"The real Folk Blues can only be understood properly by knowing what Folk Blues really is. To be a folk song, it must be handed down from one to another. Most of the time, each performer will deliver these songs in his own way. They will add or take away or rearrange these songs to suit their feelings.

"But the blues is a heritage of my people. That is the only traditional music the American people have, and the rest of the American music all came from the blues. Years ago, these blues may have been sung to a banjo, or a guitar, or a harmonica, but the blues, like the people of this country, changes to suit the changing ways of the world, and I say no one is more able or capable of putting these blues to the test around the world than Muddy Waters.

"As you know, I have traveled with the blues all over the world and I feel that Muddy Waters, like myself, can't help but have the real blues because he inherited the blues from many generations of poverty-stricken people. The ability to deliver the blues with this depth of feeling can't be learned from books or schools. You may learn to imitate, but without this feeling, you cannot duplicate the blues. You can find people who can play rings around these blues artists with their guitars and other instruments, and can sing clearer and have better voices, but they can't duplicate that real, inherited soul, heard in Screaming And Crying or Just To Be With You or 40 Days and 40 Nights.

"The soul of a man is the blues and Muddy Waters sings these songs with soul. As you listen to Muddy Waters, you will hear traces of the oldest forms in the blues field, and you can also hear traces of the changes that have taken place as these blues passed through time. And even when you hear what is called 'modern city blues', as the blues are today, you will notice that the blues vary, but still keep their own feeling.

"Muddy Waters, in Same Thing, emphasizes the fact that the world seems to fight about the same things. Muddy Waters is looking deep into the facts of life. As all men know, a lot of times we wonder about and think many things that we dare not say, especially about girls, but in this song, the problem seems to be solved with 'The Same Thing.'

"There are so many things expressed in real Folk Blues that if the story doesn't reach you, it will reach others of various experiences, whether they are Folks or People. To sum it all up, listen for yourself and you will understand THE REAL FOLK BLUES."

Chess Records/Willie Dixon