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.
Pal of Mine
Blind Willie McTell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of my loved one far away
One that we used to know
One so kind and true
Lover I'm always thinking of you
Even though it's back in those days of long ago
Call me back, Pal O' mine
Call me back there to your heart, Pal O' mine, O Pal O' mine
Let me thrill with a charm
While I linger in your arm
As I did in those days have gone by
Let me roam once again
Down in old lovers' lane
I'll kiss your love lips so divine
Let me gaze in your eyes
While I find Paradise
Call me back to your heart, Pal O' mine
Call me back, Pal O' mine
Let me, once again
Let me live there once again O dear Pal O' mine
Let me thrill you with a charm
Whilst I linger there in your arm
As I did in them old lonely days went by
Let me roam once again
Down in old lover's lane
And I'll kiss your sweet lips so divine, so divine
Let me gaze there in your eyes
While I find Paradise
Call me back to your sweet heart, Pal O' mine
Now call me back now, Pal O' mine
While I say ""So long""
Maybe then I'll see you all alone
I'm gonna gaze there in your eyes
But I'm gonna leave you, darling, in Paradise
But call me back now to your heart, sweet Pal O' mine
The song "Pal of Mine" by Blind Willie McTell & Curley Weaver reflects the yearning of a person who is reminiscing about a loved one who is far away. Throughout the song, the singer shares their feelings, asking their former companion to call them back to relive those moments of love and happiness once more. The repetition of the phrase "call me back, Pal O' mine" highlights the singer's deep longing to be reunited with their beloved.
The lyrics also focus on the physical aspects of the relationship, with the singer yearning to hold and kiss their lover while roaming through old lovers' lane. The phrase "let me thrill you with a charm, whilst I linger in your arm" captures this sentiment perfectly. The singer's desire to gaze into their lover's eyes and find paradise conveys a sense of completeness and tranquility that is only achieved when they are together.
In conclusion, "Pal of Mine" is a bittersweet song that speaks to the universal human experience of longing for someone we have loved and lost. The lyrics highlight the physical and emotional intimacy of the relationship, and the deep desire to be reunited with that special someone.
Line by Line Meaning
I am thinking today
Today, I am reminiscing about someone I am separated from.
Of my loved one far away
I am thinking about someone who is geographically distant but who I hold affection for.
One that we used to know
This person is someone who we have a shared history with.
One so kind and true
This person has been known to be consistently benevolent and honest.
Lover I'm always thinking of you
I am constantly reminded of this person, perhaps romantically.
Even though it's back in those days of long ago
This person is someone from my past, even if it seems like a long time ago.
Call me back, Pal O' mine
Please reconnect with me, my friend.
Let me live there once again
I would like to experience those times once more, as if they were happening now.
Call me back there to your heart, Pal O' mine, O Pal O' mine
Please invite me to be close to you again, my dear friend.
Let me thrill with a charm
Allow me to create a spark of excitement or attraction, maybe through conversation or gesture.
While I linger in your arm
Let me rest, comfortable and safe, in your embrace for a while.
As I did in those days have gone by
I would like to experience the same intimacy or warmth that we shared before.
Let me roam once again
Allow me to enter into the same carefree or meandering mindset of the past.
Down in old lovers' lane
Let us walk that same path, where people often go to be intimate and romantic.
I'll kiss your love lips so divine
I want to tangibly express my affection for you by kissing your lips, which feel extraordinarily good.
Let me gaze in your eyes
I want to lock eyes with you, to share a moment of tender connection.
While I find Paradise
In this moment, I want to experience a sense of enchantment, as if I have found my own personal Paradise with you.
Call me back to your heart, Pal O' mine
Please draw me close to you again, my cherished friend.
Now call me back now, Pal O' mine
Please do it now, as soon as possible.
While I say "So long"
Even though I will eventually have to leave again.
Maybe then I'll see you all alone
After others have left, I can have some one-on-one time with you.
But call me back now to your heart, sweet Pal O' mine
Regardless, please reach out to me and welcome me back into your life, dear friend.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: LAMBERT, EDWARD J
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind