Spoonful

Willie Dixon wrote "Spoonful" based on an old Charlie Patton theme, using the metaphor of a single spoon to describe obsessive desires for sex, money, or drugs. In the summer of 1960, Howlin' Wolf turned the song into a masterpiece of creeping tension. Backed by Hubert Sumlin and Freddie Robinson's stark, descending guitar lines and Otis Spann's minimal piano, Wolf sang with a coarse, terrifying groan. He refused to shout, instead relying on a dark, brooding restraint that made the song deeply unsettling. Six years later, the British rock trio Cream would adapt it into a sprawling, high-volume psychedelic jam.