Get Behind the Mule was originally a song by Tom Waits, taken from his 1999 album Mule Variations, which won a Grammy and was his first release on the label ANTI-. The song had a sultry blues sound with a dragging groove built around Waits' raw voice. The title referred to a remark about Robert Johnson, whose father complained that he did not want to plough behind the mule in the morning. The song was about perseverance. To mark the 25th anniversary of Mule Variations, an alternative version, Get Behind the Mule (Spiritual), was released in 2024.