Clutch – Electric Worry

I like songs that announce themselves right away, and Electric Worry certainly does that. That guitar comes in and you know immediately this isn’t going to be a quiet ride. It’s heavy, dirty, bluesy rock, and when Neil Fallon’s vocal comes in, it has exactly the power the music needs. This isn’t normally the first place I go musically, but when a riff grabs me like this one does, genre doesn’t matter much.

Clutch formed in Germantown, Maryland, in 1991. The lineup of Neil Fallon on vocals, Tim Sult on guitar, Dan Maines on bass, and Jean-Paul Gaster on drums has remained remarkably stable through the years. They built their audience the old-fashioned way by playing constantly, developing a loyal following rather than depending on a string of radio hits. Their first full-length album, Transnational Speedway League, arrived in 1993, followed by their self-titled album in 1995. Over time, their sound moved beyond their heavier metal beginnings and incorporated more blues, funk, and straight-ahead hard rock.

This song appeared on the 2007 album From Beale Street to Oblivion. The album was produced by Joe Barresi and recorded at the legendary Sound City Studios in California. By this point, Clutch’s blues influence was impossible to miss, and Electric Worry sounds like somebody plugged an old blues record into a wall of amplifiers. Eric Oblander of Five Horse Johnson adds the harmonica, which is one of the ingredients that makes the record work so well.

There is some real blues history underneath the song. Parts of this song draw from the blues tradition surrounding Muddy Waters’ Trouble No More, and it’s connected to earlier Delta blues. You can also hear something of John Lee Hooker’s repetitive, hypnotic boogie approach. Clutch wasn’t trying to make an old blues record, though. They took that foundation and turned it into something much heavier.

The songwriting credits went to Neil Fallon, Jean-Paul Gaster, Dan Maines, Tim Sult, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. There’s actually a little inconsistency depending upon where you look. Some modern streaming metadata lists only Fallon, Gaster, Maines, and Sult, while copyright records and other release/film credits include McDowell. McDowell belongs there. The reason McDowell belongs there becomes obvious when you listen to his blues material. This song incorporates material associated with McDowell, particularly the old “Someday Baby” / “You Gotta Move” blues tradition. Clutch didn’t simply pretend those pieces appeared from nowhere. Their published copyright information explicitly includes Fred K. McDowell as a composer, which is indeed refreshing considering some of rock history’s less admirable habits with blues songwriting credits…Mr Page, are you listening?

The song became one of Clutch’s signature numbers and a fan favorite. In fact, there’s a wonderful endorsement attached to it: Lemmy of Motörhead reportedly described Electric Worry as Clutch’s “Ace of Spades.” That’s about as good a compliment as a hard-rock band could receive. THAT right there…makes it a winner in my book. When Lemmy spoke, I listened.

I think part of the appeal is how uncomplicated the basic idea sounds. Guitar, bass, drums, harmonica, and Fallon’s huge vocal all working around that groove. Nothing sounds polished to death. It sounds like musicians playing together and pushing the song forward. By the time they hit that repeated “Bang, bang, bang, bang” section, the song has built up a tremendous amount of momentum.

I’m also a sucker for music that connects different generations, and underneath all that power is the blues. Clutch took something very old and made it sound completely their own. Neil Fallon’s voice is a big part of it. He doesn’t sound like he’s trying to make the song heavy. He just sounds heavy.

And Electric Worry is definitely worth following.

Electric Worry

Well you made me weep and you made me moan
When you caused me to leave, child, my happy home.
But someday, baby, you ain’t worry my life anymore.

I get satisfaction everywhere I go.
Where I lay my head – that’s where I call home.
Whether barren pines, or the mission stair,
Take tomorrow’s collar and give ’em back the glare.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos.
Bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos.

You told everybody in the neighborhood
What a dirty mistreater. That I was no good.
But someday, baby, you ain’t worry my life anymore.

Doctor or lawyer, I’ll never be.
Life of a drifter, the only life for me,
You can have your riches, all the gold you saved.
Ain’t room for one thing in everybody’s grave.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos!
Bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos!

If I had money, like Henry Ford,
Lord, I’d have me a woman, yeah on every road.
But someday, baby, you ain’t worry my life any more.

Invocation of the dummies, requiem for a head,
Cash in at the corner, piles of street cred.
I get satisfaction everywhere I go.
One day, baby, you’ll worry me no more.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos!
Bang, bang, bang!
Vamanos, vamanos!