The two are easy to distinguish. Williamson I played the harmonica acoustically and was essentially a pre-War artist. Williamson II was entirely an electrified harpist, in the style of Little Walter, reflecting the advent of the jukebox and electrified instruments following World War II.
(Compare the albums Sonny Boy Williamson I ~~ Sonny Boy Williamson II)
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Sonny Boy Williamson I (30 March 1914 - 1 June 1948)
also known as John Lee Curtis Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, born in Jackson, Tennessee, whose first record Good Morning little School Girl was a hit in 1937. He was widely popular throughout the whole southeast of the U.S., and was practically synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade, making his a commonly used stage name by the time he was murdered in 1948. He is buried at the Old Blairs Chapel Church, south west of Jackson, Tennessee.
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Sonny Boy Williamson II (11 March 1908 - 25 May 1965) also known as Willie Williamson, Willie Miller, Little Boy Blue, The Goat and Footsie.
Aleck "Rice" Miller was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.
Born as Aleck Ford to Millie Ford on the Sara Jones Plantation in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, his date and year of birth are a matter of uncertainty. He claimed to have been born on December 5, 1899, but one researcher, David Evans, claims to have found census record evidence that he was born around 1912. His gravestone lists his date of birth as March 11, 1908.
He lived and worked with his sharecropper stepfather, Jim Miller, whose last name he soon adopted, and mother, Millie Ford, until the early 1930s. Beginning in the 1930s, he traveled around Mississippi and Arkansas and encountered Big Joe Williams, Elmore James and Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, who would play guitar on his later Checker Records sides. He was also associated with Robert Johnson during this period. Miller developed his style and raffish stage persona during these years. Willie Dixon recalled seeing Lockwood and Miller playing for tips in Greenville, Mississippi in the 1930s. He entertained audiences with novelties such inserting one end of the harmonica into his mouth and playing with no hands.
In 1941 Miller was hired to play the King Biscuit Time show, advertising the King Biscuit brand of baking flour on radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas with Lockwood. It was at this point that the radio program's sponsor, Max Moore, began billing Miller as Sonny Boy Williamson, apparently in an attempt to capitalize on the fame of the well known Chicago-based harmonica player and singer John Lee Williamson (Sonny Boy Williamson I). Although John Lee Williamson was a major blues star who had already released dozens of successful and widely influential records under the name "Sonny Boy Williamson" from 1937 onward, Aleck Miller would later claim to have been the first to use the name, and some blues scholars believe that Miller's assertion he was born in 1899 was a ruse to convince audiences he was old enough to have used the name before John Lee Williamson, who was born in 1914 (this is made somewhat less likely, however, by the fact that Miller was certainly older than Williamson even if one does not accept the 1899 birthdate.) Whatever the methodology, Miller became commonly known as "Sonny Boy Williamson", and Lockwood and the rest of his band were billed as the King Biscuit Boys.
In 1949 he relocated to West Memphis, Arkansas and lived with his sister and her husband, Howlin' Wolf (later, for Checker Records, he did a parody of Howlin' Wolf entitled "Like Wolf"). Sonny Boy started his own KWEM radio show from 1948 to 1950 selling the elixir Hadacol.
Sonny Boy also brought his King Biscuit musician friends to West Memphis: Elmore James, Houston Stackhouse, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Robert Nighthawk and others, to perform on KWEM Radio.
In the 1940s Williamson married Mattie Gordon, who remained his wife until his death.
Williamson's first recording session took place in 1951 for Lillian McMurry of Jackson, Mississippi's Trumpet Records (three years after the death of John Lee Williamson, which for the first time allowed some legitimacy to Miller's carefully worded claim to being "the one and only Sonny Boy Williamson"). McMurry later erected Williamson's headstone, near Tutwiler, Mississippi, in 1977.
When Trumpet went bankrupt in 1955, Sonny Boy's recording contract was yielded to its creditors, who sold it to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. Sonny Boy had begun developing a following in Chicago beginning in 1953, when he appeared there as a member of Elmore James's band. It was during his Chess years that he enjoyed his greatest success and acclaim, recording about 70 songs for Chess subsidiary Checker Records from 1955 to 1964.
In the early 1960s he toured Europe several times during the height of the British blues craze, recording with The Yardbirds and The Animals, and appearing on several TV broadcasts throughout Europe. According to the Led Zeppelin biography 'Hammer of the Gods', while in England Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator. Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" mentions that during this tour he allegedly stabbed a man during a street fight and left the country abruptly.
