Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. The band played regularly on a Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station, and added Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section that expanded the band's sound. Wills favored jazz-like arrangements and the band found national popularity into the 1940s with such hits as "Steel Guitar Rag", "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke on the Water", "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima", and "New Spanish Two Step".
Wills and the Texas Playboys recorded with several publishers and companies, including Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia, and MGM, frequently moving. In 1950, he had two top ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love", which were his last hits for a decade. Throughout the 1950s, he struggled with poor health and tenuous finances, but continued to perform frequently despite the decline in popularity of his earlier music as rock and roll took over. Wills had a heart attack in 1962 and a second one the next year, which forced him to disband the Playboys although Wills continued to perform solo.
The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills in 1968 and the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music.[4] In 1972, Wills accepted a citation from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Nashville. He was recording an album with fan Merle Haggard in 1973 when a stroke left him comatose until his death in 1975. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1999.
He was born near Kosse, Texas; his father was a fiddle player who along with his grandfather, taught the young Wills to play the fiddle and the mandolin. After several years of drifting, "Jim Rob," then in his 20s, attended barber school, got married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico then to Turkey, Texas (now considered his home town) to be a barber. He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth to pursue a career in music. It was there that while performing in a medicine show, where he learned comic timing and some of the famous "patter" he later delivered on his records, the show's owner gave him the nickname "Bob."
In Fort Worth, Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1930 Milton Brown joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Brown left the band in 1932 to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing band. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio and at dancehalls.
Wills remained with the Doughboys and replaced Brown with new singer Tommy Duncan in 1932. He found himself unnable to get along with future Texas Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, the authoritarian host of the Light Crust Doughboy radio show. O'Daniel had parlayed the show's popularity into growing power within Light Crust Flour's parent company, Burrus Mill and Elevator Company and wound up as General Manager, though he despised what he considered "hillbilly music." Wills and Duncan left the Doughboys in 1933 after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking.
After forming a new band, "The Playboys" and relocating to Waco, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934 for Oklahoma City. Wills soon settled the renamed "Texas Playboys" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO radio station. Their 12:30-1:15 Monday-Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region. Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays. By 1935 Wills had added horn, reed players and drums to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar whiz Leon McAuliffe in March, 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues and sentimental ballads.
Bubbles In My Beer
Bob Wills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yeah
Just watching the bubbles in my beer
But come in, Tommy
Give us the low-down on it
Tonight in a bar alone I'm sitting
Yes
Apart from the laughter and the cheer
That's not good
While scenes from the past rise before me
Yeah
Just watching the bubbles in my beer
A vision of someone who loved me
Brings a lone, silent tear to my eye
Ah
Oh, I know that my life's been a failure
Just watching the bubbles in my beer
Yeah
Alright
Ah-ho
Hot Tommy
I'm seeing the road that I've traveled
Yeah
A road paved with heartaches and tears
And I'm seeing the past that I've wasted
While watching the bubbles in my beer
As I think of the heart that I've broken
And all the golden chances that have passed me by
I was afraid that was what you coming to
And the dreams that I've made, now are empty
Ah now
As empty as the bubbles in my beer
In Bob Wills's song Bubbles In My Beer, the singer is sitting alone in a bar, watching the bubbles rising in his beer. He contrasts his solitary mood with the cheer and laughter of the people around him, while scenes of his past rise up in his mind. He thinks of someone who loved him but whom he failed; the memory brings a tear to his eye. He reflects on the road he's traveled, one paved with heartaches and tears. Watching the bubbles in his beer, he wonders whether his life has been a failure, whether the dreams he once had have come to nothing.
The song's lyrics speak of disillusionment and regret, but they also capture a sense of quiet introspection. The image of the bubbles in the beer is a powerful one, suggesting transience, emptiness, and the fleetingness of life. The singer is wrestling with the weight of his past mistakes and missed opportunities, but he's doing it alone, in his own thoughts. There's a sense of resignation, even acceptance, in the song's final lines, where the dreams he once had are described as being "as empty as the bubbles in my beer."
Line by Line Meaning
Ah-ha-na
Indicating a nonchalant and mellow feeling
Yeah
Agreement or confirmation to something said prior
Just watching the bubbles in my beer
Sitting alone in a bar with nothing but his drink for company
But come in, Tommy
Extending an invitation to someone to share his company
Give us the low-down on it
Asking for an update or some gossip
Tonight in a bar alone I'm sitting
Reiterating the loneliness of the situation
Yes
Agreement or confirmation to something said prior
Apart from the laughter and the cheer
Highlighting the lack of human interaction around him
That's not good
Recognizing the negative aspects of the situation
While scenes from the past rise before me
Reflecting on past experiences and memories
A vision of someone who loved me
Thinking of someone who was once important to him
Brings a lone, silent tear to my eye
Provoking a powerful emotional response
Ah
Expression of emotion or sadness
Oh, I know that my life's been a failure
Acknowledging personal disappointment and failure
Alright
Expression of resignation or acceptance
Ah-ho
Expression of lament or sadness
Hot Tommy
Expression of encouragement or motivation to Tommy
I'm seeing the road that I've traveled
Contemplating past actions and choices
A road paved with heartaches and tears
Recognizing the difficulties and struggles faced in life
And I'm seeing the past that I've wasted
Regretting missed opportunities and choices
While watching the bubbles in my beer
A metaphor for how he has wasted his life on trivial things
As I think of the heart that I've broken
Remembering the harm he has caused to others
And all the golden chances that have passed me by
Feeling remorseful about missed opportunities
I was afraid that was what you coming to
Aware that others may see his situation in a negative light
And the dreams that I've made, now are empty
Feeling unfulfilled and disappointed about unrealized aspirations
Ah now
Expression of disappointment or sadness
As empty as the bubbles in my beer
A metaphor for the emptiness and futility he feels in his life
Lyrics © JOHNNY BOND PUBLICATIONS
Written by: Bob Wills, Cindy Walker, Tommy Duncan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind