Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician… Read Full Bio ↴Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style.
Born to Frank Houston Spann and Josephine Erby. One of five children - three boys and two girls. His father played piano, non professionally, while his mother had played guitar with Memphis Minnie.[citation needed] Spann began playing piano by age of eight, influenced by his local ivories stalwart, Friday Ford. At the age of 14, he was playing in bands around Jackson, finding more inspiration in the 78s of Big Maceo Merriweather, who took the young pianist under his wing once Spann migrated to Chicago in 1946. Other sources say that he moved to Chicago when his mother died in 1947 playing the Chicago club circuit and working as a plasterer. Spann gigged on his own, and with guitarist Morris Pejoe, working a regular spot at the Tic Toc Lounge before hooking up with Muddy Waters in 1952.
Although he recorded periodically as a solo artist, Spann was a full-time member of the Muddy Waters band from 1952 to 1968. In that period he also did session work with other Chess artists like Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley.
Spann's own Chess Records output was limited to a 1954 single, "It Must Have Been the Devil" / "Five Spot", which featured B.B. King and Jody Williams on guitars. He recorded a session with the guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. and vocalist St. Louis Jimmy in New York on August 23, 1960, which was issued on Otis Spann Is The Blues and Walking The Blues. A largely solo outing for Storyville Records in 1963 was recorded in Copenhagen. A set for UK Decca Records the following year found him in the company of Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton, and a 1964 album for Prestige followed where Spann shared vocal duties with bandmate James Cotton.
The Blues is Where It's At, Spann's 1966 album for ABC-Bluesway, sounded like a live recording. It was a recording studio date, enlivened by enthusiastic onlookers that applauded every song (Muddy Waters, guitarist Sammy Lawhorn, and George "Harmonica" Smith were among the support crew). A Bluesway encore, The Bottom of the Blues followed in 1967 and featured Spann's wife, Lucille Jenkins Spann (June 23, 1938 – August 2, 1994[5]), helping out on vocals.
In the late 1960s, he appeared on albums with Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac.
Several films of his playing are available on DVD, including the Newport Folk Festival (1960), while his singing is also featured on the American Folk Blues Festival (1963) and The Blues Masters (1966).

Following his death from liver cancer in Chicago in 1970, at the age of 40, he was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. Spann's grave laid unmarked for almost thirty years, until Steve Salter (president of the Killer Blues Headstone Project) wrote a letter to Blues Revue magazine to say "This piano great is lying in an unmarked grave. Let's do something about this deplorable situation". This lit a spark in the blues community on a world wide level. Blues enthusiasts from Alaska to Venezuela, from Surrey to England, and Singapore sent donations to purchase Spann a headstone. On June 6, 1999 the marker was unveiled during a private ceremony. The stone reads "Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard - He'll play forever in our hearts".
He was posthumously elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

Going Down Slow
Otis Spann Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I have had my fun
If I don't get well no more
I have had my fun
If I don't get well no more
I have this pain in me
And I'm goin' down slow

Please write my mother

Tell her the shape I'm in
Please write my mother
Tell her the shape I'm in
Tell her to pray for me
Forgiveness of my sin

Tell her don't send no doctor
Doctor can do no good
Tell her don't send no doctor
Doctor can do no good
It was all my fault
Didn't do the things I should

Mother please don't worry
This is all in my plan
Mother please don't worry
This is all in my plan

Just say your son is gone
Out of this wold somewhere

Overall Meaning

Otis Spann's "Going Down Slow" is a blues song that speaks about the singer's acceptance of his impending death. The "fun" that he refers to is the life he has lived and the things he has done. Although he has had a good time, this pain inside him is reminding him of his coming end. He's slowly deteriorating, and in his sickly state, he reaches out to his mother, acknowledging the shape he's in and asking for prayers. However, what all of us think would help him, which is calling a doctor, he insists against it, as he painfully accepts that no doctor can do him any good. The singer chooses not to have any treatment, taking full responsibility for his actions, and admitting that he did not make the right choices. The last verse highlights his course of action that led him to his inevitable end- "this is all in my plan. "In the end, he begs his mother to inform others that he has passed.

The song showcases the inevitable nature of death- how it comes knocking at your door, and no matter what you would try, it brings you down. It is a universal theme that has always fascinated artists all over the world. The song's lyrics are ordinary and straightforward, yet they are laced with deep meaning, giving it a hauntingly beautiful feel.

Line by Line Meaning

I have had my fun
I have enjoyed my life

If I don't get well no more
If I do not recover from my illness

I have this pain in me
I am suffering from physical pain

And I'm goin' down slow
I am slowly succumbing to my illness

Please write my mother
Requesting author's mother to be informed

Tell her the shape I'm in
Inform her about my current condition

Tell her to pray for me
Ask her to pray for author's well-being

Forgiveness of my sin
Ask for forgiveness of sins

Tell her don't send no doctor
Do not send a doctor

Doctor can do no good
A doctor cannot heal me

It was all my fault
I am responsible for my situation