Sonny Boy took a liking to the European fans, and while there had a custom-made, two-tone suit tailored personally for him, along with a bowler hat, matching umbrella, and an attaché case for his harmonicas. He appears credited as "Big Skol" on Roland Kirk's live album 'Kirk in Copenhagen' (1963). One of his final recordings from England, in 1964, featured him singing "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" with Hubert Sumlin providing the guitar. Due to his many years of relating convoluted, highly fictionalized accounts of his life to friends and family, upon his return to the Delta, some expressed disbelief upon hearing of Sonny Boy's touring across the Atlantic, visiting Europe, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and other landmarks, and recording there.
Upon his return to the U.S., he resumed playing the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA, and performed around Helena, Arkansas. As fellow musicians Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis waited at the KFFA studios for Williamson on May 25, 1965, the 12:15 broadcast time was closing in and Sonny Boy was nowhere in sight. Peck left the radio station and headed out to locate Williamson, and discovered his body in bed at the rooming house where he'd been staying, dead of an apparent heart attack suffered in his sleep the night before.
Williamson is buried on New Africa Rd. just outside Tutwiler, Mississippi at the site of the former Whitman Chapel cemetery.
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T.B. Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
Now, when I was upon my feet
An I couldn't even walk down the street
Pretty women, lookin' at me
From my head to my feet
But ooh, T.B.'s is killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
I ain't goin' to buy you no more pretty dresses
I ain't gonna even, buy you no diamond ring
An' I'm 'onna a-sell my V8 Fo'
'Cause I don't want a doggone thing
Because ooh, the T.B.'s a-killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
Well now, my mother she said one thing
You know my father said the same
'You keep on foolin' 'round, Sonny Boy
They gon' change your name.'
But I told her, 'Ooh, mama T.B.'s is killin' me'
Now, an' I want my body buried
Down in Jackson, Tennessee
Well now, here I am here sick, baby
You know an' I'm, a-layin' here in my bed, now
Even won't none of my friends, come an even
Rub my achin' head
Because ooh, 'n T.B.'s is killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee.
The song "T.B Blues" by Sonny Boy Williamson is a poignant account of the physical and emotional toll of tuberculosis (T.B) on the singer. The first few lines of the song set the tone for the rest of the song, as it speaks about the unbearable pain caused by the disease. The singer's only wish is for his body to be buried in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, an indication that he is slowly accepting his inevitable death.
The second stanza of the song speaks about his past life when he was still able-bodied and could attract the attention of pretty women. The juxtaposition of his current condition and his past experiences only serve to heighten the tragedy of his situation. The singer then goes on to talk about how he wants to sell his car and possessions as he no longer sees any use for them. The final stanza talks about the reaction of the singer's parents to his condition, highlighting the stigma surrounding T.B at the time. The singer's desperation and pain are evident throughout the song, and it is easy to empathize with him and his situation.
Line by Line Meaning
Now, but, ooh, the T.B's is killin' me
Currently, the tuberculosis is causing me great harm and suffering.
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
I desire to be buried in Jackson, Tennessee after passing away.
Now, when I was upon my feet
An I couldn't even walk down the street
Pretty women, lookin' at me
From my head to my feet
When I was healthy and could walk around, women would give me attention and admire me from head to toe.
But ooh, T.B.'s is killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
Despite receiving attention from women earlier, the tuberculosis is now causing my eventual death and my wish to be buried in Jackson, Tennessee.
I ain't goin' to buy you no more pretty dresses
I ain't gonna even, buy you no diamond ring
An' I'm 'onna a-sell my V8 Fo'
'Cause I don't want a doggone thing
I refuse to buy you any more material possessions, including a pretty dress or diamond ring, and will sell my car because material items no longer bring me happiness or satisfaction.
Because ooh, the T.B.'s a-killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee
The tuberculosis is the cause of my approaching end and the reason for my request to be buried in Jackson, Tennessee.
Well now, my mother she said one thing
You know my father said the same
'You keep on foolin' 'round, Sonny Boy
They gon' change your name.'
Both my mother and father warned me that my actions could lead to being disowned and changing my name.
But I told her, 'Ooh, mama T.B.'s is killin' me'
Now, an' I want my body buried
Down in Jackson, Tennessee
Despite their warnings, the tuberculosis is causing my eventual demise and still desire to be buried in Jackson, Tennessee.
Well now, here I am here sick, baby
You know an' I'm, a-layin' here in my bed, now
Even won't none of my friends, come an even
Rub my achin' head
Currently ill and confined to my bed, even my friends refuse to visit and help alleviate my pain and discomfort.
Because ooh, 'n T.B.'s is killin' me
Now, an' I want my body buried
Way down in Jackson, Tennessee.
Once again, the tuberculosis is the root cause of my suffering and eventual demise, and I still request to be buried in Jackson, Tennessee.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: WILLIE WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind