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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