SONG OF THE DAY Mose Allison – Young Man’s Blues

---

I never got into The Who massively, but one song of their songs I always completely adored and loved was Young Man’s Blues!  Mainly covered during their live sets as early as 1964, the song became a regular inclusion for them between 1968-1970 and first appeared on their (superb) album Live at Leeds.  Little did I realise when I first heard this track that it was a cover from the late 1950’s, but the original is rather splendid too.

Young Man Blues was originally recorded by jazz/blues pianist, singer-songwriter, Mose Allison.  The song featured on his debut album Black Country Suite, which was released in 1957 on the Prestige label – though the song is simply titled Blues on the record.  Described as being “one of the finest songwriters in 20th-century blues,” Allison’s songs were strongly mood evoking and, with his “quirky” and subtle ironic humour, were unique and distinguishable.  As an artist he became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano and after moving to New York in 1956, he worked with the likes of Stan Getz, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, along with producing numerous recordings.

Mose Allison’s music influenced an array of artists, including Pete Townsend; so it’s no wonder The Who’s rendition of today’s song is so MIGHTY – they loved Mose Allison!  It would appear that the admiration was mutual, for Allison was a big fan of The Who’s cover of Young Man’s Blues and described their version as the “Command Performance” of his song (which, if you check out a live performance below, I’m sure you will agree?!)

Check it out below and enjoy the original above.