"Mother Earth" is a blues song recorded by

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

in 1951. A slow twelve-bar blues, it is one of Slim's best-known songs and reached number seven in the

Billboard R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

in 1951.

Memphis Slim song

"Mother Earth" features an unusual descending chromatic figure and an often-quoted chorus: A ''Billboard'' review in 1951 described it as "Blues moralizer, with group harmonizing in back of Slim's chanting, avinga haunting effect, but tis on the tedious side". However, retrospective assessments include "an uncommonly wise down-tempo blues" and "one of the finest down-tempo blues songs ever recorded". Memphis Slim recorded several studio and live versions of the song during his career.

Legacy

Several artists have recorded "Mother Earth", such as the 1960s San Francisco band Mother Earth, who took their name from the song. A 6:16 minute version of "Mother Earth", featuring vocals and piano by Tracy Nelson, is included on their 1968 debut album ''Living with the Animals''. In 1970, Eric Burdon & War included the song as part of the "Blues for Memphis Slim" medley for their 1970 debut album '' Eric Burdon Declares "War"''. In an

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

album review,

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

described it as one of the tunes "showcas ngthe then-unknown War's funky fusion, and Burdon's still-impressive vocals, but suffer from a lack of focus and substance." Two days before his death, Jimi Hendrix joined the band as an accompanist for the song at

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sc ...

in London, making "Mother Earth" one of his last public performances.

References

{{authority control 1951 songs Memphis Slim songs Blues songs 1951 singles Eric Burdon songs War (American band) songs