Koko Taylor

Messages
1. Koko Taylor - Singing About the Union Hall
Posted by: "Bennet Zurofsky" BZurofsky@ReitPar.com   bzurofsky
Fri Jun 5, 2009 8:12 am (PDT)

I was saddened to learn yesterday evening of the death of Koko Taylor. As
the obituary in the NY Times well stated, "While there had been other blues
queens, Ms. Taylor was the undisputed queen of the Chicago variety."

I have always thought of her signature song "Wang Dang Doodle" as one of the
great union songs. Willie Dixon's lyric makes it plain where all the action
is: "We gonna pitch a ball/Down at the Union Hall."

I saw Taylor perform about a year ago - and she was still going strong. Her
daughter had to come out to convince her to end her set lest she collapse
from exhaustion (or was that just show-womanship - adapting the old James
Brown collapsing-from-exhaustion bit for an 80-year old?). She certainly
gave it her all.

Youtube has a video of her singing Wang Dang Doodle (w. Little Walter on
harmonica) in 1967. The quality of the visual is poor - but the quality of
the musical performance can't be beat! I can't think of a better way to
remember her.

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxCa16-nxtM.

- Bennet

P.S. Please note my new street address below

BENNET D. ZUROFSKY
Attorney at Law
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Newark, New Jersey 07102
Phone: 973-642-0885
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