Shake Your Money Maker

"Shake Your Money Maker" was released by Elmore James in 1961. Although it is has become a standard Chicago blues number, it was actually recorded by Enjoy Records, a small label run out of Bobby Robinson's Harlem record shop (Robinson shared writing credit with James, which was not unusual for producers in that era). It is based on an earlier song by Chicago's Shakey Jake Harris called "Roll Your Moneymaker," a line that can still be heard in some of the later covers.

 

 

In 1958, Shakey Jake and Willie Dixon recorded "Roll Your Money Maker" for Artistic Records, an independent label based on Chicago's West Side, during Dixon's brief hiatus from the better known and much better distributed Chess label (started by immigrants Phil and Leonard Chess on South Cottage Grove Avenue in Bronzeville, and later famously headquartered at 2120 S. Michigan).

 

6 Comments

  1. Sutton David

    I guess that leaves Rattle Your Money Maker.

  2. Patrick S. O'Donnell

    I see it was the last song here but let's not forget Magic Sam!

  3. Patrick S. O'Donnell

    … playing guitar (one of the voices too?)

  4. Steve L.

    Sorry about the delay, Patrick. Link was stuck in the spam folder.

  5. Alexander Tsesis

    God love ya for sharing this classic blues, Steve. Thanks for posting these gifted performances.

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