Years ago I got into old blues tunes and one of my favorites was Muddy Waters' signature song, "Rollin' Stone", which came out in 1950. A year or two later I heard a song called "Deep Sea Blues" (I can't find the lyrics) done by someone named Tommy McClennan. It was from 1940 and it was basically the same song.
For years I wondered who the hell Tommy McClennan was and who wrote the song. My Muddy Waters album lists Waters as the author. I wondered if McClennan was actually Waters recording under a different name. Waters' real name was McKinley Morganfield. McKinley and McClennan are sort of similar. Kinda. Same guy?
Later, to confuse matters even more, I got a John Lee Hooker CD not that long ago with a song on it called "Catfish Blues", and it's the same song as "Rollin' Stone" and "Deep Sea Blues". The Hooker tune came out around 1950-51. Who wrote this damn song? (And the lyrics site I linked to above attributes it to Jimi Hendrix, who definitely didn't write it.
Well, yesterday I finally found an article on the song. The story ends up being far more complicated than I imagined.
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