Big Bill Broonzy (June 26, 1893 – August 15, 1958) was a prolific American … Read Full Bio ↴Big Bill Broonzy (June 26, 1893 – August 15, 1958) was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly African-American audiences. Through the 1930s and 1940s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with working class African-American audiences. In the 1950s a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century.
Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.
Born Lee Conley Bradley, "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Scott County, Mississippi, an entire body of emerging research compiled by blues historian Robert Reisman suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records suggested that the year was actually 1903. Soon after his birth the family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions. These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites danced on one side of the stage and blacks on the other.
On the understanding that he was born in 1898 rather than earlier or later, sources suggest that in 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917. Broonzy served two years in Europe during the first world war. Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.
1920s
After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch to guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson, who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924. Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter, cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".
Thanks to his association with Jackson, Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His initial test recordings, made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful. His first record, "Big Bill's Blues" backed with "House Rent Stomp", credited to "Big Bill and Thomps" (Paramount 12656), was released in 1927. Although the recording was not well-received, Paramount retained their new talent and the next few years saw more releases by "Big Bill and Thomps". The records continued to sell poorly. Reviewers considered his style immature and derivative.
1930s
In 1930, Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose, who produced acts for various labels including Champion and Gennett Records. He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson". In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al.). These recordings sold better and Broonzy was becoming better known. Back in Chicago he was working regularly in South Side clubs, and even toured with Memphis Minnie.
In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger R&B sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Joshua Altheimer, recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records.
Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond-produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue. His success led him in this same year to a small role in Swingin' the Dream, Gilbert Seldes's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.
Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam, and close friends, Jazz Gillum, and Tampa Red, also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".
1940s
Broonzy expanded his work during this period as he honed his song writing skills which showed a knack for appealing to his more sophisticated city audience as well as people that shared his country roots. His work in this period shows he performed across a wider musical spectrum than almost any other bluesman before or since including ragtime, hokum blues, country blues, city blues, jazz tinged songs, folk songs and spirituals. After World War II, Broonzy recorded songs that were the bridge that allowed many younger musicians to cross over to the future of the blues: the electric blues of post war Chicago. His 1945 recordings of "Where the Blues Began" with Big Maceo on piano and Buster Bennett on sax, or "Martha Blues" with Memphis Slim on piano, clearly show the way forward. One of his best-known songs, "Key to the Highway", appeared at this time. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury label.
1950s
At the start of the 1950s, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called I Come for to Sing, which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The group had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. The exposure made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951.
In Europe, Broonzy was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively. Broonzy's numerous performances during the 1950s in the UK, and in particular at folk clubs in London and Edinburgh, were influential in the nascent British folk revival, with many British musicians on the folk scene, such as Bert Jansch, citing him as an important influence.
While in the Netherlands, Broonzy met and fell in love with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.
In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center, a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan, where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from '53–'56. On July 4, 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM.
In 1955, with the assistance of Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled Big Bill Blues. He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. At the school's opening night on December 1, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".
By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of throat cancer. He died August 15, 1958, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois.
Style and influence
Broonzy's own influences included the folk music, spirituals, work songs, ragtime music, hokum and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, since this was considered to be more "authentic".
A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.
In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk and others.
Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player, inspired Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Ray Davies, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher, Ben Taylor, and Steve Howe.
In Q Magazine (September 2007) it is reported that Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones claims that Bill Broonzy's track, "Guitar Shuffle", is his favorite guitar music. Wood said, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."
Eric Clapton has cited Bill Broonzy as a major inspiration: Broonzy "became like a role model for me, in terms of how to play the acoustic guitar."
During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".
Between 1927 and 1942, Broonzy recorded 224 songs, making him the second most prolific blues recording artist during that period. These were released before blues records were tracked by recording industry trade magazines. By the time Billboard instituted the first of its "race music" charts in October 1942, Broonzy's recordings were less popular and none appeared in the charts.
