint.  Months later, I read an interview with
Metheny, and he said the same thing!  Except for the squinting...

By the way, where are these Black Mountains that the songs refer to?

Scott