little

To understand the two dropped beats at 1:44 you'll need to listen to one of the other verses for his vocal phrasing. Listen at 2:02 and you'll hear that he starts his vocals on the "and" of 3 leading into the next verse. Listen back to 1:44 and you'll notice that he starts his vocals on the "and" of 1 leading into the vocal verse after the bridge. The pickup to the vocal verse is two beats early. continue reading...

Okay, let's see if you figured it out correctly. Below are the three different chord progressions found in the song, as well as the chorus with the error.

Harp Solo (12)
I I I I
IV IV I I
V7 IV I V7

Verses (8)
I I7 IV IV
I V7 I V7

Bridge (8)
IV I IV I
IV I V V

Chart
Harp Solo (12) | Verse (8) x2 | Harp Solo (12) | Bridge (8) | Verse (7.5) | Verse (8) ||

See if you can figure out where the two beats were dropped in the verse following the bridge and how you could approach the vocals to change this to be a standard 8 bars.

Before I outline "Just Your Fool" by Little Walter I think you should take a listen to it for yourself first. Listen careful to the form and see if you can figure out what's going. Your clue is that it has both 12 and 8 bar forms, with two different types of 8 bar forms present. There's also a deviation (i.e., mistake) in the form in one of later verses.

This song is on the School of the Blues House Band Standards List simply because of its form. There is no standard 8 bar blues chord progression, unlike the 12 bar blues which is expected to be a specific way (with small variations every now and again). In my experience "Key to the Highway" provides the most common version of an 8 bar blues used. If you use this as your reference point, when doing a different 8 bar blues you can say to yourself, "It's like Key to the Highway, but it changes like this..."

The chord progression is...

I V IV IV
I V I V continue reading...

This song is in the School of the Blues House Band Standards list because it shows the typical approach to breaks in a slow blues. Note that this is not a twelve bar progression, but a sixteen bar. What makes it sixteen is the fact that the first line is doubled (8 bars of the I Chord instead of 4). This is a typical treatment for a song with breaks, and a player should listen carefully in bar 4 for any movement to a IV chord or if it stays static... this is an easy place to make an error if you're not aware of the fact that breaks in the beginning of a song could indicate a 16 bar form. continue reading...

It's important to spend time on this standard due to the fact that it's commonly called as the last number of the night. I can't tell you how many times this song was called at the end of a harmonica blowout.

There are two common approaches harmonica players can take...

The easiest is the call and response horn line that James Cotton uses, which is 2 2 2 (2 draw... the root note played three times) after each vocal line of Muddy. This is simple, but catchy and effective. When on the V Chord (bar 9) improvise a V-IV-I lick and turnaround. continue reading...

Not a complete discography, but interesting none the less. Thanks to Bruce for sharing.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/340688-Little-Walter?page=1

For the most complete listing get:

Blues with a Feeling: The Little Walter Story
http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Feeling-Little-Walter-Story/dp/0415937116