Big Bill Broonzy also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Lil Green, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Washboard Sam, and Jazz Gillum.
Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.
Born Lee Conley Bradley, "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Scott County, Mississippi, an entire body of emerging research compiled by blues historian Robert Reisman suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records suggested that the year was actually 1903. Soon after his birth the family moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions. These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites danced on one side of the stage and blacks on the other.
On the understanding that he was born in 1898 rather than earlier or later, sources suggest that in 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917. Broonzy served two years in Europe during the first world war. Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.
1920s
After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch to guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson, who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924. Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter, cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".
Thanks to his association with Jackson, Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His initial test recordings, made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful. His first record, "Big Bill's Blues" backed with "House Rent Stomp", credited to "Big Bill and Thomps" (Paramount 12656), was released in 1927. Although the recording was not well-received, Paramount retained their new talent and the next few years saw more releases by "Big Bill and Thomps". The records continued to sell poorly. Reviewers considered his style immature and derivative.
1930s
In 1930, Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose, who produced acts for various labels including Champion and Gennett Records. He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson". In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al.). These recordings sold better and Broonzy was becoming better known. Back in Chicago he was working regularly in South Side clubs, and even toured with Memphis Minnie.
In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger R&B sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Joshua Altheimer, recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records.
Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond-produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue. His success led him in this same year to a small role in Swingin' the Dream, Gilbert Seldes's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.
Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam, and close friends, Jazz Gillum, and Tampa Red, also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".
1940s
Broonzy expanded his work during this period as he honed his song writing skills which showed a knack for appealing to his more sophisticated city audience as well as people that shared his country roots. His work in this period shows he performed across a wider musical spectrum than almost any other bluesman before or since including ragtime, hokum blues, country blues, city blues, jazz tinged songs, folk songs and spirituals. After World War II, Broonzy recorded songs that were the bridge that allowed many younger musicians to cross over to the future of the blues: the electric blues of post war Chicago. His 1945 recordings of "Where the Blues Began" with Big Maceo on piano and Buster Bennett on sax, or "Martha Blues" with Memphis Slim on piano, clearly show the way forward. One of his best-known songs, "Key to the Highway", appeared at this time. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury label.
1950s
At the start of the 1950s, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called I Come for to Sing, which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The group had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. The exposure made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951.
In Europe, Broonzy was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively. Broonzy's numerous performances during the 1950s in the UK, and in particular at folk clubs in London and Edinburgh, were influential in the nascent British folk revival, with many British musicians on the folk scene, such as Bert Jansch, citing him as an important influence.
While in the Netherlands, Broonzy met and fell in love with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.
In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center, a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan, where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from '53–'56. On July 4, 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM.
In 1955, with the assistance of Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled Big Bill Blues. He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. At the school's opening night on December 1, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".
By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of throat cancer. He died August 15, 1958, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois.
Style and influence
Broonzy's own influences included the folk music, spirituals, work songs, ragtime music, hokum and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, since this was considered to be more "authentic".
A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.
In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk and others.
Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player, inspired Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Ray Davies, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher, Ben Taylor, and Steve Howe.
In Q Magazine (September 2007) it is reported that Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones claims that Bill Broonzy's track, "Guitar Shuffle", is his favorite guitar music. Wood said, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."
Eric Clapton has cited Bill Broonzy as a major inspiration: Broonzy "became like a role model for me, in terms of how to play the acoustic guitar."
During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".
Between 1927 and 1942, Broonzy recorded 224 songs, making him the second most prolific blues recording artist during that period. These were released before blues records were tracked by recording industry trade magazines. By the time Billboard instituted the first of its "race music" charts in October 1942, Broonzy's recordings were less popular and none appeared in the charts.
Big Bill Broonzy also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Lil Green, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Washboard Sam, and Jazz Gillum.
