Magic: Hoochie Coochie Man

Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Man

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Our theme this week is open to many musical genres. My first thought was folk music, and I will get to that later this week. But there is plenty of magic in blues songs as well. Many of the folk beliefs of Africa survived here in the United States as hoodoo, and those beliefs are central to Muddy Waters’ classic Hoochie Coochie Man. Here is a man whose enchanted nature is prophesied before his birth. The circumstances of his birth, (all those sevens!), only reinforce this. As an adult, he carries a list of magic items: a black cat bone, John the Conqueror root, and a mojo. All of these are said to magically enhance male sexual potency and attractiveness. And that’s “what it’s all about”.