King's mother, Ella May King, and her brother, who both played the guitar, began teaching him to play at the age of six. He liked and imitated the music of Lightnin' Sam Hopkins and saxophonist Louis Jordan. He moved with his family from Texas to the southside of Chicago in 1950. There, at age 16 he used to sneak in to local clubs, where he heard blues music performed by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Howlin Wolf took him under his wing (or paw), and Freddie also began jamming with Muddy Waters' sidemen, who included Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Little Walter.
By 1952 he had started gigged at night and working days in a steel mill (by then he had married a Texas girl, Jessie Burnett). He got occasional work as a sideman on recording sessions. Two bands that he played with during this period were the Sonny Cooper Band, and Early Payton's Blues Cats. He formed the first band of his own, the Every Hour Blues Boys, with guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson and drummer Sonny Scott.
In 1953 he made some recordings for Parrot. In 1956 he recorded "Country Boy", a duet with Margaret Whitfield, and "That's What You Think", an uptempo blues. This was for a local label, El-Bee. Robert Lockwood Jr. appeared as a sideman on guitar.
In 1959 he met Sonny Thompson, a pianist who worked for the King/Fedreal label. In 1960, he himself signed with that label; while there he often shared songwriting credits, and participated in marathon recording sessions, with Thompson. On August 26, 1960, he recorded "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and "Hide Away", which were to become two of his most popular tunes. His debut release for the label was "You've Got To Love Her with Feeling". His second release on King/Federal was "I Love the Woman". "Hide Away" was used as the B side for this disk; that tune, a 12-bar mid-tempo shuffle in E with an infectious theme in the head section, and a memorable stop-time break that featured some robust-sounding work on the bass strings, was destined to become one of his signiature numbers. It was an adaptation of a tune by Hound Dog Taylor. It was named "Hide Away" after a popular bar in Chicago. Strictly an instrumental -- guitar with rhythm section -- it delighted everyone by crossing over and reaching #29 on the pop chart. It was later covered by Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Canadian guitarist Jeff Healy, and likely a majority of the bar blues bands on Planet Earth. After the success of "Hide Away", the label, which was presided over by one Syd Nathan, got Freddie and Sonny Thompson to work on making more instrumentals. This they did, producing over 30 of them during the next five years. The following is a partial list: "The Stumble," "Low Tide," "Wash Out," "Sidetracked", "San-Ho-Zay," "Heads Up," "Onion Rings," and "The Sad Nite Owl". Freddie became popular with a young white audience, in Britain as well as the United States, and his playing was a major influence on the upcoming breed of rock guitarists. During this period he was touring frequently along with the big R&B acts of the day such as Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, James Brown. His band included his brother Benny Turner on bass; and Tyrone Davis, who would later become known in his own right, was the driver and valet.
On the personal side, Freddie was fond, perhaps overly fond, of the Chicago night life. His official website refers to him "Gambling til dawn in the backroom of Mike's cleaners." His wife, now with six children, decided to move back to Texas. Once there, she called Syd Nathan and demanded that he send her some of the royalty money due to her husband. To his credit, he sent her two thousand dollars, with which she made the down payment on a house. Realising that the family were definitely not coming back to Chicago, Freddie, in the spring of 1963, himself moved back to Texas to rejoin them.
His contract with King/Federal expired in 1966. That same year, while making a series of appearances on an R&B program called "The!!!Beat", he was noticed by Atlantic Records front man King Curtis, and in 1968 he signed with the Atlantic subsidiary, Cotillion Records. He released two records for them (see Recordings), both of which showcased his vocal talents. They were not overwhelming commercial successes; however, his first overseas tour, in 1968, was a resounding triumph, being extended from one month to three. He was "amazed by his popularity in England."1
In 1969 he hired a young member of the "counter culture", Jack Calmes, to be his manager. Calmes got him booked at the 1969 Texas Pop Festival, alongside Led Zeppelin and others; and got him signed to Leon Russell's new label, Shelter Records. Shelter records was based in Oklahoma, and featured blues/rock performers such as Linda Ronstadt and Joe Cocker. The company treated Freddie as an important artist, flying him to Chicago to the former Chess studios for th recording of his first album, and giving him a supporting cast of top-calibre session musicians -- including Russell, a rock pianist.
As were many of the top bluesmen of his generation, he was now playing what he affectionately called the "Fillmore circuit", playing alongside the big rock acts of the day for a young, mainly white, audience. As a result of his touring with Eric Clapton, the two became good friends -- Clapton held him in very high esteem -- and following his term at Shelter Records, Freddie signed with the label Clapton was recording for, RSO. His first album there, Burglar, was produced by Clapton, and had him playing on several tracks.
He continued to tour heavily. He died in Dallas in 1976 from a heart attack and complications arising from bleeding ulcers and pancreatitis. He was just 42 years of age.
The Sky Is Crying
Freddie King Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can you see the tears roll down the street.
The sky is crying,
Can you see the tears roll down the street.
I've been looking for my baby
And I've been wondering where can she be
I my baby early one morning
I my baby early one morning
She was walking on down the street
You know it hurt me, hurt me so bad
It made my poor heart skip a beat
I got a real, real fine feeling
That my baby she don't love me no more
I got a real, real fine feeling
That my baby she don't love me no more
You know the sky's been crying
Can see you see the tears roll down my door
In Freddie King's song "The Sky Is Crying," the title serves as a metaphor for the singer's feelings of sadness and loss. The imagery of the crying sky emphasizes the depth of his emotions and the intensity of his pain. He feels lost and alone as he searches for his beloved who has seemingly abandoned him. The tears that roll down the street and his door represent his own tears and the tears of those around him who also feel his pain.
The singer's heartbreak is palpable in the second stanza as he recalls seeing his baby walking down the street without him. The experience is so painful that he feels his heart physically skip a beat. This line carries a double meaning, suggesting not only a rapid heartbeat but also a loss of hope and breathlessness. The contrast between the bright morning and the singer's morose state of mind accentuates the depth of his grief.
The final stanza describes the singer's realization that his baby no longer loves him. This feeling may have been building gradually, but the singer is now certain that he has lost her. The repetition of the phrase "real, real fine feeling" underscores this certainty, and the final line that explains that the tears are "roll[ing] down my door" shows that the singer is no longer attempting to hide his emotions. In the end, he accepts the sadness that has washed over him like the tears of a crying sky.
Line by Line Meaning
The sky is crying,
It is raining heavily and the sky seems to be expressing sorrow in the form of tears.
Can you see the tears roll down the street.
The rain has gotten to the extent that it looks like there are tears flowing on the street.
I've been looking for my baby
The singer is searching for his lover who seems to be lost or missing.
And I've been wondering where can she be
The singer is worried and confused about where his lover could be and what might have happened to her.
I saw my baby early one morning
The singer recounts seeing his lover earlier in the day.
She was walking on down the street
The singer's lover was seen walking along the street and the singer is recalling this memory.
You know it hurt me, hurt me so bad
The singer is expressing the pain and emotional hurt he felt upon realizing that his lover may not love him anymore.
It made my poor heart skip a beat
The discovery of his lover's probable lack of affection affected the singer greatly, to the point where it felt like his heart stopped momentarily.
I got a real, real fine feeling
The singer is lamenting his instinctive feeling that his lover does not love him anymore.
That my baby she don't love me no more
The singer's intuition tells him that his lover's affection for him has diminished or disappeared entirely.
You know the sky's been crying
The singer is using the metaphor of the crying sky to represent the sadness he feels for the loss of his lover's love.
Can see you see the tears roll down my door
The singer is expressing the idea that his pain is so great, that tears seem to be pouring out of his own door along with the rain.
Lyrics Β© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Elmore James
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind