Joseph Amos Milburn, Jr., one of thirteen children, was playing tunes on the piano by the age of five years. He enlisted in the United States Navy when he was fifteen and earned thirteen battle stars in the Philippines, before returning to Houston and organizing a sixteen-piece band playing in Houston clubs and was Managed by William & Geneva Church. Milburn participated with the Houston jazz and blues musicians. He was a polished pianist and performer and during 1946 attracted the attention of a woman who arranged a recording session with Aladdin Records in Los Angeles, California. Milburn's relationship with Aladdin lasted eight years during which he produced more than 75 sides. His cover version of "Down the Road a Piece" (1946) was a blues song with a Texas boogie beat that was similar in many respects to rock music. However, none became popular until 1949 when seven of his singles got the attention of the R&B audience. "Hold Me Baby" and "Chicken Shack Boogie" landed numbers eight and nine on Billboard's survey of 1949's R&B Bestsellers. He became one of the main performers associated with the Central Avenue music scene in Los Angeles. He was also a popular touring artist, and won awards from both Down Beat magazine (Best Blues and Jazz Star) and Billboard magazine (Top R&B Artist). Among his best-known songs was "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer". During 1950 Milburn's "Bad, Bad, Whiskey" scored the top of the R&B record chart and began a series of drinking songs (none written by Milburn, but several composed by Rudy Toombs). However, there is not any evidence that Milburn had an alcohol problem.
Milburn continued his successful drinking songs through 1952 ("Thinking and Drinking", "Trouble in Mind") and was by now touring the country playing clubs. While touring the Midwest that summer, he announced that he would disband his combo team and continue as a solo act and that autumn he joined Charles Brown for a Southern concert tour. For the next few years each of his tours was composed of a series of one-nighters. After three years of solo performing he returned to Houston during 1956 to reform his band. During 1957 Milburn's releases with Aladdin Records did not sell well, and the record label, having its own problems, terminated. He tried to regain commercial success with a few more releases with Ace Records but his time had passed. Radio airplay was emphasizing on the teenage market.
Milburn contributed to the R&B Yuletide canon twice. The first was in 1949, with "Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby", on Aladdin Records, and then again during 1960 with "Christmas (Comes but Once a Year)" for King Records. The song appeared as the b-side of Brown's holiday classic "Please Come Home for Christmas".
Milburn's final recording was for an album by Johnny Otis. This was during 1972 after he had been incapacitated by a stroke, so much so that Otis had to play the left-hand piano parts for his enfeebled old friend. His second stroke resulted in amputation of a leg because of circulatory problems. He died soon after at the age of 52 years from a third stroke.
The Texan boogie-woogie pianist and singer was an important performer of blues music during the years immediately after World War II. Milburn was one of the first performers to switch from sophisticated jazz arrangements to a louder "jump" blues. He began to emphasize rhythm and technical qualities of voice and instrumentation second. His energetic songs, about getting "high", were admired by fellow musicians, such as Little Willie Littlefield, Floyd Dixon and his prime disciple, Fats Domino.
He was a commercial success for eleven years and influenced many performers. Fats Domino credited Milburn consistently as an influence on his music.
One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humour and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics."
Let Me Go Home Whiskey
Amos Milburn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
I got orders from my baby
Not to come home juiced no more
I stop by a fence to visit with a friend of mine
I just dropped in for a minute
But I over stayed my time
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
I got orders
Don't you come home drunk no more
Why oh why does whiskey
Make me lose my head
Got me sitting at a bar
When I should be home in bed
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
I got orders from my baby
Not to come home drunk no more
Yeah whiskey every morning
Whiskey every night
As long as I got my whiskey
Everything's alright
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
I got orders from my baby
Don't you come home drunk no more
The lyrics to Amos Milburn's song Let Me Go Home Whiskey tell a story of a man who is struggling with alcohol addiction, but his partner has imposed an ultimatum on him that he cannot come home drunk anymore. The song starts with the man pleading with the whiskey to let him go home and not make him lose control. He acknowledges that his partner has ordered him not to come home drunk anymore, but he is finding it difficult to resist the temptation of alcohol.
The second verse of the song finds the man at a bar again, despite knowing that he should be at home, and he wonders why whiskey has such a hold on him. He pleads with the whiskey again to let him go home and resist its power.
In the final verse, the man seems resigned to his addiction, as he sings that he drinks whiskey every morning and every night, and as long as he has it, everything is alright. But he still acknowledges his partner's orders not to come home drunk anymore.
Overall, the lyrics of the song are a powerful statement on the hold that addiction and substance abuse can have on a person's life, and the ultimate toll it can take on one's relationships and well-being.
Line by Line Meaning
Let me go home whiskey, let me walk out that door
I want to leave this place and the influence of whiskey - it's time for me to go home.
I got orders from my baby
Not to come home juiced no more
My significant other has instructed me to stop coming home drunk.
I just dropped in for a minute
But I over stayed my time
I went to see a friend briefly, but ended up staying longer than intended.
Why oh why does whiskey
Make me lose my head
I'm wondering why whiskey has such a strong influence over me.
Got me sitting at a bar
When I should be home in bed
Instead of being responsibly in bed, I'm sitting at a bar drinking whiskey.
Yeah whiskey every morning
Whiskey every night
As long as I got my whiskey
Everything's alright
I consume whiskey regularly, believing that it will make everything alright, even when it doesn't.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: AMOS MILBURN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Edgaras Alytukas
love this song!
Rusty Walker
Wow! Such awesome early jazzy blues! ❤️💔🔥
wally harris
How many men in the 50's, 60's hanging around the pool rooms and shoot and stab bars wore out this record on the juke box?
roger burrows
love it makes me feelgood
Edgaras Alytukas
nice!
lasmilyunamelodias
P. A-MO!!
gfm1377
i lived this
jeanmarie basset
La boisson du diable
ReZisT Soul
When you are at school
Caption Land
Project blue book!