Born in the town of Thomson, Georgia, McTell learned how to play guitar in his early teens. He soon became a street performer around several Georgia cities including Atlanta and Augusta, and first recorded in 1927 for Victor Records. Although he never produced a major hit record, McTell's recording career was prolific, recording for different labels under different names throughout the 1920s and 30s. In 1940, he was recorded by folklorist John A. Lomax and Ruby Terrill Lomax for the Library of Congress's folk song archive. He would remain active throughout the 1940s and 50s, playing on the streets of Atlanta, often with his longtime associate, Curley Weaver. Twice more he recorded professionally. McTell's last recordings originated during an impromptu session recorded by an Atlanta record store owner in 1956. McTell would die three years later after suffering for years from diabetes and alcoholism. Despite his mainly failed releases, McTell was one of the few archaic blues musicians that would actively play and record during the 1940s and 50s. However, McTell never lived to be "rediscovered" during the imminent American folk music revival, as many other bluesmen would.
McTell's influence extended over a wide variety of artists, including The Allman Brothers Band, who famously covered McTell's "Statesboro Blues", and Bob Dylan, who paid tribute to McTell in his 1983 song "Blind Willie McTell"; the refrain of which is, "And I know no one can sing the blues, like Blind Willie McTell". Other artists influenced by McTell include Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Ralph McTell, Chris Smither and The White Stripes.
Born William Samuel McTier in Thomson, Georgia, blind in one eye, McTell had lost his remaining vision by late childhood. He attended schools for the blind in the states of Georgia, New York and Michigan and showed proficiency in music from an early age, first playing harmonica and accordion, learning to read and write music in Braille, and turning to the six-string guitar in his early teens. His family background was rich in music, both of his parents and an uncle played guitar; he is also a relation of bluesman and gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey. His father left the family when McTell was still young, and, when his mother died in the 1920s, he left his hometown and became a wandering musician, or "songster". He began his recording career in 1927 for Victor Records in Atlanta.
McTell married Ruth Kate Williams, now better known as Kate McTell, in 1934. She accompanied him on stage and on several recordings before becoming a nurse in 1939. Most of their marriage from 1942 until his death was spent apart, with her living in Fort Gordon near Augusta and him working around Atlanta.
In the years before World War II, McTell traveled and performed widely, recording for a number of labels under many different names, including Blind Willie McTell (Victor and Decca), Blind Sammie (Columbia), Georgia Bill (Okeh), Hot Shot Willie (Victor), Blind Willie (Vocalion and Bluebird), Barrelhouse Sammie (Atlantic), and Pig & Whistle Red (Regal). The "Pig 'n Whistle" appellation was a reference to a chain of Atlanta barbecue restaurants, one of which was located on the south side of East Ponce de Leon between Boulevard and Moreland Avenue, which later became a Krispy Kreme. McTell would frequently played for tips in the parking lot of this location. He was also known to play behind the nearby building that later became Ray Lee's Blue Lantern Lounge. Like his fellow songster Lead Belly, who began his career as a street artist, McTell favored the somewhat unwieldy and unusual twelve-string guitar, whose greater volume made it suitable for outdoor playing.
In 1940 John A. Lomax and his wife, Ruby Terrill Lomax, Classics professor at the University of Texas at Austin, interviewed and recorded McTell for the Library of Congress's Folk Song Archive in a two-hour session held in their hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia. These recordings document McTell's distinctive musical style, which bridges the gap between the raw country blues of the early part of the 20th century and the more conventionally melodious, Ragtime-influenced East-Coast Piedmont blues sound. Mr. and Mrs. Lomax also elicited from the singer a number of traditional songs (such as "The Boll Weevil" and "John Henry") as well as spirituals (such as "Amazing Grace"), which were not part of his usual commercial repertoire. In the interview, John A. Lomax is heard asking if McTell knows any "complaining" songs (an earlier term for protest songs), to which the singer replies somewhat uncomfortably and evasively that he does not. The Library of Congress paid McTell $10, the equivalent of $154.56 in 2011, for this two-hour session. The material from this 1940 session was issued in 1960 in LP and later in CD form, under the somewhat misleading title of "The Complete Library of Congress Recordings", notwithstanding the fact that it was in fact truncated, in that it omitted some of John A. Lomax's interactions with the singer and cut out entirely the contributions of Ruby Terrill Lomax.
Postwar, McTell recorded for Atlantic Records and Regal Records in 1949, but these recordings met with less commercial success than his previous works. He continued to perform around Atlanta, but his career was cut short by ill health, predominantly diabetes and alcoholism. In 1956, an Atlanta record store manager, Edward Rhodes, discovered McTell playing in the street for quarters and enticed him with a bottle of corn liquor into his store, where he captured a few final performances on a tape recorder. These were released posthumously on Prestige/Bluesville Records as Last Session. Beginning in 1957, McTell occupied himself as a preacher at Atlanta's Mt. Zion Baptist Church.
McTell died in Milledgeville, Georgia, of a stroke in 1959. He was buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson, Georgia, his birthplace. A fan paid to have a gravestone erected on his resting place. The name given on his gravestone is Eddie McTier. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1981, and into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1990.
