The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – I Got A Mind To Give Up Living

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – I Got A Mind To Give Up Living, from the album East-West (1966)

Blues is often best experienced live, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was as good a live band as anyone of their era. The song was recorded in, as the title suggests, 1966, most likely before the release of their East-West album. It’s not exactly dance or party music. It has on when drinking a cup of coffee music or driving to work music. It’s passionate and energetic, but it’s still the rough yet refined kind of musicianship to our contemplation.

Lyrics
I’ve got a mind to give up living
And go shopping instead
I’ve got a mind to give up living
And go shopping instead
Pick me up a tombstone
And be pronounced dead

Well, I read your letter this morning
That was on your place in bed
Oh, when I read your letter this morning
That was on your place in bed
That’s when I decided that I’d be better off dead

Oh, yeah
When I read your letter this morning
That was on your place in bed
Yes, when I read your letter this morning
That was on your place in bed
That’s when I decided that I’d be better off dead

It read, “There is no use looking or ever hoping
Or ever hoping to get me back”
“Oh, no use looking, baby
Or ever hoping to get me back
Because it’s all over now
And, baby, you can bet on that”
Oh, yeah

Songwriters: Nat Adderley
I Got a Mind to Give Up Living lyrics © Gopam Enterprises Inc