Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) … Read Full Bio ↴Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor (April 12, 1915 - December 17, 1975) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Taylor was best known for his raw vocal style and searing slide guitar, using a cheap Teisco guitar to great advantage.

Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, Mississippi-native Taylor took up the guitar when he was 20 years old. He made a few appearances on Sonny Boy Williamson's fabled KFFA King Biscuit Time radio broadcasts out of Helena, AR, before coming to Chicago in 1942. It was another 15 years before Taylor made blues his full-time vocation, though. Taylor was a favorite on the South and West sides during the late 50s and early 60s. It's generally accepted that Freddie King copped a good portion of his classic "Hide Away" from an instrumental he heard Taylor cranking out on the bandstand.

Taylor's relentlessly raucous band, the HouseRockers, consisted of only two men, though their combined racket sounded like quite a few more. Second guitarist Brewer Phillips, who often supplied buzzing pseudo-bass lines on his guitar, had developed such an empathy with Taylor that their guitars intertwined with ESP-like force, while drummer Ted Harvey kept everything moving along at a brisk pace.

Hound Dog Taylor began playing guitar when he was 20 and became a full-time musician around 1957. He wasn’t well known outside of the Chicago area until his debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, with Alligator Records in 1971. The LP contained the typically rowdy Give Me Back My Wig while Taylor's first Alligator encore in 1973, Natural Boogie, boasted the hypnotic Sadie and a stomping Roll Your Moneymaker.

His fourth Alligator album, Beware of the Dog, was recorded live in 1974 but only released after his death. Hound Dog Taylor died of cancer in 1975 and was buried in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.

Sitting At Home Alone
Hound Dog Taylor & the House Rockers Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Lord, ain't it lonesome, well, when you're sitting at home alone
Ain't it lonesome when you're sitting at home alone
The girl you love, she's done bad now, she's gone
You travel to the corner, she said "daddy, it's far as I gonna go"
You drive her to the corner boy, she said "daddy, it's far as I gotta go"
Don't see me by twelve, I'll be ready by half-past-four

You go by four o'clock, and you sit and blow your horn

Don't go out by four o'clock boy, you sit there and blow your horn
When the people start to look at you, boy, you know your doing wrong
You drive away feeling bad, wonder why the little girl lie to me

You drive away feeling bad boy, oh, why the little girl lie to me?
She want to get me in trouble, and why, man, I just can't see yeah

Overall Meaning

The blues genre is known for its tales of heartache and loss, and “Sitting At Home Alone” by Hound Dog Taylor is no exception. The song opens with a sentiment most people can relate to: the feeling of loneliness when you’re sitting at home alone. The lyrics take a turn as Hound Dog sings about the girl he loves who has done him wrong and left him. He recounts taking her to the corner when she tells him it’s as far as she wants to go, and he promises to be back by half-past-four. When he returns to find she’s not there, he is left feeling betrayed and wondering why she would lie to him.

Line by Line Meaning

Lord, ain't it lonesome, well, when you're sitting at home alone
Being alone at home feels really lonely and sad.

Ain't it lonesome when you're sitting at home alone
Repeating the previous line to emphasize how lonely it is to be alone.

The girl you love, she's done bad now, she's gone
The girl he loves did something wrong and left him.

You travel to the corner, she said "daddy, it's far as I gonna go"
He drove her to the corner, and she refused to go any further.

You drive her to the corner boy, she said "daddy, it's far as I gotta go"
Repeating the previous line to emphasize her refusal to go any further.

Don't see me by twelve, I'll be ready by half-past-four
She promised to be ready by half-past four, but warned him not to come before twelve.

You go by four o'clock, and you sit and blow your horn
He arrived at four o'clock and waited outside, honking his horn.

Don't go out by four o'clock boy, you sit there and blow your horn
Repeating the previous line to emphasize that he just waited outside, blowing his horn.

When the people start to look at you, boy, you know your doing wrong
People around him started to notice and judge him for his behavior.

You drive away feeling bad, wonder why the little girl lie to me
He left feeling sad and confused as to why the girl he loved lied to him.

You drive away feeling bad boy, oh, why the little girl lie to me?
Repeating the previous line to emphasize how sad and confused he felt.

She want to get me in trouble, and why, man, I just can't see yeah
He realizes that the girl he loved was trying to get him into trouble, and he doesn't understand why she would do that.

Lyrics © ALLIGATOR RECRDS/EYEBALL MUSIC
Written by: THEODORE R TAYLOR

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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