Theodore Roosevelt "H… Read Full Bio ↴Twelve fingered rough and ready blues maestro.
Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.
Career
Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 (although some sources say 1917). He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20. He moved to Chicago in 1942.
He became a full-time musician around 1957 but remained unknown outside of the Chicago area where he played small clubs in the black neighborhoods and also at the open-air Maxwell Street Market. He was known for his electrified slide guitar playing roughly styled after that of Elmore James, his cheap Japanese Teisco guitars, and his raucous boogie beats. He was also famed among guitar players for having six fingers on his left hand.
After hearing Taylor with his band, the HouseRockers (Brewer Phillips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums) in 1970 at Florence's Lounge on Chicago's South Side, Bruce Iglauer - at the time a shipping clerk for Delmark Records - tried to get him signed by his employer. Having no success getting Delmark to sign Taylor, Iglauer formed a small record label with a $2500 inheritance and recorded Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, on his fledgling Alligator Records in 1971. It was the first release on Alligator, now a major blues label. It was recorded in a studio in just two nights. Iglauer began managing and booking the band, which toured nationwide and performed with Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton.[citation needed] The band became particularly popular in the Boston area, where Taylor inspired a young protégé named George Thorogood. A live album Live At Joe's Place documented a Boston appearance from 1972.
Their second release, Natural Boogie, was recorded in late 1973, and led to greater acclaim and touring. In 1975, Taylor and his band toured Australia and New Zealand with Freddie King and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. His third Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but was only released after his death. More posthumous releases occurred as well, including Genuine Houserocking Music and Release the Hound, on the Alligator label as well as some bootleg live recordings.
Taylor died of lung cancer in 1975, and was buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.[citation needed]
Discography
Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers (1971)(Alligator Records)
Natural Boogie (1974)(Alligator Records)
Beware The Dog! (1976)(Alligator Records)
Genuine Houserocking Music (1982)(Alligator Records)
Hound Dog Taylor - Deluxe Edition (1999)(Alligator Records)
Release The Hound (2004)(Alligator Records)
Legacy
George Thorogood dedicated "The Sky Is Crying" (song 9) to "the memory of the late great Hound Dog Taylor" on his Live album (EMI America CDP 7 46329 2).
Give Me Back My Wig
Hound Dog Taylor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald.
Give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald.
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all.
Takin' me downtown
Say four forty nine,
When I get down there
I swear, nine ninety nine.
You just give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald.
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all.
Yeah my Mama told me
And your good friend too,
When you get that wig
That's the way you gonna do.
You just give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald.
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all.
Goodbye little one
All I got to say.
Give me back my wig and be
On your merry way.
You just give me back my wig
Honey, now let your head go bald.
Really didn'thave no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all
In "Give Me Back My Wig," Hound Dog Taylor laments the loss of his wig, which he bought for his significant other. The lyrics express his frustration and anger at the situation. He commands his lover to return the wig and accept that baldness is natural. By buying a wig, she was trying to hide her natural beauty, and Hound Dog Taylor wants her to embrace her baldness.
Hound Dog Taylor's lyrics to "Give Me Back My Wig" reflect the blues tradition of reclaiming power in the face of hardship. The song is a demand for justice, a complaint about a wrong that needs to be righted. The anger and frustration are palpable in Taylor's voice, and the electric guitar riff that follows the lyrics only amplifies the intensity of his emotions. The repetition of the refrain, "Give me back my wig, honey now let your head go bald," emphasizes the importance of accepting oneself as one is, imperfections and all.
Line by Line Meaning
Give me back my wig
I want my wig back
Honey now let your head go bald.
You can remove the wig and let your natural hair show
Really didn't have no business
I had no reason or obligation
Honey buyin' you no wig at all.
To buy you a wig at all
Takin' me downtown
Taking me to the police station
Say four forty nine,
Charging me with a crime
When I get down there
Once I arrive at the police station
I swear, nine ninety nine.
They will increase the charges to $9.99
Yeah my Mama told me
My mother warned me
And your good friend too,
And your close friend also cautioned you
When you get that wig
Once you obtain that wig
That's the way you gonna do.
You will act a certain way because of the wig you have
Goodbye little one
Farewell, my dear
All I got to say.
That's all I have to say
Give me back my wig and be
Return the wig to me and depart
On your merry way.
Go about your business cheerfully
Contributed by Evelyn T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@andrewpike3788
Give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald
Give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all
Takin' me downtown
Say four forty nine
When I get down there
I swear, nine ninety nine
You just give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all
Yeah my Mama told me
And your good friend too
When you get that wig
That's the way you gonna do
You just give me back my wig
Honey now let your head go bald
Really didn't have no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all
Goodbye little one
All I got to say
Give me back my wig and be
On your merry way
You just give me back my wig
Honey, now let your head go bald
Really didn'thave no business
Honey buyin' you no wig at all
@robertdonadee9860
I had one of Hound Dogs' albums back in the seventies. Alligator records out of Chicago sold them by mail. My basement flooded years later, and I lost my vast record collection. To this day, I can't get over it.
@1968joseph1
Proof that emotional guitar goodness outweighs technical guitar greatness by a country f&-+in' mile.
@eddiecrane5647
Albert King had more feeling in his 4 note "Albert King Box' than any of those other guys you're eluding to.
@ubertar
True, that's the more important ingredient, but if you've got both, so much the better! e.g. Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, John MacLaughlin, etc.
@beandipcartography
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
@1968joseph1
except, he would be one of the guitarists I am eluding to....@@eddiecrane5647
@mgn5667
been looking for this for a while::: if you are here listening you are cool...
@wladekwloszcz3803
I may be cool, but the test takes place on July 6th, 2020, in Suwalki, Poland, Europe, where me and my friends are going to dance this at midnite, celebratin' the cancelled XII International Suwalki Blues Festival. I am takin' my PA system down there for a week, and we are going to disco blues for 14 gals and old farts, for six nights, incl. music by R.L. Burnside, too.
@siulumlion
Yeah, dog.
@lindakaymills8746
@@wladekwloszcz3803 Enjoyed your comment.
Did you have fun? 🤣😂