Down By The Riverside
Big Bill Broonzy Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Down By The Riverside' by these artists:
1956 The Million Dollar Quartet (E.Presley L.Lewis J.Cash C.Perkins) I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Alabama Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Alexis Korner I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Alvin & The Chipmunks Well, hi, Simon (Hi) Theodore (Hi) Alvin, I see you got here…
ARMSTRONG-The Good Book I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
Billy Lee Riley I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside,…
Bing & Gary Crosby I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Bix Beiderbecke and His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Blue Diamonds Well I met my little brown-eyed gal Down by the riverside Do…
Buddy James And His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Burning Spear Don't break this heart Don't break this heart Down by the r…
Caligola I′m gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside Down by…
Carola & Per-Erik I'm gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside Down by…
Cedarmont Kids Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside…
Charlie Haden Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside D…
CHARLIE HADEN & HANK JONES Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Dow…
Charlie Haden + Hank Jones Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside D…
Charlie Haden - Hank Jones Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Dow…
Chimène Badi I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by…
Chris Babers Jazz Band Te ves tan fantastica Muy autentica (unica) La noche es magi…
Chris Barber I feel so bad in the morning I feel so bad…
Clay Walker (Kim Williams/Clay Walker/Kent Blazey) The wind was blowing …
Crescent City Rhithm And Jazz Band Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Dave Bartholomew & His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Diamond Rio I took my baby out and bought her a ring Man,…
Dr. Michael White Down by the salley gardens My love and I did meet She…
Elvis Presley I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Elvis Presley Carl Perkins & Jerry Lee Lewis I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Enoch Light & His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Etta James I'm gonna lay down my heavy load Down by the riverside Down…
G.M.Farley: The Great Wear Family Hold my hand Push your feet straight through those grains of…
Gary Crosby I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Gary Crosby & Friend I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
George Lewis Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Gospel Dream I′m gonna lay down my burden Down By The Riverside (x…
Hank Jones Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Dow…
Ivor Biggun I had a large explosive shit Down by the riverside It spread…
IYC-Choir I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Jackie Wilson & Linda Hopkins I met my little bright-eyed doll Down by the riverside Down …
James Last And His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Jared Emerson-Johnson Goin' to lay down my burden, Down by the riverside, Down by…
Jay-Ray & Gee Yh Ah (Jay Zion) Tie Rap (Verse) Push ko w'anim make…
Jean-Pierre Catoul & Friends I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Jim Avett and Family Come let us sing of our homeland (Down) Down by the…
Jimmy & Johnny I remember soft summer nights Moon was shining ever so brigh…
Jimmy Black's Dixie-Band Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Joe & Eddie I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
John Clayton & Hank Jones Gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the riverside Dow…
Johnny Cash Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Johnny McEvoy I took a little stroll just the other day Down by…
Jon-Rae Fletcher Do you remember you took my hand And we walked out…
Joseph Spence I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, Down by the…
K. Ball/J. Fiddy Come on down by the lake, let's have a good…
K. u. J.-Chor L.Eisleben Спускаюсь вниз по этажам На пятом раста храм Мне Суют в руки…
Kay Starr I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Kid Ory and His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Kim and Reggie Harris Down by the bay, Where the watermelons grow, Back to my home…
Kirk Franklin KIRK FRANKLIN: FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE GOING THROUGH I W…
Lester Lanin and His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Lester McFarland and Robert A. Gardner Down by the seaside See the boats go sailin' Can…
Lightnin Hopkins Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Lightnin' Hopkins I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Lightnin' Hopkins Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Louis Armstrong I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
Louis Armstrong湯 I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
Lucky Millinder And His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Mahalia Jackson I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
Memphis Minnie I live in a cabin, way down by the riverside I…
Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 My name is M.C. Shan, my destiny is the stars Being…
Million Dollar Quartet (Original Broadway Cast) I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Mormon Tabernacle Choir I'm gonna lay down my burden Down by the riverside Down by…
Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael (Eric Litwin & Michael Levine) Couplet 1 Partout c la guerre : la guerre dans les…
muddy magnolias Call into the night To the rhythm in the sky I'll be…
Nilo Amaro E Seus Cantores De Ébano I gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
Odetta I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
One a-Chord My name is M.C. Shan, my destiny is the stars Being…
Patsy Cline Well I met my little blue-eyed dog Down by the riverside Dow…
Perkasie I've seen boys come round my way What's so different about…
Pete Seeger I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, Down by the…
Peter Paul & Mary Send down your reign Lord Send down your reign Let your glor…
Playing for Change Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
Puschnig/Swallow/Alias/Lewis I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Raffi Down by the bay Where the watermelons grow Back to my home I…
Reg Owen & His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Reg Owen & Orchestra Goin' to lay down my burden, Down by the riverside, Down by…
Reg Owen and His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Rosetta Tharpe & Marie Knight with The Dependable Boys acc. Sam Price Trio i feel so bad in the morning i feel so bad…
Sal Mineo I met my little bright-eyed doll Down by the riverside Down …
Sammy Price Trio i feel so bad in the morning i feel so bad…
Santa Jam Vó Alberta I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Sasha Boole I stuck inside my car on a road to happiness And…
Sister Rosetta Tharpe i feel so bad in the morning i feel so bad…
Sister Rosetta Tharpe with Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Sonny Terry I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
Sonny Terry Brownie Mc Ghee I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
St. John's Children's Choir Transcribed by Andrew Lenahan Down by the Sea No-one but m…
Terry & The Tunisians I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
The Blind Boys Of Alabama Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
The Blue Diamonds Well I met my little brown-eyed gal Down by the riverside Do…
The Blue Diamonds & Jack Bulterman And His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
The Burning Spear Don't break this heart Don't break this heart Down by the r…
The Charles Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow Back to my…
The Falls-Jones Man, who is this? Paulie, you know who this man is?…
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama Oh, hallelujah to the lamb Down by the river The Lord is…
The Four Lads I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
The Gospel Unity-Accord (5)-The Black & White Gospel Singers Down by the river and I've lost my way, Down by…
The Hit Crew Down by the bay Where the watermelons grow Back to my home I…
The Jokers لانى بحبك اكتر بسيبك تقولي بحبك اكتر ما انا عايزك…
The Kiboomers Down by the bay, Where the watermelons grow, Back to my home…
The Million Dollar Quartet I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley Carl Perkins Jerry-Lee Lewis Johnny Cash) I'm gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside, Down…
The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band Ik heb je voor het eerst ontmoet daar bij de…
The Sammy Price Trio i feel so bad in the morning i feel so bad…
Tony Evans And His Orchestra I met my little bright-eyed doll (way down) down by…
Trini Lopez Well I met my little blue-eyed dog Down by the riverside D…
Various Artists I'm gonna lay my burden down by the riverside down by the…
