Ain’t That A Bitch is taken from the title song of John Guitar Watson’s album. Johnny Guitar Watson’s career went back to the early 50’s in Houston. He was born February 3, 1935 in Houston, Texas and died May 17, 1996 in Yokohama, Japan. His outstanding musical talents are comparable to those of Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton and B.B. King. He was a musical genius who literally made his guitar talk.
Why am I blogging about this great musician today? It’s simple, I can’t get his song out of my head. It all started last night when I went to a local food and liquor store, as they call it in Chicago, to buy a 24-pack of 1 pt. Ice Mountain natural spring bottle water. The water that I purchased was on sale for $3.40. I almost had a heart attack when I noticed my receipt with a tax of $1.20 for a $3.40 item. Normally the average cost of a 24-pack of water in Chicago will go from $3.99 to $5.19.
I did not realized that Chicago has earned the notorious position of the state with the highest taxes in the United States of America. Chicago officials voted to double the county sales tax to 1.75% putting their total sales tax bite at a whopping 10.25%. Chicago imposed a .5 cents tax on each bottle of water PLUS tax. According to the city, the goal is to secure an extra $10.5 million annually to help the city plug a budget hole by building on the growing disdain for environmentally suspect bottles. Now, I am starting to understand why most Chicagoan grocery shop next door in Indiana.
That said, you might asked what does the late great Johnny Guitar Watson have to do with Chicago and its ridiculous high taxes?
In 1976 Johnny Guitar Watson released the album ‘Ain’t That A Bitch’ on DJM Records. It was that album that changed his recording career. That song speaks to Chicago’s high standard cost of living.
Below is the lyrics to his song ‘Ain’t That A Bitch’.
Lord have mercy, I can’t get ahead, no way I try
Everything is out of pocket, somebody do somethin’
The brother’s situation is abstract, listen, mm
Listen, I’m workin’ 40 hours, six long days
And I’m highly embarrassed ev’rytime I get my pay
And they’re workin’ everybody
Lord, they’re workin’ poor folks to death
And when you pay your rent and your car
Note, you ain’t got a damn thing left
Ain’t that a bitch -- yes it is
Somebody doin’ somethin’ slick --
It’s got me wonderin’, which is which
Might as well go uptown and dig a ditch
Ain’t that a bitch -- yes it is -- now ain’t that a bitch
But let me tell you about my qualifications
I program computers
I know accounting and psychology
I took a course in business
And I can speak a little Japanese --
Got to work two years to get one week off with pay
And when I’m on my job, I better watch every word I say
Ain’t that a bitch -- ha ha, boy
Somebody doin’ somethin’ slick -- downtown
It’s got me wonderin’, which is which
Might as well go uptown and dig a ditch
Ain’t that a bitch -- it’s way too cold -- ain’t that a bitch
Make me wanna holler
Ah Lord, Lord, Lord, have mercy to see
Won’t somebody please help me to see now, Lord
I wanna play the guitar, come here guitar
Aw, somebody doin’ somethin’ slick
Now listen at this
Stopped at the supermarket to get myself somethin’ to eat
And when I looked at the prices, it knocked me off of my feet
I was in the bologna section, and I had to take myself a close look
Now Abdul Jabar couldn’t have made these prices with a sky hook
Ain’t that a bitch -- he he, yes it is
Somebody doin’ somethin’ slick --
It’s got me wonderin’, which is which
Might as well go uptown and dig a ditch
Ain’t that a bitch -- hm -- so ain’t that a bitch
Oh, ain’t that a ——-- bitch
Sure is somethin’ slick goin’ on, sure is somethin’ slick
Sure is somethin’ slick goin’ on, sure is somethin’ slick
Ain’t that a ——-- bitch
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I have never been to Chicago before, but I have heard about their parking meter issue and how you will need a bucket full of quarters to park….Ain’t that a bitch!