Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)

I’ve become a Taj Mahal fan in the past few years, as I was previously unfamiliar with him, except for his name. Also, with THAT title, I don’t care who it was by, I would have to listen to it. Sometimes I know the names of artists, but when I see the passion of other bloggers toward them, I want to check these artists out.  It’s not always what stats or facts the blogger writes or comments; it’s the enthusiasm you can tell they have for the performer. It makes you think…hmmm…I’m really missing something here!

His real name is Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr., and he was born in Harlem in 1942 and grew up in a musical home. His father was a jazz arranger, and his mother sang gospel, which gave him early exposure to American roots music. After moving to California in the early 1960s, he became part of the rising folk and blues scene, mixing country blues with elements of jazz, Caribbean music, and R&B.

His first major break came with his self-titled debut in 1968, followed closely by The Natch’l Blues. These records helped reintroduce older blues styles to a younger rock audience without changing their original feel. Instead of copying one tradition, Taj Mahal connected Delta blues, jug band music, rural folk, and modern sounds into a single sound that felt natural and current.

The song has since become a blues standard, and it earned that spot. I first heard it in The Blues Brothers movie. Mahal has said the song was built from older blues travel songs that talked about trains, leaving town, and getting left behind. Taj Mahal pulled those themes together and shaped them into something new, keeping the story simple and the rhythm moving.

This was on his second album, The Natch’l Blues, released in 1968. On lead guitar, we have Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore on Bass, Chuck Blackwell on drums, Earl Palmer on drums, and on piano, none other than Al Kooper. Kooper pops up everywhere in the history of blues, rock, and pop.

The band played mostly live in the room, locking into a steady groove before adding small fills. Guitar and piano stayed in short phrases, never stepping over the vocal.

Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)

She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
Well, my baby caught the Katy
She left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out and I swung on behind
I’m crazy ’bout her
That hard-headed woman of mine

Man, my baby long
Great, God, she mighty, she tall
You know my baby long
Great God, she mighty, my baby tall
Well, you know my baby, she long
My baby, she tall
She sleep with her head in the kitchen
And her big feet’s out in the hall
And I’m still crazy about her
That hard-headed woman of mine

I love my baby
She’s so fine
I wish she’d come to save me sometime
‘Cause she don’t believe I love her
Look what a hole I’m in
And she don’t believe I’m singin’
What look what a shape I’m in

She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
Well, my baby caught the Katy
Left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out and I swung on behind
Well, I’m crazy ’bout her
That hard-headed woman
Hard-headed woman of mine

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

40 thoughts on “Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)”

  1. I loved that Jason Sanborn show! Max this is such a great song. I never researched myself and had assumed that it was a covered of an older blues tune. So he certainly had me fooled. And feeling rather foolish!

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      1. Writing credit goes to Taj and Yank Rachell. Taj is credited with the first recording. No disrespect to Taj, but the idea that Yank was involved in the writing opens up the possibility that the song has more history before Taj.

        Just saying

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  2. Pingback: Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride) – MobsterTiger

  5. I saw him once around 1970 in Montreal in a very small venue and became a fan of his from that moment on. Fifty-six years later, I am going to his show with Patti Griffin next Thursday! I think he’s around 86 now and still performing!

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      1. It was. The show was at this small University coffee shop, I was 19 or 20. Truth be told, I would have never guessed I’d still be walking around now, if you asked me then, let alone getting to see Taj Mahal yet again! But as we know, the world works in mysterious ways.

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      2. Yes it does! I’m going to see if he is coming near here…I would love to see him and Buddy Guy.
        I wish I would have grown up when you did..the music I love is from that time. I grew up (teen) in the synth 80s…not as much fun!

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      3. Haha! Ah yes, the synth 80s, I remember it well. There was some great music from that era, and we shouldn’t forget that all that techno back then paved the way for some of the great electronic and electronica of the late 90s and beyond.

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      4. Yea growing up…when I was 8 in 1975 I got hooked on the Beatles…so that timeless music stuck with me…so when people were listening to Madonna in the 80s…I was listening to 60s stuff and the modern music in that decade I listened to the most was the heartland rockers and alternative…like The Replacements and REM…
        Some of the 80s I liked…but some of the overproduction drove me crazy lol. But no I don’t discount all of the 80s…

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  6. The introductions on the live clip include Howard Johnson on tuba. Johnson is the only musician I know who played both brass and reeds. To hear a different Taj Mahal sound, check out 1971’s “The Real Thing”, a live double album with a band including four tubas (but still uses electric bass).

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  7. Man, I love that song and also first heard it by The Blues Brothers. Believe it or not, I’m not sure I had heard the original before.

    I dig Taj Mahal and had the opportunity to see him in 2017 with Keb’Mo’ during the supporting tour for their first collaboration album “TajMo” – hands down one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen!

    What I find interesting about Taj Mahal is he moved away from pure blues and started incorporating world music, Cajun, roots and many other genres into his music turning it into a tasty gumbo!

    That live clip you included in your post is awesome!

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    1. With THAT title…how could it be no good? To make that title work is so cool. I would not doubt he came up with the title and worked around it and made it work perfectly.
      quadzillabynorth commented that he saw Mahal in 1970 and is about to see him again this week! That is so awesome!
      Thanks dude…I love that live clip as well.

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      1. It’s amazing Taj Mahal is still performing. The other day, I saw a concert ticket announcement for Buddy Guy who, get this, is now 89!

        I’m so tempted, but I’ve already seen Buddy three times. Plus, in a couple of weeks, I’m taking the family to Germany for my dad’s 90th birthday and a subsequent vacation in Spain.

        Unfortunately, something needs to give – I hate when that something is music!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal just amaze me that they are out there chugging along just fine thank you very much! Unlike McCartney and others…their songs are not based just on vocals….if their voice cracks it goes with the music! It sounds great.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. I don’t know that Taj has moved away from the blues so much as he recognizes that there is more to the blues than one genre. On his third album he does a Carole King song, Take A Giant Step, and while the form is not particularly duh blues, it certainly has the feel.

      I am not disagreeing with you. I’m just taking your idea and applying it.

      I have always loved the fact that those musicians who were around when recordings were first being made played all sorts of music. Mississippi John Hurt, for example, whom Taj thinks so much of that he included a picture of Hurt and himself on an album cover, played all sorts of songs.

      Great stuff

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  8. You got a Texas theme going today- the Katy is the MKT railroad , which used to run through this city (but was bought by Union Pacific). And the song sounds like it should’ve been written for ZZTop! I hear a lot of references to Taj but don’t know much of his music so this adds to my small knowledge of what he’s about

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    1. If I would have posted the Sahm tomorrow…I would have had a JFK theme lol…you will see tomorrow.
      But yea you are right and I wasn’t even thinking about it. THANK YOU….I never looked up Katy and I should have!
      He mixes all sorts of music…he isn’t strictly blues…as Christian just said…he IS a gumbo mixture.

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  11. Hella good, Max. Glad you are appreciating the Taj Groove. Happy to learn more about Taj’ beginnings and his place in musical history. I can’t believe they started rolling credits over the performance and cut off the end of it. Thanks for naming the musicians in the live performance. I saw Lorne Michaels’ name in there for producer. Is this a show he did aside from SNL?

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