Willie Jones Man, who is this? Paulie, you know who this man is?…
Louis Armstrong I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield Down by the…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Big Bill Broonzy:
Alberta Alberta, Alberta, oh, Alberta Alberta, Alberta, oh, Alberta …
Baby I Done Got Wise A gypsy told me to let them women be She said,…
Baby Please Don't Go A baby, please don't go Baby, please don't go Baby, please d…
Back Water Blues It rained five days and the clouds turned as dark…
Banker's Blues If You Got Money In The Bank Don't Let Your…
Bed Time Blues I believe, I believe I believe I'll change my way I believe,…
Big Bill Bliues Lord, my hair's a-rising, my flesh begins to crawl Aw, my…
Bill Bailey Why don't you come home Bill Bailey, why don't you…
Black Brown & White This little song that I'm singin' about People, you know it'…
Black, Brown and White This little song that I'm singin' about People you know it's…
BY MYSELF I'm on my way around the world When I get back…
C & A Blues It's a little train leavin' outta here, they call the…
C C Rider You C C Rider, see what you done done C C…
C.c. Rider You see, see rider, see what you done, done See, see…
Careless Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Careless Love Love, oh love, oh careless love You've fly through my head…
Conversation with the Blues Oh blues, I want to have a little talk with…
Crawdad You get a line and I'll get a pole Now…
Crawdad Song You get a line and I'll get a pole Now…
Diggin My Potatoes Refrain: Baby, they diggin' my potatoes Lord, they trampin' …
Done Got Wise A gypsy told me to let them women be She said,…
Down in the Alley Got a sweet woman, she give me what I need She…
Down the Line Blues I'm wonderin' if my folks are gonna be there when…
Feelin Goin' down this road now feelin' bad, baby I'm goin' down…
Feelin' Low Down Goin' down this road now feelin' bad, baby I'm goin' down…
Feelin' Lowdown Puedes salir con tus amigas, puedes salir con tu galán Puede…
Get Back This little song that I'm singin' about People you all know…
Getting Older Every Day You say you're gettin' old, Lord older every day You say…
Glory of Love Give a little, take a little Let your poor heart bleed…
Goin Goin' down this road now feelin' bad, baby I'm goin' down…
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad Goin' down this road now feelin' bad, baby I'm goin' down…
Goin' Down This Road Goin' down this road now feelin' bad, baby I'm goin' down…
Going Back To Arkansas Going back, I'm going back to Arkansas I'm going back, going…
Good Boy I remember holdin' on to you All them long and lonely…
Good Gal Blues I believe, I believe I believe I'll change my way I believe,…
Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down Lord, I know a little girl 'Bout sixteen years old She says,…
Good Time Tonight I believe, I believe I believe I'll change my way I believe,…
Hey Hey Hey hey, hey hey, baby hey, Hey hey, hey hey, baby…
Horny Frog You C C Rider, see what you done done C C…
How You Wan't Done Why don't you tell me, lovin' mama How you want…
I Can't Be Satisfied Now listen here my baby Tell you what I want you…
I Can’t Be Satisfied Now listen here my baby Tell you what I want you…
I Feel so Good I got a letter, it come to me by mail My…
I Gets The Blues When It rains I gets the blues now when it rains, Blues that I…
I Wonder When I was born into this world, this is what…
I Wonder When I I don't need no money, I've got lucky oil on…
I Wonder When I'll Be Called a Man When I was born into this world, this is what…
I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town I'm gonna move, way out on the outskirts of town I'm…
In The Evenin' In the evening In the evening Mama when the sun go down I…
In the Evenin' (When the Sun Goes Down) In the evenin', in the evenin' Mama when the sun go…
In The Evening In the evening In the evening Mama when the sun go down In…
In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) In the evenin', in the evenin' Mama when the sun go…
It Don't Mean a Thing It don't mean a thing If it ain't got that swing (doo…
It Hurts Me Too You said you was hurtin' Said you almost lost your mind Well…
It's a Low Down Dirty Shame Refrain: Baby, they diggin′ my potatoes Lord, they trampin' …
Jacqueline Lord I've gotta beautiful baby, Jacqueline is here name Lord…
Joe Turner Blues This is a song was sung back in 18 and…
Joe Turner No. 2 sings:) Tell me Joe Turner been here and gone Lord, they tel…
John Henry Yeah! Johnny told his old Captain 'Man, a-when you go down…
Just a Dream It was a dream, Lord, what a dream I had…
