About this design
Watching Muddy Waters sing You Can't Lose What You Ain't Had on a derelict, probably post Beeching Plan, railway station in 1964 for British television I am struck by several things. The perfect delivery of Muddy Waters and the band, the location, the billy goat tethered at one end of the station, the audience on the opposite platform, the dead or alive posters, the old boy in his rocking chair, Muddy in his trilby and rain coat and the band apparently quite unfazed by the improvised stage, the broken windows and the roof long since nicked.
As a whole or in part the show is astonishing. Contrast this with today's silly and over produced music videos – all style, no substance, and strictly CGI soul. What happened to the director and producer of this show? If they did not go on to fame and appreciation there is no justice. Irrespective of whether you like the music you would have to say the staging here is imaginative and engaging. Perfect.
You Can't Lose What You Ain't Had, but Muddy, it is often the case you don't appreciate what you had until you lose it...
Show your appreciation for one of the key men who gave us rock and roll and put something extra in our lives: buy and wear our Muddy Waters t shirt.