<P> Whatever his origin and background , by 1934 Gordon was signed to a recording contract . Apart from one Bluebird side at the beginning of his recording career , all of Gordon 's pre-war work was released by Decca . Gordon 's backing ensembles , sometimes billed as the Vip Vop Band , variously included such notable blues and jazz musicians as Scrapper Blackwell , the brothers Papa Charlie McCoy and Kansas Joe McCoy , members of the Harlem Hamfats , Frankie Newton , Pete Brown , Buster Bennett , and the drummer Zutty Singleton . This ability to base backing units around a jazz - blues fusion of musicians was started by the Harlem Hamfats , but Gordon 's use of this arrangement proved the basis for many later blues bands . His most commercially successful number was a song he wrote , `` I 'd Rather Drink Muddy Water '' , in 1936 His ability to raise social issues in his songs is shown by `` Do n't Take Away My P.W.A. '' ( 1936 ) , a homage of sorts to the Public Works Administration ( P.W.A. ) , a large - scale public works construction agency in the United States in the Great Depression of the 1930s . </P>
<P> Whatever his origin and background , by 1934 Gordon was signed to a recording contract . Apart from one Bluebird side at the beginning of his recording career , all of Gordon 's pre-war work was released by Decca . Gordon 's backing ensembles , sometimes billed as the Vip Vop Band , variously included such notable blues and jazz musicians as Scrapper Blackwell , the brothers Papa Charlie McCoy and Kansas Joe McCoy , members of the Harlem Hamfats , Frankie Newton , Pete Brown , Buster Bennett , and the drummer Zutty Singleton . This ability to base backing units around a jazz - blues fusion of musicians was started by the Harlem Hamfats , but Gordon 's use of this arrangement proved the basis for many later blues bands . His most commercially successful number was a song he wrote , `` I 'd Rather Drink Muddy Water '' , in 1936 His ability to raise social issues in his songs is shown by `` Do n't Take Away My P.W.A. '' ( 1936 ) , a homage of sorts to the Public Works Administration ( P.W.A. ) , a large - scale public works construction agency in the United States in the Great Depression of the 1930s . </P>
who wrote i 'd rather drink muddy water
who wrote i 'd rather drink muddy water
Gordon
Gordon