Sail Away with Brownie and Sonny

I've just been reminded (by Michael Gray on his blog, Bob Dylan Encyclopedia) that Brownie McGhee would have been 95 years old on November 30. He was born in 1915.

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee  recorded a moving version of Randy Newman's deeply ironical song Sail Away

Is that a thumb piano at the beginning of the Sonny and Brownie version (NB no longer on YouTube) and at the end? A brilliant and subtle way to link Africa with America and to represent the slave-ship's ocean crossing- and the crossing of musical and cultural traditions.

Good it to hear it again, as I watch the snow falling outside my window.

It's from the outstanding album "Sonny and Brownie", which also includes their version of one of my favourite soul songs, Bring it on home to me, (other memorable versions are by Sam Cooke, The Animals etc).

White Boy Lost in the Blues

One of their swinging oldies, Mean Ole Frisco