I Can't Quit You Baby

"I Can't Quit You Baby" is blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Chicago blues artist Otis Rush in 1956.[1] It is a slow twelve-bar blues ensemble piece, with lyrics about the consequences of an adulterous relationship which is difficult to end.

"I Can't Quit You Baby"
Single by Otis Rush
B-side"Sit Down Baby"
Released1956 (1956)
Recordedc. July 1956
StudioBoulevard Recording, Chicago
GenreBlues
Length2:56
LabelCobra
Songwriter(s)Willie Dixon
Producer(s)Willie Dixon

"I Can't Quit You Baby" was Rush's first recording and Cobra Records's debut single. It became a record chart hit as well as a blues standard. Rush updated the song in 1966 with a modified arrangement, which was adapted by Led Zeppelin for their 1969 debut album.

Original song

According to biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba "the song subject is the consequences of adultery and the feeling that a man cannot give up a relationship":[2]

I can't quit you, baby
But I've got to put you down for awhile
You know I can't quit you, baby
But I've got to put you down for awhile
Well, you messed up my happy home, babe
Made me mistreat my only child[3]

In his autobiography, Willie Dixon explained that "I Can't Quit You Baby" was written about a relationship Rush was preoccupied with at the time; Dixon used this to draw out an impassioned performance by Rush.[3] Despite being solely credited to Dixon, Rush felt that the song's identity is very much his own:

Willie would just hum the sound, he never played anything, you know. He would try to give me some phrases how the song go and I pretty much did it on my own, the way it sounded. The way I sang the song and the way I played my guitar is what I wanted to play.[2]

Inaba added: "Otis' passionate vocal melody with alternations of natural voice, falsetto, shouts, and growls, is his singing style indeed".[2] The song is notated in the key of A major in 12/8 time with a "slow blues" tempo.[4] Rush's original version consists of four twelve-bar vocal sections with lead guitar fills. It was Rush's first recording and took place in Chicago around July 1956.[5] Accompanying Rush on lead guitar and vocal are Big Walter Horton on harmonica, Red Holloway on tenor sax, Lafayette Leake on piano, Wayne Bennett on second guitar, Dixon on bass, and Al Duncan on drums.[5]

"I Can't Quit You Baby" was a vehicle for arranger-producer Dixon to launch Rush and Cobra Records, as it was the first single for both.[3] In this regard, it was a success, reaching number six on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart in 1956.[6]

Otis Rush revisited "I Can't Quit You Baby" several times over the years. His 1966 re-recording for the 1966 blues compilation Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 2[7] uses an altered arrangement with an unusual turnaround (tonic chord followed by a half-step above the tonic chord).[8][9] Subsequent cover versions usually use the chord substitutions found in Rush's Vanguard rendition.[8]

Led Zeppelin versions
"I Can't Quit You Baby"
Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin
ReleasedJanuary 12, 1969 (1969-01-12)
RecordedOctober 1968
StudioOlympic, London
GenreBlues rock
Length4:42
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Willie Dixon
Producer(s)Jimmy Page

English rock band Led Zeppelin recorded "I Can't Quit You Baby" for their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin.[10] According to music journalist Cub Koda, their rendition is "a note-for-note copy of Otis Rush's" 1966 Vanguard version,[11] although with different instrumentation and dynamics.[12] It also incorporates a break during the guitar solo where Jimmy Page plays a four-bar unaccompanied set-up before relaunching into the solo. Although biographer Keith Shadwick notes Page's fluff on the turnaround coming out of the solo, he concludes the song "ends up as one of the most successful pieces on the first album, with no flat spots and a perfectly symmetrical form, all within the classic blues tradition".[12]

Led Zeppelin regularly performed "I Can't Quit You Baby" in concert from 1968 to early 1970.[13] Two live versions from 1969 are included on the 1997 BBC Sessions. A performance of the song on January 9, 1970, at Royal Albert Hall is included on the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD (an edited version of this performance was released on the 1982 Coda album). In 1970, the song was dropped from Led Zeppelin's typical concert lineup as they incorporated material from Led Zeppelin III into their shows, with "I Can't Quit You Baby" essentially being replaced by "Since I've Been Loving You". It was however revived as part of the "Whole Lotta Love" medley during some Led Zeppelin concerts in 1972 and 1973.[13] The song was rehearsed by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin for the May 14, 1988, Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Celebration, but was not performed during the event.[13]

In a contemporary review for the Coda album, Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone found the Coda version of "I Can't Quit You Baby", "tossed off a sound check [in 1970]", "perfectly captures the bluesmania of the period, complete with a classically overwrought guitar solo."[14]

Recognition and influence

"I Can't Quit You Baby" is a blues standard[1] that has been recorded by more than 30 artists.[15] Rush's original Cobra single was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1994 that noted "a Willie Dixon production revealing Rush as an extraordinary talent with an impassioned approach."[5]

See also

References
  1. Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "I Can't Quit You Baby". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. p. 453. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
  2. Inaba, Mitsutoshi (2011). Willie Dixon: Preacher of the Blues. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-0810869936.
  3. Dixon, Willie; Snowden, Don (1989). I Am the Blues. Da Capo Press. pp. 102, 106–107. ISBN 0-306-80415-8.
  4. Hal Leonard (1995). "I Can't Quit You Baby". The Blues. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard. p. 100. ISBN 0-79355-259-1.
  5. Blues Foundation (November 10, 2016). "1994 Hall of Fame Inductees: I Can't Quit You Baby – Otis Rush (Cobra 1956)". The Blues Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 301. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.
  7. O'Neal, Jim (November 10, 2016). "Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 1-3 – Various Artists (Vanguard, 1966)". Blues Foundation. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  8. Lawalree, Dominique (2015). Led Zeppelin: Un guide pour les écouter (in French). Camion Blanc. eBook. ISBN 978-2-35779-740-6.
  9. Marvin, Elizabeth West; Hermann, Richard, eds. (1995). Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press. p. 327, fn 59. ISBN 1-878822-42-X.
  10. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Led Zeppelin [album] – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  11. Koda, Cub. "Chicago/The Blues/Today! – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  12. Shadwick, Keith (2005). Led Zeppelin: The Story of a Band and Their Music 1968–1980 (1st ed.). San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 52–53. ISBN 0-87930-871-0.
  13. Lewis, Dave (2004). Led Zeppelin: The Complete Guide to Their Music (1st ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-141-2.
  14. Loder, Kurt (January 20, 1983). "Coda". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  15. "Otis Rush: I Can't Quit You Baby – Also Performed By". AllMusic. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
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