There's doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.
Although their last recordings were made in 1930, Cannon's Jug Stompers were one of Beale Street's most popular jug bands through the 1930s. A few songs Cannon recorded with Cannon's Jug Stompers are "Minglewood Blues", "Pig Ankle Strut", "Wolf River Blues", "Viola Lee Blues", "White House Station" and "Walk Right In", later made into a pop hit by The Rooftop Singers. By the end of the 1930s, Cannon had effectively retired, although he occasionally performed as a solo musician.
Cannon began recording, as "Banjo Joe", for Paramount Records in 1927. At that session he was backed up by Blind Blake. After the success of the Memphis Jug Band's first records, he quickly assembled a jug band featuring Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson (later replaced by Elijah Avery). Cannon's Jug Stompers first recorded at the Memphis Auditorium for the Victor label in January 1928. Hosea Woods joined the Jug Stompers in the late 1920s, playing guitar, banjo and kazoo, and also providing some vocals.
Born on a plantation at Red Banks, Cannon moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi, then the home of W.C. Handy, at the age of 12. Cannon's musical skills came without training; he taught himself to play using a banjo that he made from a frying pan and raccoon skin. He ran away from home at the age of fifteen and began his career entertaining at sawmills and levee and railroad camps in the Mississippi Delta around the turn of the century.
While in Clarksdale, Cannon was influenced by local musicians Jim Turner and Alex Lee. Turner's fiddle playing in W. C. Handy’s band so impressed Cannon that he decided to learn the fiddle himself. Lee, a guitarist, taught Cannon his first folk blues, "Po' Boy, Long Ways from Home", and showed him how to use a knife blade as a slide, a technique that Cannon adapted to his banjo playing.
Cannon left Clarksdale around 1907. He soon settled near Memphis and played in a jug band led by Jim Guffin. He began playing in Memphis with Jim Jackson. He met harmonica player Noah Lewis, who introduced him to a young guitar player named Ashley Thompson. Both Lewis and Thompson would eventually become members of Cannon’s Jug Stompers. The three of them formed a band to play parties and dances. In 1914 Cannon began touring in medicine shows. He supported his family through a variety of jobs, including sharecropping, ditch digging, and yard work, but supplemented his income with music.
He returned in 1956 to make a few recordings for Folkways Records. In the "blues revival" of the 1960s, he made some college and coffee house appearances with Furry Lewis and Bukka White. He also recorded an album for Stax Records in 1963, following the chart success of "Walk Right In", with his fellow Memphis musician, Will Shade, the former leader of the Memphis Jug Band.
Cannon can be seen in the King Vidor produced film, Hallelujah! (1929), during the late night wedding scene.
'Modern' listeners can hear Cannon's Jug Stompers recording of "Big Railroad Blues" on the compilation album The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead.
Going to Germany
Cannon's Jug Stompers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm goin' to Germa―. I'll be back some ol' day
I'm goin' to Germa―, I'll be back some ol' day
Please tell me, mama, what more can I do
Tell me. mama, what more can I do
Done all I knowed, I can't get along with you
Play it, Mr.Lewis, play!
Get away from my window, stop knockin' on my ―
Stop knockin' on my door
Go away from my window, stop knockin' on my door
I got another woman, can't use you no more
When you's in trouble, I worked and paid your -
I worked and paid your fine
When you's in trouble, I worked and paid your Tine
Now I's in trouble, you don't pay me no mind
Ahh play it, Mr Lewis! Play it for me now!
Play it, Mr Lewis, play!
Ahh play it from down in Dixie now!
Play it right on from down in Dixie!
The lyrics of "Going to Germany" by Cannon's Jug Stompers seem to be about a man who has decided to leave his lover behind and start anew in Germany. He repeats the phrase "I'm going to Germany, I'll be back some old day" to emphasize that this decision is final, but he does not want to completely cut ties with his old life. He asks his mother for advice on what more he can do to make the relationship work, but he also admits that he has done all he can and cannot get along with his lover anymore. In the last verse, he tells his lover that he has found someone else, which confirms his decision to leave her.
The verses also show some interesting cultural elements of the time period in which the song was written. The mention of paying someone's fine suggests that the man and his lover were involved in some illegal activity, and the idea that someone would leave the country to escape their problems indicates a lack of faith in the American justice system. Additionally, the use of the phrase "down in Dixie" indicates that the performers were from the American South and likely had a connection to the region's blues and folk music traditions.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm goin' to Germa―. I'll be back some ol' day
I am leaving for Germany, but I will return at a later date.
Tell me, mama, what more can I do
Please, Mother, tell me what else I can do to make things work between us.
Done all I knowed, I can't get along with you
I have exhausted all of my options and I cannot seem to reconcile with you.
Play it, Mr.Lewis, play!
Continue to play your music, Mr. Lewis.
Stop knockin' on my door
Please stop knocking on my door and trying to get my attention.
I got another woman, can't use you no more
I am involved with another woman and do not need your help or companionship anymore.
When you's in trouble, I worked and paid your Tine
When you were in trouble, I worked hard to provide and cover your expenses and fines.
Now I's in trouble, you don't pay me no mind
I am currently facing trouble, but you do not seem to care or want to help me.
Play it right on from down in Dixie!
Continue to play your music in the style of Dixie, Mr. Lewis.
Writer(s): Curtis R. Lewis
Contributed by Nathan L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.