Peter Green & Fleetwood Mac - Show-Biz Blues

Having taken a temporary break from listening exclusively to Bob Dylan ('The Cutting Edge'), Drive-By Truckers ('It's Great to Be Alive') and Pere Ubu (Elitism for the People'), I have delved into some old Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green era) material. Perhaps it was because I had been immersed in the way Dylan's songs developed in the course of various studio takes, that I was particularly drawn to a Peter Green song entitled 'Show Biz Blues'. This track went through numerous changes before  appearing on the often overlooked 1969 album 'Then Play On' which was the first to feature Danny Kirwan and the last to feature Green himself.

Much has been made of Green's state of mind in the lead up to his departure from what had become a very successful band. People usually quote the melancholy lyrics of 'Man of the World' or the nightmare surrealism of 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)' to illustrate how Green was feeling at this time. They are of course absolutely correct to do so, yet I feel that 'Show Biz Blues' demonstrates just as clearly how confused and disillusioned he had become.

The recording sessions for the song took place in early to mid 1969 and listening to early versions, it is clear that it went through various changes before it's final appearance on the album released in September that year. For example, the song originally bore the title 'Do You Give a Damn For Me' which appears in two different versions on the companion compilation albums 'The Vaudeville Years of Fleetwood Mac' and 'Show-Biz Blues - Fleetwood Mac 1968- 1970'. By take 12 which features on the latter, the song had changed little but in the third verse, Green sang "If I needed anybody, I would take you home with me, ...... I don't need nobody, I don't need anybody but old me".

Do You Give A Damn For Me - Fleetwood Mac

Significantly the tempo had slowed slightly by the next version which was recorded in June 1969 and the lyrics had also altered to "... I don't need nobody, I don't need anybody 'cept Him and me". To add further significance to this alteration, the song title had also changed to 'Him and Me'. As Green himself admits, he had found God and went from being fiercely independent to acknowledging that he needed someone or something in his life. However in 1969, being into God wasn't considered especially hip so for the final version the title was changed yet again to 'Show-biz Blues' and the mood of the song was lifted by the addition of percussion in the form of tambourine and handclaps. By 1970, God had also been replaced in Green's life by LSD. His use of the drug may have ultimately led to Green's breakdown and departure from the group, but thankfully, after a period of illness, he did emerge to tell the tale.

Here is the final album version:
Show Biz Blues - Fleetwood Mac

Listening to it again after all these years, I am struck not only by what a great song it is  but also that it features some terrific slide guitar playing from Green, incorporating elements of Skip James and Bukka White among others. 

One sad postscript to the story of this song, concerns Rory Gallagher who himself recorded a version in 1994 for a Peter Green tribute album, 'Rattlesnake Guitar'. The words in this version are changed significantly but in the final verse Gallagher sings "Tell me anybody, do you really give a damn for me. I'll tell you a story, ..... my soul is killing me".

Showbiz Blues - Rory Gallagher

Sadly these words were to prove prophetic as by the following June, Gallagher was dead.