"San Francisco Bay Blues" is an American folk song and is generally considered to be the most famous composition by Jesse Fuller. Fuller first recorded the song in 1954 (released 1955) for a small label called World Song. The song was brought into wider popularity in the early 1960s by club performances by Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Bob Dylan, and Jim Kweskin. Recorded covers have been performed by many artists including The Blues Band, Paul Jones, The Weavers, The Brothers Four, Paul Clayton, Richie Havens, Eric Clapton, The Flatlanders, Paul McCartney, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Mungo Jerry, Glenn Yarborough, George Ellias, Phoebe Snow, The Wave Pictures, The Halifax III and Eva Cassidy. A "one-man band" rendition of the song featuring a kazoo solo was recorded by Fuller himself in a 1962 concert. This has been included in a Smithsonian Folkways compilation, Friends of Old Time Music.
Famous quotes containing the words san francisco, san, francisco, bay and/or blues:
“We had won. Pimps got out of their polished cars and walked the streets of San Francisco only a little uneasy at the unusual exercise. Gamblers, ignoring their sensitive fingers, shook hands with shoeshine boys.... Beauticians spoke to the shipyard workers, who in turn spoke to the easy ladies.... I thought if war did not include killing, I’d like to see one every year. Something like a festival.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“We had won. Pimps got out of their polished cars and walked the streets of San Francisco only a little uneasy at the unusual exercise. Gamblers, ignoring their sensitive fingers, shook hands with shoeshine boys.... Beauticians spoke to the shipyard workers, who in turn spoke to the easy ladies.... I thought if war did not include killing, I’d like to see one every year. Something like a festival.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Today, San Francisco has experienced a double tragedy of incredible proportions. As acting mayor, I order an immediate state of mourning in our city. The city and county of San Francisco must and will pull itself together at this time. We will carry on as best as we possibly can.... I think we all have to share the same sense of shame and the same sense of outrage.”
—Dianne Feinstein (b. 1933)
“The very dogs that sullenly bay the moon from farm-yards in these nights excite more heroism in our breasts than all the civil exhortations or war sermons of the age.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Holly Golightly: You know those days when you’ve got the mean reds?
Paul: The mean reds? You mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No, the blues are because you’re getting fat or maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of.”
—George Axelrod (b. 1922)