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.
Long Distance Call
Otis Spann Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Please, call me on the phone sometime.
You say you love me darling,
Please, call me on the phone sometime.
When I hear your voice,
Ease my worried mind.
One of these days,
One of these days,
I'm gonna show you just how nice a man can be.
I'm gonna buy you a brand, new Cadillac,
If you only speak some good words about me.
Hear my phone ringing,
Sound like a long distance call.
Hear my phone keep ringing,
Sound like a long distance call.
When I picked up my receiver,
The party said another mule kicking in your stall.
The Otis Spann song, Long Distance Call, is a bluesy love song that talks about the yearning of being away from someone and the desperation of wanting to hear from them. The song has two distinct verses with slightly different messages. In the first verse, Spann asks his lover to call him on the phone, to ease his worried mind. He believes that when he hears her voice, all his worries will disappear. The second verse seems to be directed at an unfaithful lover who needs to hear some good words about Spann. He promises to prove to this lover just how nice a man he can be by buying her a brand new Cadillac. It's clear that both verses are asking for communication as a means of reconnecting with someone they love.
Long Distance Call is a song about the pain that comes from missing someone and the desire to hear from them. The song is filled with powerful metaphors that reflect the emotions involved in such a situation. The phone ringing in the song seems to be a metaphor for the lover reaching out to Spann. When he picks up the receiver, he hears that another mule is kicking in his stall, which is a metaphor for the demands of life that keep him from seeing his lover. The song captures the emotions of a long-distance relationship that is struggling to survive. Spann wants his lover to take action and call him, but he also understands that sometimes it's the struggle of the relationship that defines their bond.
Line by Line Meaning
You say you love me darling,
The singer is being told by someone that they love them.
Please, call me on the phone sometime.
The singer is requesting that the person who loves them call them at some point.
When I hear your voice,
The singer is emphasizing the importance of hearing the voice of the person who loves them.
Ease my worried mind.
The artist is suggesting that hearing the voice of the person who loves them will alleviate their concerns.
One of these days,
The artist is planning for the future.
I'm gonna show you how nice a man can be.
The singer wants to demonstrate their kindness to the person who loves them.
I'm gonna buy you a brand, new Cadillac,
The singer is making a grand gesture to show their love, by offering to purchase a high-end car for the person who loves them.
If you only speak some good words about me.
The artist is attaching a condition to their grand gesture, suggesting that the person who loves them must also speak positively about them.
Hear my phone ringing,
The artist is drawing attention to their ringing phone.
Sound like a long distance call.
The artist is speculating that the call may be from someone far away.
When I picked up my receiver,
The singer has answered the phone.
The party said another mule kicking in your stall.
The person on the other end of the phone told the artist that they have problems to deal with.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: MC KINLEY MORGANFIELD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MSCrumeMSC
Lyrics:
You say you love me darling
Please, call me on the phone sometime
You say you love me darling
Please, call me on the phone sometime
When I hear your voice
Ease my worried mind
One of these days
I'm going to show you how nice a man can be
One of these days
I'm going to show you just how nice a man can be
I'm going to buy you a brand, new Cadillac
If you only speak some good words about me
Hear my phone ringing
Sound like a long distance call
Hear my phone keep ringing
Sound like a long distance call
When I picked up my receiver
The party said another mule kicking in your stall
@phoenixviktoriacollins1313
You say you love me baby,
Please, call me on the phone sometime.
You say you love me baby,
Please, call me on the phone sometime.
When I hear your voice,
Ease my worried mind.
One of these days,
I'm gonna show you how nice a man can be.
One of these days,
I'm gonna show you just how nice a man can be.
I'm gonna buy you a brand new Cadillac,
If you only speak some good words about me.
Hear my phone ringin,
Sound like a long distance call.
Hear my phone keep ringin,
Sound like a long distance call.
When I picked up my receiver,
The party said another mule is kickin' in your stall.
Hear my phone ringin,
Sound like a long distance call.
Hear my phone keep ringin,
Sound like a long distance call.
When I picked up my receiver,
The party said another mule...
People, I was down in my neighbor one day
I was talking to some friends of mine
And they all were standing on the corner laughing' at me
Said another mule...
After a while, after a while, after a while, after a while
I went back home, like a good man should
I put man hands in my pocket and got my key out
And unlocked the door
And there was standing my wife, she was cryin'
Said another mule...
The little girl jumped on the floor and put her hands together
She looked straight at me
And she was sayin'
And she was sayin'
And she was sayin'
And she was sayin'
Muddy Waters, another mule is kickin' in your stall
Source: Flash Lyrics also from The video clip from YouTube..
Writer: Muddy Waters
@joehill7649
"another mule is kickin in your stall" the best line EVER
@joehamlet7576
What a great ending to the song! Too awesome...
@Bob-bl6bg
That means his wife has other man? I do not understand english very well
@joehamlet7576
@@Bob-bl6bg Yes, that is what that means.
@adamlthompson4966
The opening riff of the song had every single rock song ever made inside it. Heavy metal included!
@susandavidson3344
not sure I really understand that -- sure'd like to --
@chrishuber8374
@@susandavidson3344 I heard a lick from Led Zeppelin's "You Shook Me" in there. Perhaps something like that is what Adam meant!
@StefanWirz
... Muddy Waters (vocals & slide guitar), Otis Spann (piano), Paul Oscher (harmonica), Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson and James "Pee Wee" Madison (guitars), Sonny Wimberley (bass), S.P. Leary (drums)
@user-kd4tz5xo9b
@Raised On Rock Radio Show w/ Mark O'Neill
It’s a very good Long Distance Call with Muddy Waters & his band from Tivoli concert hall, Copenhagen Jazz Festival October 27 - 28 1968💯🎸💯😊
@billmavin6203
Otis Spann is one heck of a player and the band matches Muddy's brilliance