KEEP YOU HANDS OFF HER I've got a gal here in this town Don't want nobody…
Keep Your Hand On Your Heart Keep your hand right on your heart, keep your mind…
Keep Your Hands Of Her I've got a gal here in this town Don't want nobody…
Key to the Highway I got the key to the highway, and I'm billed…
Little City Woman I've got a little city woman, I believe I change my…
Lonesome I got a letter this morning Made me sad and blue Said…
Long Tall Mama Got a long tall mama She stands about seven feet nine And…
Looking up at Down I'm just like an old rooster, out way out here…
Louise Louise, you the sweetest gal I know Louise, you the sweetest…
Make My Getaway Cryin' in the mornin', I cry at night, I cry all…
Makin' My Getaway Cryin′ in the mornin', I cry at night, I cry all…
Merry Go Round Blues I've got a merry go round, little girl don't you…
Midnight Special One day, one day, Sir I was walking along I heard that…
Mind in My Own Business I'm just mindin' my own business Lord, and I'm leavin' other…
Missisipi River Blues Mississ-ippi river Is so long, deep and wide I can see my…
Mississippi River Blues Mississ-ippi river Is so long, deep and wide I can see my…
Mopper's Blues I got the mopper's blues, I got the mopper's blues I…
My Last Goodbye to You This is my last goodbye I declare, I done quit…
Night Time Is The Right Time I'm gonna tell you baby something I want you to…
Poor Bill Blues Lord, my hair's a-rising, my flesh begins to crawl Aw, my…
Rider Rider Blues You see, see rider, see what you done, done See, see…
Roll them bones If you?ve got any money, Boy walk right in Don?t be scared…
Saturday Evening Blues It was late, one Saturday evenin' After the sun went down Ye…
See See Rider You see, see rider, see what you done, done See, see…
Sixteen Ton's Some people say a man is made outta mud A poor…
South Bound Train This train don't carry no gamblers, this train …
Southbound Train I wonder why that south-bound train don't run I wonder why…
Southern Flood Blues Early early one morning, water was comin' in my door Early…
St. Louis Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down I hate…
Starvation Blues Starvation in my kitchen Rent sign's on my door And if my…
Stuff They Call Money I got on a streetcar one day, the conductor held…
Summer time blues I believe, I believe I believe I'll change my way I believe,…
Swing Low Sweet Chariot I looked over Jordan and what did I see? Comin' for…
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home Swing …
Terrible Flood Blues Early early one morning, water was comin' in my door Early…
The Crawdad Song You get a line and I'll get a pole Now…
The Glory of Love Give a little, take a little Let your poor heart bleed…
The Southern Blues Early early one morning, water was comin' in my door Early…
This Train This train don't carry no gamblers, this train …
Too too train I love you, baby, I ain't gonna lie Without you, woman, I ju…
Too Too Train Blues Got a long tall mama She stands about seven feet nine And…
Trouble in Mind Trouble in mind babe I'm blue but I won't be blue…
Trucking Little Woman That little girl, she's a-named Irene Got good jelly but sh…
Unemployment Stomp I'm a law abiding citizen and my debts I sure…
W.p.a. Blues Everybody's working in this town and it's worrying me night…
When Did You Leave Heaven I used to dream about angels But then I never…
When Do I Get to Be Called a Man When I was born into this world, this is what…
When I Been Drinking I don't need no money, I've got lucky oil on…
When i get to thinkin' When I was born into this world, this is what…
When I Had Been Drinking I don't need no money, I've got lucky oil on…
When the Sun Goes Down In the evenin', in the evenin' Mama when the sun go…
When Things Go Wrong I love you, baby, I ain't gonna lie Without you, woman, I ju…
When Will I Get To Be Called A Man When I was born into this world, this is what…
Whiskey & Good Time Blues I believe, I believe I believe I'll change my way I believe,…
Whiskey And Good Time Blues I believe, I believe, I believe I'll change my way I…
Who's sorry now Who's Sorry Now? Who's Sorry Now? Who's heart is aching for …
Woodie Woodie I don't need no money, I've got lucky oil on…
Worried Life Blues Oh, lordy Lord, oh, lordy Lord It hurts me so bad…
Worrying You Off My Mind I made a long day, walkin' 'long and crying, I lost…
You Changed I got a gal down in Georgia, one in Mississippi,…
You Do It Why don't you tell me, lovin' mama How you want…
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Emi
on Going Back To Arkansas
fortyfour
Emi
on Going Back To Arkansas
COLLARD