I'm Ready - Muddy Waters

I'm Ready - Muddy Waters
3:04
single, 1954

Written by Willie Dixon 

With Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, and Otis Spann on piano, this sixteen-bar blues is a murderer's row of talent, not to mention it was written by the great Willie Dixon.  An amalgam of violent swagger, machismo, and assertive womanizing, the lyrics use bizarre imagery to depict a man who's ready for fighting or loving in equal measure: "I got a ax handle pistol on a graveyard frame / That shoots tombstone bullets wearing balls and chain."  It's not clear what that means, but it sure sounds scary!  This song is the real gangster godfather of all the braggadocio that followed in rap and rock: "I hope some screwball start a fight," Waters declares, and with his confident vocals and commanding presence, it sounds like he means it.  But also: "It takes a whole lot of lovin' to make me feel good."  That keeps his audience on their toes.