"San Francisco Bay Blues" is an American folk song and is generally considered to be the most famous composition by Jesse Fuller. Peter Siegel, liner notes to Friends of Old Time Music (Smithsonian Folkways, SFW40160) (notes/smithsonian_folkways/SFW40160.pdf" target="_blank">link) Fuller first recorded the song in the mid-1950s for a small label called World Song. The song was brought into wider popularity in the early 1960s by club performances by _Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Bob Dylan, and Jim Kweskin. Recorded covers have been performed by many artists including Richie Havens, Eric Clapton, The Flatlanders, Paul McCartney, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Peter, Paul, and Mary.
A "one-man band" rendition of the song featuring a kazoo solo was recorded by Fuller himself in a 1962 concert. This has been included in a Smithsonian Folkways compilation, Friends of Old Time Music.
