502:. Within weeks of its release, "Juke" had reached the number-one spot on Billboard's R&B chart, unheard of for a harmonica instrumental; no other harmonica instrumental has ever achieved this position, before or since. "Juke" was not only a major success for Little Walter, it was the biggest hit record by any artist for Chess or any of its associated labels up until that time, and only the third Chess record to hit number one. Juke stayed in the top spot for eight weeks, surpassing both previous Chess number one hits, which had occupied the position for a combined total of six weeks. The record stayed on the
424:'s 1948 recording "Snooky and Moody's Boogie," begins with the same repeated ascending riff that Little Walter uses in the first eight bars of "Juke", although the remainder is distinctly different. (Pryor himself claimed in an interview that Walter "picked up 'Snooky and Moody's Boogie' and made 'Juke' out of it.") Jimmy Rogers, guitarist on "Juke", claimed that parts of "Juke" were based on an unrecorded intermission/theme song frequently played by piano player
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horn players in the 1930s and 1940s. The much-studied and debated head that opens "Juke" was used most notably in Louis
Armstrong's 1941 recording "Leap Frog", an instrumental that was recorded later in the 1940s by several other artists, but the exact source of Little Walter's inspiration is unknown. The remainder of the song is an improvisation of Little Walter's own invention.
407:) on a harmonica. But at the beginning of the second 12 bar chorus there are some odd meter changes that seem like ||4/4 | 3/4 | 4/4 | 2/4 |then onward in 4/4/ thereafter. Whether it was intentional is unknown; some early blues artists occasionally freely varied the strict 12 bar blues form. "Juke" contains eight choruses.
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The hit song launched Little Walter's successful solo career, and he immediately left the Muddy Waters band to form his own band, which was initially known as "The Jukes" in order to capitalize on the success of his hit single. Beginning with the massive success of Juke, Little Walter would go on to
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The harmonica playing in "Juke" is deep-toned and features long saxophone-like phrases. "Juke" is a dynamic song, building and releasing in intensity several times. The opening eight bars of the song, or "head", consist of a repeated six note phrase commonly and frequently played by jazz and swing
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After recording two takes of "Juke" (the second, vastly different alternate take finally being issued for the first time over 40 years later), at the same session Little Walter recorded "Can't Hold On Much Longer", which took considerably more takes than "Juke" to complete. After the completion of
414:"Juke" was originally titled on the recording session log as "Your Pat Will Play"; later it was discovered that this was a mistake, a mis-hearing of Little Walter's intended title, "Your Cat Will Play". The song was renamed "Juke" upon release in July 1952, probably by label owner Leonard Chess.
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Juke became the most important and influential song for blues harmonica players of the era, and was expected to be in the repertoire of any serious blues harmonica player; at least in
Chicago, blues harmonica players were judged on their ability to play it. In addition, Juke popularized the
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in 2008, as a song that "exemplify the best qualities that make the recording arts such a vital part of our culture – and each not only uniquely reflects the zeitgeist of its time, but also possesses the enduring power of transcending time."
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In May 1952, Little Walter had been a regular member of the Muddy Waters Band for at least three years. "Juke" was recorded on 12 May 1952 at the beginning (not the end, as commonly thought) of a recording session with
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harmonica technique still in use today by harmonica players around the world: using a small hand-held microphone cupped to the harmonica to produce a dynamic, rich and slightly distorted amplified harmonica sound.
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since 1950, "Juke" was Little Walter's first hit, and it was the most important of his career. Due to the influence of Little Walter on blues harmonica, "Juke" is now considered a blues harmonica standard.
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studio at 111 E. Ontario St., on the near north side of
Chicago. (Coincidentally, several years earlier Putnam had recorded one of the few other harmonica instrumentals ever to become a hit record, "
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Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues
Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks" category. Writing for the Foundation, blues historian O'Neal noted: "Other Chicago harmonicists had played similar tunes
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on drums, in addition to Little Walter on harmonica. The originally released recording of "Juke" was the first completed take of the first song attempted at the first Little Walter session for
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later claimed that he was playing "Juke" prior to Little Walter's recording of it, although Wells never recorded his version.
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charts for a total of 20 weeks, and was one of the biggest R&B hits in the U.S. in 1952.
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guitar pattern, and is originally in the key of E; Walter played it in "second position" (
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eclipse the chart success of his former boss Muddy Waters through the rest of the 1950s.
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790:"1986 Hall of Fame Inductees: Juke – Little Walter (Checker, 1952)"
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686:"I Started the Big Noise Around Chicago" – an interview with Snooky Prior by
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announced that it was inducting Little Walter's recording of "Juke" into the
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544: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
466: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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of the single, with the vocal "Can't Hold On Much Longer" as the
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and his band, which at the time consisted of Waters and
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399:"Juke" is played as a swinging shuffle featuring a
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57:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
129:1952 single by Little Walter & His Night Cats
890:His Best – The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection
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371:The song was recorded by recording engineer
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560:Learn how and when to remove this message
482:Learn how and when to remove this message
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282:& His Night Cats singles chronology
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767:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
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602:In 1986, "Juke" was inducted into the
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880:(with Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley)
542:adding citations to reliable sources
464:adding citations to reliable sources
55:adding citations to reliable sources
694:#123 (Sept./Oct. 1995), pp. 14-15.
690:, Steve Wisner, and David Nelson,
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329:recorded by the Chicago bluesman
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1109:I Just Want to Make Love to You
529:needs additional citations for
451:needs additional citations for
377:Universal Recording Corporation
42:needs additional citations for
1264:Songs written by Little Walter
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1206:American Folk Blues Festival
613:"Juke" has been recorded by
1140:Forty Days and Forty Nights
168:"Can't Hold on Much Longer"
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865:The Best of Little Walter
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66:"Juke" instrumental
1259:Checker Records singles
590:On December 19, 2007,
1090:Baby, Please Don't Go
1080:" (with Jimmy Rogers)
788:(November 10, 2016).
663:Celticguitarmusic.com
592:the Recording Academy
1201:Harmonica techniques
1071:Rollin' and Tumblin'
932:Blues with a Feeling
538:improve this article
460:improve this article
156:& His Night Cats
51:improve this article
1239:Little Walter songs
1196:Chromatic harmonica
1154:Got My Mojo Working
1102:Hoochie Coochie Man
596:Grammy Hall of Fame
202:Universal Recording
963:Key to the Highway
951:Hate to See You Go
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659:"Juke Page 1"
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579:Chicago blues
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1249:1952 singles
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1186:Jimmy Rogers
1181:Muddy Waters
1058:Muddy Waters
1022:Worried Life
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800:. Retrieved
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751:. Retrieved
744:the original
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720:. Retrieved
716:the original
711:
708:"Carey Bell"
692:Living Blues
691:
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671:. Retrieved
667:the original
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619:James Cotton
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536:Please help
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422:Snooky Pryor
418:Junior Wells
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353:Muddy Waters
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327:instrumental
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191:May 12, 1952
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49:Please help
44:verification
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1244:Blues songs
1171:Discography
1056:Songs with
877:Super Blues
802:February 9,
786:O’Neal, Jim
753:January 17,
712:Furious.com
586:Recognition
395:Composition
373:Bill Putnam
361:Elgin Evans
267:Producer(s)
18:Juke (song)
1234:1952 songs
1228:Categories
1191:Blues harp
722:2016-07-25
688:Jim O'Neal
673:2016-07-25
633:References
627:Carey Bell
405:cross harp
77:newspapers
1254:Harmonica
1116:I'm Ready
504:Billboard
432:Successes
346:Recording
324:harmonica
204:(Chicago)
107:July 2016
1010:Driftin'
763:cite web
188:Recorded
173:Released
1147:Rock Me
944:My Babe
900:Singles
648:no. 758
375:at his
322:" is a
308:(1952)
299:(1952)
243:Checker
180:1952-08
178: (
91:scholar
852:Albums
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510:Impact
500:B-side
496:A-side
258:a.k.a.
221:Length
197:Studio
163:B-side
150:Single
135:"Juke"
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997:Songs
747:(PDF)
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383:" by
238:Label
210:Genre
98:JSTOR
84:books
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1065:1950
1040:1966
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981:1965
969:1963
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913:Juke
907:1952
884:1997
871:1967
859:1958
804:2017
794:The
769:link
755:2009
625:and
320:Juke
295:Juke
70:news
540:by
462:by
387:.)
152:by
53:by
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