One of McTell's most famous songs, "Statesboro Blues," was frequently covered by The Allman Brothers Band and is considered one of their earliest signature songs. A short list of some of the artists who also perform it includes Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, The Devil Makes Three and Ralph McTell, who changed his name on account of liking the song. Ry Cooder covered McTell's "Married Man's a Fool" on his 1973 album, Paradise and Lunch.
Jack White of The White Stripes considers McTell an influence, as their 2000 album De Stijl was dedicated to him and featured a cover of his song "Southern Can Is Mine". The White Stripes also covered McTell's "Lord, Send Me an Angel", releasing it as a single in 2000.
In 2013 Jack White's Third Man Records teamed up with Document Records to reissue The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order of Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and The Mississippi Sheiks.
Bob Dylan has paid tribute to McTell on at least four occasions: Firstly, in his 1965 song "Highway 61 Revisited", the second verse begins with "Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose", referring to one of Blind Willie McTell's many recording names; later in his song "Blind Willie McTell", recorded in 1983 but released in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3; then with covers of McTell's "Broke Down Engine" and "Delia" on his 1993 album, World Gone Wrong; also, in his song "Po' Boy", on 2001's "Love & Theft", which contains the lyric, "had to go to Florida dodging them Georgia laws", which comes from McTell's "Kill It Kid".
Also, Bath-based band "Kill It Kid" is named after that song.
A blues bar in Atlanta is named after McTell and regularly features blues musicians and bands. The Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival is held annually in Thomson, Georgia.
Come On Around to My House Mama
Blind Willie McTell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Call me a hotshot rider and a cheater, colored from Tennessee
Take it easy, don't get rough, just wanna tell you that I know my stuff
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody home but me
In the evening, ain't nobody home but me
In the morning, ain't nobody there but me
That's why you hear me screaming and crying, going back to Tennessee
Can't read and write, can't spell my name, I can really drive your man's heart insane
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody home but me
I mean, ain't nobody there but me
I love my corn and I love my booze, I really give your man the blues
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody home but me
I mean, ain't nobody there but me
Pull down your window, lock up your blind
I'll tell you something that'll change your mind
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody home but me
Late at night, ain't nobody there but me
Went to the door, the door was locked
Think my baby done changed the lock
Come on around to my house baby, ain't nobody there but me
That's why you hear me moaning, going back to Tennessee
Wake up in the morning 'bout half past three
Think my baby done pooped on me
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody there but me
In the evening, ain't nobody home but me
In the morning, ain't nobody there but me
I'm by myself, ain't nobody home but me
Ain't nobody home but me
You hear me talking, ain't nobody there but me
About now, ain't nobody there but me
Blind Willie McTell's song "Come On Around to My House Mama" is a blues song about a man who is inviting a woman over to his house. He boasts about his skills as a rider and his ability to drive a man crazy. Despite the fact that he is alone in his house, he screams and cries, indicating that he is longing for something that he does not have. He talks about how much he loves his corn and booze, which likely have contributed to his loneliness. He also mentions that he cannot read or write, which further adds to his sense of isolation.
The repetition of the line "ain't nobody there but me" emphasizes the man's loneliness and isolation. Despite his bravado and attempts to impress the woman with his skills, it is clear that he is ultimately empty and unfulfilled. The line "think my baby done pooped on me" is a crude reference to feeling betrayed and let down by someone he cared for.
Overall, "Come On Around to My House Mama" explores themes of loneliness, longing, and desperation. It offers a glimpse into the life of a man who is trying to fill his emptiness with alcohol, boasting, and the company of a woman who may or may not be interested in him.
Line by Line Meaning
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody there but me
I'm alone at home and I want you to come over
Call me a hotshot rider and a cheater, colored from Tennessee
I'm from Tennessee and I'm confident and skilled
Take it easy, don't get rough, just wanna tell you that I know my stuff
I'm asking you to calm down, I'm just trying to assert my abilities
That's why you hear me screaming and crying, going back to Tennessee
I miss my home in Tennessee and it makes me emotional
Can't read and write, can't spell my name, I can really drive your man's heart insane
Although I'm illiterate, I have a way with men and can make them go crazy for me
I love my corn and I love my booze, I really give your man the blues
I enjoy my food and drink, and I can make your man feel down
Pull down your window, lock up your blind, I'll tell you something that'll change your mind
Close your windows and doors so I can tell you a secret that will persuade you to come over
Went to the door, the door was locked, think my baby done changed the lock
I went to the door but it was locked, I suspect my partner changed the lock on me
That's why you hear me moaning, going back to Tennessee
I feel miserable and I want to go back home to Tennessee
Wake up in the morning 'bout half past three, think my baby done pooped on me
I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like my partner betrayed me
I'm by myself, ain't nobody home but me
I'm all alone, there's no one else at home
You hear me talking, ain't nobody there but me
I'm just talking to myself because there's no one else around
About now, ain't nobody there but me
Right now, there's no one else with me
Contributed by Joseph N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.