...Stevie Ray Vaugn. That dude is all over this song. This has just occurred to me, but I'm sure others have felt the same.
[Edited 5/7/10 23:56pm]

I love this song! I have no idea who Stevie Ray is though.

Interesting! I never thought about that until now, but yea it could be. The same way "Dreamer" is clearly influenced by Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Child", "Zannalee" could be his blues-rock number that had Stevie Ray in mind, or even Buddy Guy. I'm not really schooled in blues-rock but those are the 2 artists that come 2 mind when I hear that song. Great either way! I love the version he did on the Today Show in 1996. Just a shame his guitar wasn't turned up in the mix until the last few seconds of a blistering solo.

dance4me3121 said:

Oh you did NOT just say that! You need to start digging!

ernestsewell said:

sorry ernest,im only 20 !

dance4me3121 said:

I have no idea who he is, either.

I'm not extremely familiar with Stevie Ray Vaughn but I know "Pride and Joy" and "Zannalee" (the unreleased version of course) defintely wouldn't sound out of place if played back to back with that one.

dance4me3121 said:

Then may I introduce you?







Enjoy.

omg! i mentioned this to my dad and he didn't really agree. but i TOTALLY see what you mean. i also feel like "witness for the prosecution" has a bit of a stevie ray feel to it.

beener04 said:

I hear Jimi-by-way-of-Stevie (maybe) on "Witness."

Zannalee, though? That solo reminds me more of Clapton or Beck.

sexyfunkystrange said:

I've never seen that video before, hilarious!

THIS is absolute BRILLIANCE !!!
I practically weep everytime I listen 2 this !!


[Edited 5/8/10 18:47pm]

I think it's a bit of a reach to say that Stevie Ray Vaughan had much of an influence on "Zannallee." I suppose it's possible but to my ears it's just a blues rock song. Stevie certainly didn't invent the genre and I'm sure Prince heard lots of that type of music in his formative years in the '60s and '70s.

Is there any particular part of the song that you think sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan?

I get the blues style connection but as for a tribute.. not so much.

nosajd said:

agreed.

I always thought it was more of a tribute to hot threesomes with cute twins neither of which is Stevie Ray Vaughn.

rialb said:

If truth must be told , it is in reality, Hendrix's influence one is hearing in Zannalee. The lyrical and musical structure, swagger and style is a direct nod to "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)".
The song that created the "genre".
From the lone wah-wah pedal intro.. to the first bar of the verse where the guitar accompanies the lyric melody. Zannalee is anything but Voodoo Chile tribute.

People cant help of think of Stevie though because no else since has had as FAT a tone as Hendrix since Stevie. And Stevie was greatly influenced by Hendrix as well.

sexyfunkystrange said:

I have to disagree with your assertion that "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" created the blues rock genre. Heck, it's not even the first Hendrix blues rock song. ("Red House" maybe?)
Also, there were other artists messing with blues rock prior to Hendrix. I won't claim to know who created it but groups like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Cream and Canned Heat were doing blues rock prior to Hendrix. I think you can make a reasonable case that Bob Dylan was doing blues rock in 1965 and 1966 and Chuck Berry probably did what you could call blues rock around the same time, maybe even a little earlier.

beener04 said:

IT DOES!.... I love it when I can see nods by one musician to another. All respectfully done and that's it. No need to actually collaborate. Their musical conversation as it stands is damn good enough.

ThreadBare said:

Not the solo by itself. The whole creation, everything involved. The guitar is not the same cuz Prince is still doing Prince but with a nod to Stevie ray Vaugn's style. Incorporating the 2 in a great, respectful way.

HonestMan13 said:

...I love it...nice one!

I stand by my statement. I see it as a nod To SRV.

rialb said:

In the case of "Zannalee" none of these examples apply. When i said "genre"
I may have been somewhat imprecise, but not by much. I could have said the song that created the model instead.
Either way, its essentially the same thing in regards to Zannalee.
Red House is not "rock", it is electrified blues. No different than what was coming out of that whole movement in Chicago in the 50's.
Canned Heat, Chuck, Dylan were the same way. Straight ahead blues music, only amplified. Its not the same.
Voodoo Chile is distinctly different, because it "rocks", in the straight descriptive musical sense.
The loud, pounding drums, the fat, wailing, distorted guitar tone, the swagger attitude. Sonically in a different ballpark.


It is from this ballpark that sprung a song like "Zannalee".

sexyfunkystrange said:

I think you are splitting hairs. "Red House," while similar, certainly sounds more rock than what Muddy Waters and others were doing in the '50s. I strongly disagree that Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and, to a slightly lesser degree, Canned Heat were "straight ahead blues music." Each of them brought a rock influence to the blues. Surely you can see that there were the basics of blues rock laid down before Jimi Hendrix started recording in late 1966?

To my ears "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" is heavier than blues rock. It sounds like proto heavy metal.
[Edited 5/9/10 17:39pm]

this has turned out to be a great debate!

dance4me3121 said:

i'm 16 and that man is one of my heroes

BobGeorge909 said:

Yeah, but Prince was so heavily influenced by Jimi, it's hard for me to see past that. And, the power-trio approach was minted by Jimi. But, I agree with the possibility of what you say, at least.

rialb said:

Oh definately, without question I agree with you that the "basics" of blues rock were laid before Jimi. But I think the very ingredient you assign as being "proto heavy metal", is the very essence of the point here. Its not splitting hairs.
Its that very ingredient that makes it "ROCK" music. Not rock and roll. Not rocking blues.

Blues ROCK!

Dylan, Chuck, Canned Heat, Paul Butterfield, etc. Prior to Jimi, they shuffled hard, at best.
But they didnt ROCK.

You may see Voodoo Chile as proto heavy metal, but thats only because so many heavy metal soloists ( if not all rock guitarists) were influenced by Jimi so enormously.
In fact, Stevie Ray Vaughn is a perfect example of this, with him being interpreted as the influence for "Zannalee".
Stevie even recorded an incredible cover of Voodoo Chile on his second album.




All Im sayin is in composition, sonics and lyrical rythm, from the opening wah wah riff and so on, Zannalee is modeled on Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).
Play Zanalee next to Vodoo Chile and compare them for yourself.
[Edited 5/9/10 18:43pm]

sexyfunkystrange said:

I did exactly that which is what lead me to the thought of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" being proto heavy metal. It seems quite a bit heavier than "Zannalee" which is partly due to the drums (as you pointed out). That's also why I thought of "Red House." Obviously "Zannalee" is a bit faster but I hear more similarities between it and "Red House" than "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." Again, as you pointed out "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" rocks quite hard where I see "Zannalee" as being a bit more of a groover. I don't know, maybe "Zannalee" is half way between the two songs?

Could be , and The Same December is a tribute/parody of Guns N'Roses...