spoonful n : as much as a spoon will hold; "he added two spoons of sugar" [syn: spoon]

English

Noun

1. the amount that a spoon will hold, either level or heaped

Derived terms

• dessertspoonful
• tablespoonful
• teaspoonful

Translations

• French: cuillerée

"Spoonful" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and lyrically based on Charley Patton's "Spoonful Blues". It is commonly associated with Howlin' Wolf, Dixon's longtime collaborator, who first recorded the song in 1960 (as Chess single 1762), and later included it in his album Howlin' Wolf (1962), as called the "Rockin' Chair Album". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed it as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.

Performing with Howlin' Wolf's vocals on the single are Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums).

Cream was also a longtime champion of "Spoonful". The band first covered the song on its 1966 debut album, Fresh Cream. As a pioneering blues-rock jam band, Cream's concert improvisations on "Spoonful" could reach past the fifteen-minute mark, with the Winterland-live version on 1968's Wheels of Fire clocking in at nearly seventeen minutes.

It has also been recorded by artists such as Etta James (At Last!), the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Canned Heat, the Allman Joys, Ten Years After, Gov't Mule, The Who, Johnny Diesel (Short Cool Ones) and Blues Creation.

References