Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed’s songs such as “Honest I Do” (1957), “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (1960), “Big Boss Man” (1961), and “Bright Lights, Big City” (1961) appeared on both Billboard magazine’s rhythm and blues and Hot 100 singles charts.
Here some great cover versions of the 3 songs mentioned above.
Baby What You Want Me to Do
Bob Dylan
Universal Studios, Los Angeles, California – September 19, 1985
Farm Aid Rehearsals
Elvis Presley
’68 Comeback Special
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Etta James
June 18, 1982
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Bright Lights, Big City
Bob Dylan & Eric Clapton
Madison Square Garden, New York City – June 30, 1999
Eric Clapton & Friends To Benefit Crossroads Centre Antigua
The Rolling Stones
“IBC Studios” (March 11, 1963)
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Big Boss Man
Elvis Presley
alt version
Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, Lee Roy Parnell and Danny Dawson
Jimmie Vaughan & Omar Kent Dykes
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Thanks for this post! Love seeing Etta strut her stuff — no one could beat what she did. Watched her do a barefoot concert in St. Paul many years ago and later caught her outside the stage door to sign her latest CD. As her autobiography spells out, she was something. … The rehearsal footage of Bob playing around was even better. And the story is well known that Elvis was so nervous for his ’68 special that they told him to just slip into Baby What You Want Me to Do whenever he was at a loss for what to do. … Jimmy Reed tied all these things together perfectly,