ABSTRACT
Barely a month later, Walter was back in the studio; once more the session began with a blues standard, this time a remake of St. Louis Jimmy's 1941Bluebird recording "Going Down Slow."Originally a slow, mournful blues, Walter's version is a bouncing shuffle, with the guitar chopping out staccato chords through the verses.Walter plays a nice two-chorus amplified solo, putting the tremolo effect on his amp to good use. Listening to Walter's vocal, with its whiskey rasp, makes the tune especially poignant. As upbeat as the delivery may be, the true meaning in the lyrics of the singer's failing health and fortunes isn't far from the surface."You're Sweet" finds Walter experimenting with some interesting licks in third position. Although Walter fluffs a lyric in the first verse, the tune is solid and sounds comparable to the previous month's efforts. Apparently Chess didn't see it that way-possibly due to the harsh, poorly recorded sound of the vocal-and both of these recordings went into Walter's growing stockpile of tunes that were left on the shelf.
