The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
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JIMMY McCRACKLIN
“THE WALK”
(JIMMY McCRACKLIN)
Checker 885
No. 7 March 10, 1957
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Legend has it that bluesman Jimmy McCracklin was annoyed by the poor quality of rock’n’ roll
records, and threw together what he thought was a dog of a disk to prove that rock consumers had
no taste. “The Walk” strolled off with hit honors.
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McCracklin was born James David Walker on a cotton plantation outside of Helena, Arkansas, on
August 13, 1921. Jimmy’s parents separated when he was young, and moved with his mother to St. Louis,
where he sang in the choir of his Baptist church. In his mid-teens, Jimmy and a cousin, John henry
Murrell, hopped a train to California. Their goal was to find boxer Archie Moore and to convince him to
teach them all he knew about the sport.
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Jimmy was yearning to become a professional boxer. In the late ‘ 40s, after a tour of duty with the
Navy–where he won the title of All-American Light Heavyweight Champion of the Military–he moved
to San Francisco. A head-on car crash (in which Peter Morgan, brother of baseball’s Joe Morgan, was
killed) halted his boxing career. Shortly after, McCracklin turned his attention to singing, blowin’
harp, and poundin’ piano blues in Bay-area bars. Jim had been messin’ with music for years; he had
cut a number of singles for Globe, Excelsior, Courtney, Cavatone, Downtown, Trilon,and Modem, all
before 1950. Nothing made the pop or R & B charts until Jim, on a dare and in disgust, wrote “The
Walk” and lowered himself to the level of rock’n’roll.
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“We were broke,” said McCracklin to Howard A. Dewitt, DISCoveries magazine. The place was
Chicago, the winter of ’56. “I lived with the band in a hotel room. We had just enough money for food.
It was a miserable time. I saw those black rock’n’roll guys like Chuck Berry write some early hits, and
I knew I could make a successful record. I had lyrics and the music and knew what the white kids
wanted. I had watched those kids dance, and I saw an opportunity.”
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To make ends met, Jimmy and band, the Blues Blasters, secured a gig at Rita’s Lounge. “Rita’s was a
little but long club filled with black people. If you don’t play good blues your ass is in a lot of
trouble.” Exactly at nine o’clock each night, a well-dressed smooth pair would dance into the
club. “I’ll never forget those folks, they’d just dance in slow like they were walking. They had style,
grace … I knew I could write a song about those folks….”
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In January 1958, McCracklin and his Blues Blasters–Ray Cotton (drums), Horace Hall (bass), Big
Johnny “Bird” Parker (sax), Lafayette Thomas (guitar)–had the song together and walked into a tiny
do-it-yourself studio to record “The Walk.” It took McCracklin three visits to the famed Chess Records to
convince the Chess brothers to take the tape.
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“I was in a motel in Virginia and I got up one morning and turned on the radio. Damned if ‘The Walk’
didn’ t blast out at me. It had only been a few weeks since I dropped it off at Chess Records.
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“Now, when ‘The Walk’ took off, Chess got in touch with me to record some more songs. They really
promoted it, and I had finally broken into rock’n’roll.” Trouble was, according to DeWitt, “‘The Walk’
was released without McCracklin signing a formal contract. Said Jimmy, “I didn’t know how to protect
myself. I didn’t care, I just wanted a record out. I was on top of the world with a hit record…. “The
Chess brothers refused to pay royalties to Jimmy McCracklin; in addition, a fictitious name–Bob
Garlic–was added to the composition credits, as a means of snatching half of Jimmy’s writing credits.
“I had a Billboard Top 10 hit and had been on ‘American Bandstand,’ and Leonard Chess told me
there was no money. I knew I had to go else where. Chess cheated me.” Jimmy and his Blues Blasters
went to Mercury Records. “They didn’t promote my records….”
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In the intervening years, Jimmy has written a couple of classic songs–“The Thrill Is Gone” and
“Tramp” and recorded some fine R & B numbers, some of which crossed over to the pop charts: “Just
Got to Know” (#64, 1962), “Every Night, Every Day” (#91, 1965), “Think” (#95, 1965), and “My
Answer” (#92, 1966).
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Twenty-five years later–in 1983-after much leg and legal work, McCracklin got back what was his all
along–the legal rights as sole author of “The Walk,” with complete royalties henceforth. “Think of all
that money I was cheated out of. Hell, I don’t think ‘The Walk’ was ever out of print.”
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Jimmy McCracklin owns Budget Music and Sodium Publishing and continues to tour and to record
for Rounder Records.
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“I’ve been a lucky man,” said McCracklin. “My wife and kids have been a hell of an inspiration. My
willpower to go on comes from them….”