Song of the Day #1: Double Trouble - Otis Rush

 Double Trouble - Otis Rush

Song of the Day #1

Foreword before I begin this series: since I now invest most of my music-writing energy in writing full-fledged pieces for a music journal, I probably won't be able to review complete discographies for now. Instead, I decided I could try to write a small amount casually about a song every day. Some days I'll keep it to a brief description, and some days I'll write more than that. But I do like writing about music causally as much as I do in more serious articles, so I'll try to keep this blog going through this series.

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/double-trouble/193677889?i=193678116

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3JggrSor1wtd74bvF2fsmz?si=a248e17001764243

I am deeply ashamed to say that, for some bizarre reason, I just wasn't terribly impressed by Otis Rush when I first checked out. One listen to this recently changed this completely because this has become one of my favorite songs of all time, and it probably is my favorite blues recording ever as of now. And I'm sure if you hear this song once or twice, it should be pretty evident why.

This is one of those songs to hear to not when you are merely sad. You have to be truly beaten down over and over again, giving everything to try to survive but failing anyways while seeing everyone around you succeed. It's one of the most vulnerable, aching songs in the whole genre, where pretty much everything about this song simply bleeds with emotion, from the hazy horn swoops to the bleeding guitar soloing to the beaten-down vocal performance. There's not even a single attempt at toughness in the whole song: Otis's frustration has been channeled into inner turmoil and paranoia, pleading for a way out of this cruel, unfeeling world. He really must have been battling some fierce inner demons to deliver lines like "they say you can make it if you try / yes, some of this generation is millionaires / it's hard for me to keep these clothes to wear" so effectively and sincerely. It becomes truly chilling right after when that ringing guitar-horn combination absolutely annihilates you, one of the greatest musical demonstrations of drowning within oneself I've ever heard. This is taking electric blues to a whole new level of expression.

There are just so many details about this song that make it so hard-hitting. The poor production gives the song a murky, raw feel. The scorching guitar solos, especially the stinging one around 2:00. The way the horns subtly build that tense, haunting atmosphere. It's just one of those timeless masterpieces that I feel should have universal appeal, containing a mood so powerful that it forces itself upon you. Yet, the song is still so underrated that it blows my mind that it isn't remembered as a major classic of its time. Let this mini-review be my very small contribution to the reputation of this crushing, heartbreaking masterpiece, one of the greatest odes to defeat and the suffering that comes with it ever recorded.