See See Rider

For the British band, see See See Rider (band).

"See See Rider Blues"
Single by Ma Rainey
B-side	"Jealous Hearted Blues"
Released	1924 (1924)–1925
Format	10" 78 rpm record
Recorded	October 16, 1924
Genre	Blues
Length	3:16
Label	Paramount (cat. no. 12252)
Writer(s)	Ma Rainey, Lena Arant
Ma Rainey singles chronology
"Booze and Blues"/ "Toad Frog Blues" (1924) "See See Rider Blues" (1924) "Cell Bound Blues"/ "Ya Da Do" (1924)

"See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues song. It was first recorded by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey in 1924 and has since been recorded by many other artists.

The song uses mostly traditional blues lyrics to tell the story of an unfaithful lover, commonly called an easy rider: "See see rider, see what you have done," making a play on the word see and the sound of easy.

Versions of the song

"See See Rider"
Single by The Animals
from the album Animalization
A-side	"Help Me Girl" (UK)
B-side	"She'll Return It" (USA)
Released	September 1966
Format	7" single
Genre	R&B, rock, soul, hard rock
Length	4:00 (album), 2:51 (single)
Label	MGM
Writer(s)	Ma Rainey
Producer(s)	Tom Wilson
The Animals singles chronology
"Don't Bring Me Down" (1966) "See See Rider" (1966) "Help Me Girl" (1966)

The song is generally regarded as being traditional in origin. Ma Rainey's version, "See See Rider Blues", became popular in 1925. It became one of the most famous of all blues songs, with well over 100 versions. It was recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly, Lightnin' Hopkins, Peggy Lee and many others. Broonzy claimed that "when he was about 9 or 10"—that is, around 1908, in the Delta (Jefferson County, Arkansas)—he learned to play the blues from an itinerant songster named "See See Rider", "a former slave, who played a one-string fiddle.... one of the first singers of what would later be called the blues.."

In 1943, a version by Wee Bea Booze was a number 1 hit on Billboard magazine's "Harlem Hit Parade," a precursor of the rhythm and blues chart. Some blues critics consider this to be the definitive version of the song.

A doo-wop version was recorded by Sonny Til and the Orioles in 1952. Later rocked-up hit versions were recorded by Chuck Willis (as "C.C. Rider," a number 1 R&B hit and a number 12 pop hit in 1957) and LaVern Baker (number 9 R&B and number 34 pop in 1963). Willis's version gave birth to the dance craze "The Stroll."

Other popular performances were recorded by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels (as part of the medley "Jenny Take a Ride!", number 10 US pop in 1965) and the Animals (number 10 US pop in 1966). The Animals' heavy version (featuring Eric Burdon's screaming and impressive keyboard accompaniment from Dave Rowberry) also reached number 1 on the Canadian RPM chart and number 8 in Australia. It was the last single recorded by the group before it disbanded in September 1966. The arrangement of the song was credited to Rowberry.

Other renditions were recorded by the Youngbloods, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Who, the Everly Brothers, the Kingsmen, Charlie Rich, Ian & Sylvia, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Leon Thomas, Cher, Snooks Eaglin, John Fahey, Old Crow Medicine Show, Drake Bell, Freda Payne, Chris Clark and many more. In his later years, Presley regularly opened his performances with the song, as in the performance captured on his 1970 album On Stage and in his television special Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite. Presley's version opened with a rolling drum riff by the drummer Ronnie Tutt followed by the band's entrance and Presley's famous brass melody. Similarly, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band long had "C.C. Rider" as part of their "Detroit Medley" encore, which achieved significant publicity on the 1980 live album No Nukes.

At the 1972 Sunbury festival in Victoria, Australia, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs played a heavy blues-rock version as a part of their late night set. This was released on the LP Aztecs Live at Sunbury.

American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield recorded a version for his 1983 album I'm in the Mood.

In 2004, the original Ma Rainey recording received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Origins of the term

The term see see rider is usually taken as synonymous with easy rider. In dirty blues songs it often refers to a woman who had liberal sexual views, had been married more than once, or was skilled at sex. Although Ma Rainey's version seems to refer to "See See Rider" as a man, one theory is that the term refers to a prostitute and in the lyric "You made me love you, now your man done come," "your man" refers to the woman's pimp. So, rather than being directed to a male "easy rider," the song is in fact an admonition to a prostitute to give up her evil ways.

There are further theories:

• Easy rider was sometimes used to refer to the partner of a hypersexual woman who therefore does not have to work or pay for sex.
• Another incorrect theory is that the term easy rider sometimes originally referred to the guitar hung across the back of a travelling blues singer.
• Other confused sources indicate that C.C. Rider refers to early "country circuit" riding preachers in the nineteenth century, who traveled on horseback to towns that did not have established churches.
• The Grateful Dead often played the songs "China Cat Sunflower" and "I Know You Rider" in succession, but this combination was referred to as "China>Rider" amongst Grateful Dead fans. The setlist entry "C.C. Rider" refers to the Grateful Dead's version of "C.C. Rider", sung by Bob Weir.

Other references to the song

The film director Martin Scorsese credited the song with stimulating his interest in music. He later said:

"One day, around 1958, I remember hearing something that was unlike anything I'd ever heard before...The music was demanding, "Listen to me!"...The song was called "See See Rider," which I already knew from the Chuck Willis cover version. The name of the singer was Lead Belly...I found an old Folkways record by Lead Belly...And I listened to it obsessively. Lead Belly's music opened something up for me. If I could have played guitar, really played it, I never would have become a filmmaker."

A chapter in Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America is entitled "Sea, Sea Rider."

There is a public transit agency in northwestern Oregon called CC Rider (shortened from Columbia County Rider).

See also

• I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone
• R&B number-one hits of 1943 (USA)