# What's the best "Hesitation Blues" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385 "2000-12-13T18:44:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/1 "2000-12-13T18:44:17Z")
Okay, here’s a classic old blues tune that’s been recorded by everyone from Delta blues guitarists to Appalachian folksingers to Gospel belters to Western Swing bands to modern jazz artists to Broadway performers to San Francisco acid-rock types. What do YOU think is the finest rendition? I’ll have to go with the one the Holy Modal Rounders did on their first album back in the early 1960s…a good basic fiddle and git-tar performance, which included the only appearance I’ve ever heard of the charming verse _I was born in Pennsylvania I was raised in France I’m a dirty old man And I wear silk pants Tell me how long Do I have to wait? Can I get you now Or, lord, must I hesitate?_ and special bonus points for _Got my psychedelic feet In my psychedelic shoes I believe Dear Lord I got the psychedelic blues Tell me how long Do I have to wait? Can I get you now Or, lord, must I hesitate?_ …supposedly the first use of the word “psychedelic” on a recording. ---
**Author:** ![uberDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f04885/32.png) [@uberDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uberDave)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/2 "2000-12-13T18:48:35Z")
Its got to be by **Hot Tuna**. Dave ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/3 "2000-12-13T18:59:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by uberDave \* > \*\* > Its got to be by **Hot Tuna**. > > Dave \*\* Ditto. They also have the best _I Know You Rider_ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/4 "2000-12-13T19:42:39Z")
Aw, fer Pete’s sake . . . OK, Ike, which is the better recording: “Castle House Rag,” or “Too Much Mustard,” both recorded by James Reese Europe (and both danced to by Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle)? I’LL give ya obscure and esoteric, if that’s the way ya wanna play . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/5 "2000-12-13T20:57:57Z")
Damnation! I was SURE that **Eve** was going to make it a hat trick for **Hot Tuna.** She once confided in me that she had a “thing” for Jorma Kaukonen… Seriously, Eve, your choice would probably be the version by **The Pasadena Roof Orchestra.** In addition to “Hesitation Blues,” their repetoire includes “When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam’,” “She’s a Latin from Manhattan,” and “You Ought to See Sally on Sunday.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/6 "2000-12-13T21:04:28Z")
Oooo! Do they do covers of “Since Maggie Dooley Learned the Hooley-Hooley” or “I’ve Got a Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle?” By the way, that bo’ from the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra—whom I met at a loft party in New Orleans—never got back to me, so I have no idea where to buy THEIR stuff! Mmmm . . . Jorma Kaukonen . . . ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/7 "2000-12-13T21:28:14Z")
The best I ever heard was at the (now unfortunately defunct) bluegrass jam that used to happen behind the firehouse up the street every third night. (The firefighters arranged the shifts so that all the pickers were on at the same time.) One of the older fellows played the harp and sang; his voice had an eerie, whiny quality to it that I’ve never been able to forget. “Hesitation Blues” is the one of his I remember. Living in Kentucky is pretty cool sometimes. (Oh, and Ike–I worked at the Bluegrass Sessions show last week, featuring Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Mark Schatz, Stuart Duncan, and Bryan Sutton . I don’t suppose I need to tell you how cool that was. Got to hang out with Mr. Fleck after the show.) Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-hesitation-blues/45385/8 "2000-12-13T21:45:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **By the way, that bo’ from the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra—whom I met at a loft party in New Orleans—never got back to me, so I have no idea where to buy THEIR stuff!** I assume you’ve e-mailed the address on their [web site](http://hometown.aol.com/JCraft9586/NewLeviathan.html)?