It was first recorded by Amos Milburn, one of those guys who was an R&B hit-maker just before rock ‘n’ roll took off, probably the biggest influence on Fats Domino. I never heard him (of even of him) until long after the event, and then it was like, hey, what have I been cheated out of? Marvellous pinao player and laid back vocalist.

But he didn’t write the song, Rudy Toombs did. One of the great unknowns, who wrote Teardrops in Your Eyes for Ruth Brown, Rudy also wrote one of the best drinking songs of all, One Mint Julep.

Every line’s a winner and especially this couplet:

I didn’t know what I was doin’, all I knew was, I faced ruin.
One Mint Julep was the start of it all.

Anyway, back to your song. John Lee Hooker picked up on it, claimed to have written it, and it’s his version that George Thorogood worked over. But that bit about back rent and front rent – George added that himself.

Charlie G