n addition to writing Book by It's Cover and many more songs, Willie Dixon did write a book, his autobiography, I Am the Blues.  In that book Willie says he was born at 1631 Crawford Street in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Willie claimed blues was the facts of life, a heritage of the black race and "a thousand generations of poverty and starvation." In many ways he was a fighter always: "A huge outgoing bear of a man," was how someone described him.  He was a golden glove and professional boxer early on, and a man that chose arrest and prison rather than serve in the armed forces.  His fight continued as he worked for Chess Records in the 1950s and 60s where he did more to shape Chicago's blues in the postwar era than any artists other than perhaps Muddy Waters.

Early in the morning we drove to the 1600 block of Crawford Street.  There was a mechanic's shop down on the corner.  The two men there had never heard of Willie but told us Mrs. Dixon would know.  One of the mechanics walked Eddie down to her house and knocked on the door.  She said 1631 was the house next door to hers.  Upon closer inspection one of the men found the house number for us.  Otis lived there, but he had moved away several years before.  The house belongs to Otis' mother.  By chance a city worker that came by driving a heavy piece of equipment was a grandson of hers, and he said it would be all right for us to set up our equipment on the rickety old front porch and record.

This was another song where Eddie was singing to backing tracks while using the headphones. People in the neighborhood could only  hear Eddie singing. During the break between the first and second verses there's a spot in Bo Diddly's recording of the song where he's shouting and hollering at folks to turn up the music. Eddie got into the shouting so much that I had to give him a cue where to start back singing. A lady next door came in from work while Eddie was doing his shouting.  We missed the cue and had to start over. Later, as Eddie sang and shouted on his 3rd or 4th take I heard the lady and a neighbor talking at her front porch. One of the voices asked with some concern, "What's wrong with that man down there?"

Less than a week after our recording here the Mississippi Heritage Trust unveiled the year's 10 Most Endangered Places in Mississippi. Willie Dixon's birthplace wasn't on that list, but probably ought to be.

You can get involved.  Email MHT and ask that they help to preserve this  significant part of Mississippi's Blues History.

MHTrust@bellsouth.net

I guess if the blues has a renaissance man you'd have to say Willie was it: a composer, producer, arranger, bass player and talent scout.  During the blues revival of the 1950s and 60s, practically every significant blues artist recorded some of Willie Dixon's songs:  Wang Dang Doodle, Backdoor Man, Spoonful, Little Red Roaster, Hoochie Coochie Man, Evil, Mellow Down Easy, The Seventh Son, My Babe...