"Hesitation Blues" is a traditional tune that has been adapted over the years for ragtime, blues, jazz, jug band, and country music. Writing credit has been claimed by various composers, including W.C. Handy (see below). The lyrics vary widely, often adapting familiar couplets from other blues and folk songs, but the chorus is usually a recognizable variation: "Tell me how long/Do I have to wait/Can I get you now/Or must I hesitate?"
The first version I heard was by the Holy Modal Rounders, who made a virtue of forgetting original lyrics and making up their own. The Rounders were channeling Charlie Poole and the Carolina Ramblers -- the first country band to record for Columbia Records in New York. The Holy Modal version (at the bottom of this post) is generally credited as the first musical reference to psychedelia: "Got my psych-o-delic feet/In my psych-o-delic shoes/I believe lordy mama/Got the psych-o-delic blues."
Youthful duo:
Youthful solo:
This clip is from the famous "Typewriter Tape" of Janis Joplin and Jorma Kaukonen rehearsing for a coffee house gig in 1964, with Jorma's wife Margareta typing a letter to her family in the background:
I really like the tenor banjo solo in this clip.
Caution: This is an acquired taste:
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