My Babe

Songwriter Willie Dixon knew that the massive, driving energy of the Chicago blues often had direct roots in the church. For "My Babe," Dixon completely secularized the traditional Sister Rosetta Tharpe gospel song "This Train (Is Bound For Glory)." During the January 1955 session, harmonica virtuoso Little Walter delivered a swinging, impossibly smooth vocal, backed by Robert Lockwood Jr.'s chugging guitar rhythm. Walter's heavily amplified harmonica fills sounded exactly like a screaming brass section. It became the only Billboard R&B number-one hit of his solo career, forever linking the sacred drive of gospel to the secular juke joint.