Robert Crumb loves his spoonful of Charlie Patton and so do I.
'A Spoonful Blues' is a remarkable three-way conversation between the song lyrics, Patton's spoken interjections, and the gloriously tweaked minor thirds he introduces rather than finish some of the more risqué lines. Here's how it opens ('...'= guitar tweak):
(spoken: I'm about to go to jail about this spoonful)
In all a spoon',
'bout that spoon',
The women goin' crazy, every day in their life 'bout a...
It's all I want, in this creation is a...
I go home (spoken: wanna fight!) 'bout a...
Doctor's dyin' (way in Hot Springs !) just 'bout a...
These women goin' crazy every day in their life 'bout a...
Would you kill a man dead?
(spoken: yes, I will!) just 'bout a...
Oh babe, I'm a fool about my...
(spoken: Don't take me long!) to get my...
Hey baby, you know I need my...
{Quotation ends}
The song is also believed to be about cocaine, as well as the other thing.
Voice on voice on guitar: it's not just that Patton comments to himself on the song as he sings it, or answers its questions call and repsonse-style, it's as if the song is singing along to itself.
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