Mick Hartley

The old blues classic, performed by Howlin' Wolf:

From 1966, with Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Sam Jones on sax, Andrew McMahon bass, and S.P.Leary drums. The guy in the hat at about 1:11 is Son House: you see more of him here.

Originally recorded by Robert Johnson in 1936 as I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, this is based on the Elmore James version from 1951 – the version that made the song a blues standard. It's one of the most copied of all blues riffs, especially by British bands in the Sixties. The second Fleetwood Mac album, Mr Wonderful, back in the Peter Green days, consisted almost entirely of songs based on the Dust My Broom formula. 

Yes, but what does it mean – dust my broom? It sounds rude, sure enough (polishing the broom handle, as it were), and with blues the rude version is usually the one to go for, but here it seems to mean just moving on:

Attempts have been made to read a hoodoo significance into the phrase "dust my broom". However, bluesman Big Joe Williams, who knew Johnson and was familiar with folk magic, explained it as "leaving for good … I'm putting you down, I won't be back no more".

Music writer Ted Gioia also likens the phrase to the biblical passages about shaking the dust from the feet and symbolizing "the rambling ways of the blues musician".