Thursday, October 19, 2023

The Love Me Or Die - C.W. Stoneking

The Love Me Or Die - C.W. Stoneking
3:54
Jungle Blues, 2008
Written by C.W. King

Stoneking is a modern artist mining the old, old delta bluesy jazz traditions.  In his vocal pitch and delivery in this song, he reminds me a bit of James Mathus, who obviously draws from the same well.  This track's also got a Calypso vibe.  I was somewhat bemused to find out that not only is Stoneking white, he's Australian!  But genre is free, and Stoneking rides that freeway like a gothic riverboat captain.  In this song, amid a primal beat and swaying trumpets, the narrator performs a bad hoodoo on a hapless lady named Matilda, and she dies.  "I studied evil, I can't deny / Was a hoodoo charm called a Love Me or Die / A fingernail, a piece of her dress / Apothecary, devil's behest."  

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