Skip James, Mississippi Blues Giant, is Buried in Bala Cynwyd – He Wrote Eric Clapton’s Hit Song, I’m So Glad

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker; AKA Cream, recorded  I’m So Glad on their 1966 album, Fresh Cream. Mississippi “Blues Man” Skip James wrote and recorded the song in 1931.

There is very little known about what James was up to between 1931 and 1964.  Ian Tasker writes in Herecomesthesong.com  “In April 1964 Nehemiah ‘Skip’ James was not a happy man. Holed up in the Tunica County Hospital in north-west Mississippi, ravaged by a cancer that had left a tumorous growth on his penis, the 61-year-old had little money, few friends, fewer prospects and a simmering anger at the injustice of it all. His unfortunate affliction – which ultimately led to castration – he blamed on an ex-girlfriend against whom he vowed a murderous revenge.”

That’s when three young white kids in search of authentic “blues men,” found him, brought him North, and helped Skip James launch a second career that brought him far more fame and fortune than his first one did.