Born in Leona, Texas, Collins was a distant relative of Lightnin' Hopkins and grew up learning about music and playing guitar. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was seven. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he absorbed the blues sounds and styles from Texas, Mississippi and Chicago. His style would soon envelop these sounds.
He formed his first band in 1952 and two years later was the headliner at several blues clubs in Houston. By the late 1950s Collins began using Fender Telecasters. He later chose a "maple-cap" 1966 Custom Fender Telecaster with a Gibson PAF humbucker in the neck position and a 100 watt RMS silverfaced 1970s Fender Quad Reverb combo as his main equipment, and developed a unique sound featuring minor tunings, sustained notes and an "attack" fingerstyle. He also frequently used a capo on his guitar, particularly on the 5th, 7th, and 9th frets. He primarily favored an "open F-minor" tuning (low to high: F-C-F-Ab-C-F).
Collins began recording in 1960 and released singles, including many instrumentals such as the million selling "Frosty". In the spring of 1965 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and made a name for himself.
Many of Kansas City's recording studios had closed by the mid 1960s. Unable to record, Collins moved to California in 1967. He settled in San Francisco and played many of the venues popular with the counter-culture. In early 1969 after playing a concert with Canned Heat, members of this band introduced him to Liberty Records. In appreciation, part of the title of Collins’ first record for United Artists - "Love Can Be Found Anywhere (Even In A Guitar)/Trash Talkin'" - was taken from the lyrics of "Refried Hockey Boogie". Collins signed and released his first album on Imperial Records, a sister label, in 1968.
Collins remained in California for another five years, and was popular on double-billed shows at The Fillmore and the Winterland. Collins moved back to Texas in 1973 and formed a new band. He was signed to Alligator Records in 1978 and recorded and released Ice Pickin'. He would record seven more albums with the label, before being signed to Point Blank Records in 1990.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Collins toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. He was becoming a popular blues musician and was an influence for Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, Debbie Davies, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mayer and Frank Zappa.
In 1983, when he won the W. C. Handy Award for his album Don't Lose Your Cool, which won the award for best blues album of the year. In 1985, he shared a Grammy for the album Showdown!, which he recorded with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland. The following year his solo release Cold Snap was also nominated for a Grammy. In 1987, John Zorn enlisted him to play lead guitar in a suite he had composed especially for him, entitled "Two-Lane Highway," on Zorn's album Spillane.
Alongside George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Bo Diddley, Collins performed at Live Aid in 1985, playing "Who Do You Love?", "The Sky Is Crying" and "Madison Blues", at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium. He was the only black blues artist to appear.
Collins was invited to play at the 'Legends Of Guitar Festival' concerts in Seville, Spain at the Expo in 1992, where amongst others, he played "Iceman", the title track from his final studio album.
He made his last visit to London, England in March 1993.
After falling ill at a show in Switzerland in late July 1993, he was diagnosed in mid August with lung cancer which had metastasized to his liver, with an expected survival time of four months. Parts of his last album, Live '92/'93, were recorded at shows that September; he died shortly afterwards, in November at the age of 61. He was survived by his wife, Gwendolyn and father, Andy Thomas. He is interred at the Davis Memorial Park, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Collins will be remembered not only for the quantity of quality blues music that he put out throughout his career that has inspired so many other blues musicians, but also for his legendary live performances, where he would frequently come down from the stage and mingle with the audience whilst still playing. This practice was illustrated in Collins' uncredited cameo appearance in the film Adventures in Babysitting. He insisted to Elisabeth Shue that "nobody leaves here without singin' the blues", forcing the children to improvise a song before escaping.
Another instance of Collins' humorous stage presence was recounted in the film documentary, Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. Collins left the building, still plugged in and playing. Several minutes after Collins returned to the stage, a pizza delivery man came in and gave Collins the pizza he had just ordered when he left the building. Collins had gone to Milto's Pizza & Pasta through an adjoining alley and ordered while he was still playing.
If Trouble Was Money
Albert Collins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If trouble was money, babe, I'd swear I'd be a millionaire
For you I'd buy the whole world, woman, I'd buy the whole world and have money to spare, yeah
Worry, worry, worry, worry, babe, I had worries on my mind, yeah
I said, worry, worry, worry, worry, woman, I had worries all my life, yeah yeah
You know times is hard, baby, I swear, I won't tell you know lie
My mother used to tell me, she said, "Son, there gonna be days, it's gonna be days, be days like this"
She said, "I always want you to be a winner", she said, "Son, I don't want you to quit"
The lyrics of Albert Collins's song If Trouble Was Money express a common sentiment of blues music, which is the idea that even though hard times may weigh heavily on someone's mind, there is still a sense of determination to overcome these difficulties. The first verse of the song implies that if trouble was a form of currency, the singer would be a millionaire, but he would use that wealth to buy the whole world and more. This suggests that despite having plenty of problems in life, the singer still holds onto hope that things will eventually improve.
The second verse is more introspective, with the singer acknowledging that he has been plagued by worries his entire life. He emphasizes that times are hard, and this makes it difficult to stay optimistic. However, the final verse reveals that the singer has received guidance and support from his mother, who encourages him to persevere and not give up. The overall theme of the song is one of resilience and optimism, even in the face of adversity.
Line by Line Meaning
If trouble was money, I'd swear I'd be a millionaire
If I could make money from my troubles, I'd be one of the richest people in the world.
If trouble was money, babe, I'd swear I'd be a millionaire
My troubles are so numerous that if I could get paid for them, I'd have enough money to be a millionaire.
For you I'd buy the whole world, woman, I'd buy the whole world and have money to spare, yeah
I care so much for you that if my troubles were converted to money, I'd be able to buy the entire world and still have plenty of money left over.
Worry, worry, worry, worry, babe, I had worries on my mind, yeah
I've been worried a lot lately and these worries have been weighing heavily on my mind.
I said, worry, worry, worry, worry, woman, I had worries all my life, yeah yeah
I've been struggling with worries and problems throughout my entire life.
You know times is hard, baby, I swear, I won't tell you know lie
Life is tough at the moment; things are difficult, and I'm not going to try to hide that fact from you.
My mother used to tell me, she said, "Son, there gonna be days, gonna be days like this"
My mother used to advise me that there would be tough days like this.
My mother used to tell me, she said, "Son, there gonna be days, it's gonna be days, be days like this"
My mother would remind me that difficult days are bound to happen; it's just part of life.
She said, "I always want you to be a winner", she said, "Son, I don't want you to quit"
My mother always encouraged me to keep pushing through tough times, to never give up, and to always be a winner in life.
Lyrics © Exceleration Music Partners, LLC
Written by: L Collins, M Collins
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@katmc2353
2023 who still listening
@benk9973
❤❤❤
@nogiedeville1623
Sheeeeeet 2024
@jerrygreitens2522
Me!
@alexbrown1510
I've literally been watching this exact video, often when I'm boozing, since 2013 or something
@ClaudiaMitchell-jn7fw
These videos should be mandatory in the school system !
@wvgriffn
To the one's that gave this a thumbs down , you don't know what a real blues master is ! Albert is a legend and loved playing and his fans .
@tomasrodriguez8381
That's the most agressive and dirty telecaster tone I've ever heard in my life. Thanks god bless Albert Collins ❤
@dcorey3481
Master of the Telecaster
@LankuDCerto
Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues