MILB: "Save My Soul" by Blues Saraceno

Usually I try to stay away from songs by someone who was once the guitarist for Poison, but I'll make an exception in this case.

Blues Saraceno is a guitar wunder-kind.  He was discovered by Guitar for the Practicing Musician Magazine at the age of 16, and they helped bring him to the world.  (If he'd been born 20 years later, he'd have been big on YouTube.)  He got to play with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker from Cream (who would know something about decent guitar players, I'd like to think).  He also played with Poison, but I won't hold that against him.

I came across this song while watching the History Channel on Sunday.  It's the theme song to a mini-series entitled: "The Men Who Made America."  Decent little mini-series, and the theme song REALLY fits it.  (The series focuses on Carnegie, J.D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Vanderbilt and JP Morgan.)  Anyways, it's a down and dirty blues song, with harmonica and a great guitar going through it.

Blues songs can be basically broken into two themes: Heartache, or dealing with the devil.  This sounds like both put together.  Definite influences from John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson.  The lyrics, which are good, are actually incidental.  You don't need them to feel this song.  The music is just that powerful.  However, when you get to the chorus, you hear the blues really kick in.

"He said:I can't take you to heaven/I can't save your soul/I can't promise forever/Hey, yeah save my soul/Hey now, whoa save my soul/Got my heart in your hands/I can't feel my soul"

That some pretty good stuff, don't you think?  When I first heard it, I had to see what it was.  The music has a dirty feel to it, so you get the real gin joint feel to it.  Almost expect it to have cigarette smoke coming off it.  Anyways, this song really moves, and of course has the upswing with the chorus that all blues records have.  So you know it's going to be good.

If you like old school blues, you'll like this song.  If you don't you still might like it.  The guys from Cream can't be wrong about a guitarist, can they?