My post on August 20th alluded to the song "Sweet Home Chicago" being distracting and something that I sing loudly. Yup, I just proved that to everyone in traffic with me on my way home from the grocery store. So let's go ahead and make it the Song of the Day! Apple iTunes lists some 25 renditions of this classic with the most popularly downloaded version being from the album Blues Blues Blues by The Jimmy Rogers All Stars. The one I have was ripped from The Blues Brothers soundtrack (not available on iTunes) and features Jake and Elwood Blues (AKA John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd) in one of the most rousing performances from the movie.
A real passion goes into almost every aspect of this song. That's not always unusual, but consider that this version was recorded during the shooting of a movie where many, many takes on a scene can dull a performer's fire. Maybe that problem isn't evident here because Ackroyd and Belushi hail from Chicago so of course they have strong feelings toward the subject. And they had such a strong love for their characters that they actually performed on the road and recorded whole albums.
The Blues Brothers Band performs on this track with equal fervor. The members include such music greats as
| Steve Cropper | as | Steve 'The Colonel' Cropper |
| Donald Dunn | as | Donald 'Duck' Dunn |
| Willie Hall | as | Willie 'Too Big' Hall |
| Tom Malone | as | Tom 'Bones' Malone |
| Lou Marini | as | 'Blue Lou' Marini |
| Matt Murphy | as | Matt 'Guitar' Murphy |
| Alan Rubin | as | Mr. Fabulous |
While it's not a priority, one of my goals is to buy more music from The Blues Brothers. Passion and the Blues go together. Would that we all could exprerience such feelings more often.
