Skip James Is So Glad

Almost a century ago, an irascible folk-blues singer from Mississippi totally nailed what it's like to get over a bad breakup

    Mr. Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James hailed from Bentonia, Mississippi (you know the place — it's about 16 miles south of Yazoo City on US-49), and played a particularly dark strain of the blues, which is really saying something.  After all, this is a man who wrote a song called “Little Cow and Calf Is Gonna Die Blues.”  Songs like "Devil Got My Woman" and "22.20 Blues" inspired some of Robert Johnson's most sinister tunes, which is really, really saying something.  So when Skip James says he's glad, it might be a little more complicated than it seems.
    James’ 1931 classic "I'm So Glad" owes a lot of its longevity to the fact that Cream covered it on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream and made it an extended staple of their live show right up to their final concert.  (And check Cream singer-bassist Jack Bruce's rip-roaring version on Live, Bochum, 1983); Deep Purple did a cover a couple of years later and, more recently, big-time Skip James fan Beck covered it too.  But no cover of "I'm So Glad" — even Memphis Minnie’s 1946 version — has bested James’ spellbinding fingerpicking, complete with rumbling bass line and a keening vocal that knifes through the soul.

    James' three-finger picking on this tune is intense, and it only picks up speed as the song goes on.  Notorious for shunning his colleagues, James was a competitive and irascible man who was fiercely protective of his techniques — blues scholars believe he played "I'm So Glad" with such high velocity because he wanted to make it difficult for rival musicians to figure out exactly what he was doing.
    But check out the complete lyrics to the song, repeated several times in different variations:

I'm so glad, and I am glad, I am glad, I'm glad
I don't know what to do, don't know what to do, I don't know what to do
I'm tired of weepin', tired of moanin', tired of groanin' for you

    Those lyrics — almost a mantra, really — perfectly capture that sweet moment of relief when you realize you're over a painful parting; but, as James notes, you have to exhaust your grief to get to that point.  And now what?  Now that you’re free from the ball and chain of your own misery?  You’re glad — elated, even — but also you don't know what to do.  Because you’re free and your whole future lies wide open before you once again, full of possibility.  It can be kind of overwhelming.  "I'm So Glad" nails that moment in near-haiku form.
    For a contrast with James' sentiment, check out early blues queen Ida Cox's variation — the reason she's so glad is because she "got her daddy back."  Lightweight!