Spoonful (6:32)

Beginning in the 60s, this cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s classic recording, authored be Willie Dixon, was an anthem of the hard drug wing of the counter culture movement. The chorus of this laconic paean in praise of Wolf’s soul satisfying lover ironically became associated with the launching pad of an i.v. drug user’s tool kit; the spoon. Interestingly this dynamic, where the chorus of a song overwhelms the composition’s textual intent, is very often in evidence: especially in pop music. Another famous example would be The Police’s hit song “Roxanne”. The story line in this song is a plea to Roxanne, that she does not have to be a lady in red; she doesn’t “have to put on” that light. The deliciously repetitive and famous line seems to be urging the exact opposite; put it on, with the assumed result that Roxanne will take it off; and for who?

Eric Clapton would fall, or had already fallen into the one way cul-de-sac which romanticized the hard drug “spoonful” as did I and thousands of hipsters of our generation. Thankfully, after a seeming infinity of wheel spinning, many emerged. Clapton’s musical contributions are legendary. We can only speculate regarding the effect that the “spoonful” may have had upon his musical genius and his legacy.