Sumlin was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised in Hughes, Arkansas. He got his first guitar when he was eight years old. As a boy, he met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance.
Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, but his longtime guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. In Chicago, Wolf hired the guitarist Jody Williams, but in 1954 he invited Sumlin to move to Chicago to play second guitar in his band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of Wolf's career. According to Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf sent him to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Conservatory of Music to learn keyboards and scales. Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf (called the "rocking chair album", with reference to its cover illustration), which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.
Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued playing with several other members of Wolf's band, as the Wolf Pack, until about 1980. He also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session from a tour of Europe with Wolf in 1964. His last solo album was About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery the same year, but he continued performing until just before his death. His final recording, just days before his death, was tracks for an album by Stephen Dale Petit, "Cracking the Code" (333 Records).
Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008. He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for the album Tribute to Howlin' Wolf, with Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, Sam Lay, and Colin Linden; in 2000 for Legends, with Pinetop Perkins; in 2006, for his solo project About Them Shoes (which features performances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen and James Cotton) and in 2010 for his contribution to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Live! in Chicago. He won multiple Blues Music Awards. He was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards, given to support the careers of independent artists.
Sumlin lived in Totowa, New Jersey, for 10 years before his death, He died of heart failure on December 4, 2011, at the age of 80, in a hospital in Wayne, New Jersey. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlin's funeral expenses.
All I Can Do
Hubert Sumlin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Did what I could, what I could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
Worked hard for you my babe
Hard everyday for you my baby
Did what I could, what I could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did what I could, what I could for you
Worked hard everyday for you are my babe
Worked hard everyday
I worked hard, baby everyday
Did what I could, what I could for you
Did what I could for you, baby
Did what I could for you, baby
Worked hard, I did what I could
The lyrics to "All I Can Do" by Hubert Sumlin speak to the dedication and hard work that one puts into a relationship, despite the eventual outcome not being what they hoped for. The repetition of "Did what I could, what I could for you" emphasizes the sense of giving everything one has to make a relationship work. The line "worked hard for you my babe, hard every day for you my baby" shows the extent to which the singer is willing to go for their love.
In the second verse, the singer continues to emphasize their efforts by repeating "did what I could do" and "worked hard everyday for you." The repetition creates a sense of determination and perseverance, even in the face of difficulty. The final line "did what I could for you, baby, worked hard, I did what I could" shows a sense of resignation and acceptance that despite their efforts, the relationship still did not work out.
Overall, the lyrics of "All I Can Do" convey a sense of commitment and dedication to a relationship, but also a sense of acceptance that despite one's best efforts, things may not work out.
Line by Line Meaning
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Worked hard for you my babe
I put in a lot of effort for you, my love
Hard everyday for you my baby
I worked hard for you every single day, my love
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
What I could do, did what I could do
I did whatever was in my power to do for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
I did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Worked hard everyday for you are my babe
I worked hard for you every day because you're my sweetheart
Worked hard everyday
I worked hard every single day
I worked hard, baby everyday
I worked hard every day, my love
Did what I could, what I could for you
I did everything I possibly could for you
Did what I could for you, baby
I did everything I possibly could for you, my love
Did what I could for you, baby
I did everything I possibly could for you, my love
Worked hard, I did what I could
I worked hard and did everything I could for you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN BETTIS, RICHARD LYNN CARPENTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind