Bonamassa was born in Utica, New York. He started playing guitar at age four, encouraged by his father, who was an avid music fan and exposed him to British blues rock records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, greatly inspiring him. At 11 years old Joe was mentored and trained by American guitar legend, Danny Gatton. When he was 12 years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, which gigged around western New York and Pennsylvania, including cities such as Scranton and Buffalo, but only on weekends since Joe had school on weekdays. Bonamassa played a crimson 1972 Fender Stratocaster he called "Rosie", which his father had bought in Utica, New York.
When he was 12 years old, Bonamassa opened for B.B. King. In the last 13 years Bonamassa has put out 15 solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which 11 have reached number 1 on the Billboard Blues charts. Bonamassa has played alongside such artists as Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Blondie Chaplin, Foreigner, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, Warren Haynes, Solomon Hicks,and Derek Trucks among others.[4] His career highlights include performances at the Royal Albert Hall and has had three Grammy Award nominations in 2013, for his collaboration album with Beth Hart "Seesaw", in 2016 for the album "Live at the Greek Theatre" and 2022 for the album "Royal Tea". In addition to his music career, Joe Bonamassa runs a nonprofit organisation called the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, whose mission is to further music education by funding scholarships and providing music education resources to schools in need. in 2020, he added an extension to the foundation. Called Fuelling Musicians, it provides $1500 cheques to struggling musicians affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
in 2021, he broke his own record for having more #1 Billboard blues albums than anyone in history. The album "Time Clocks" clocked up his 25th #1 album.
He is also known for his enormous collection of vintage guitars and related gear.
Your Funeral My Trial
Joe Bonamassa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You and I are gonna start a family, a brand new baby
Come off that off the wall jive
'Cause if you carry me, know by god, you're filled with my child
Oh I love my baby, gotta see her when I can
Find my baby messin' with another man
Come off that off the wall jive
'Cause if you carry me, know by god, you're filled with my child
(Oh, take it up)
Oh I love my baby, its as sharp as a knife
Oh baby, you been hard to my desire
Oh baby, come off that off the wall jive
'Cause if you carry me, know by god, you're filled with my child
The lyrics of "Your Funeral My Trial" by Joe Bonamassa tell the story of a man who is pleading with his partner to come back to him and start a family. He wants her to come clean and explain herself to him, as it seems that she has been unfaithful to him. He is willing to forget her indiscretions and start anew with her, but she needs to stop her erratic behavior and come back to him.
The lines "Come off that off the wall jive" and "Take it up" are likely references to the slang of the time period in which the song was written (the 1950s and 1960s), where "jive" meant nonsense or lies, and "take it up" meant to improve or straighten up. The man is asking his partner to stop the lies and improve her behavior towards him.
However, the singer's love for his partner is not unconditional. He warns her that if she does not come back to him, and if she carries on seeing other men, she will become pregnant with his child. This shows that despite his love for her, he will not tolerate her betraying him and being unfaithful.
Overall, "Your Funeral My Trial" is a blues-rock song that tells the story of a man who is desperate to start a family with his partner, but is struggling with her unfaithfulness and erratic behavior.
Line by Line Meaning
Come home to me baby, come explain yourself to me
Asking someone to return home and provide an explanation for their actions
You and I are gonna start a family, a brand new baby
Planning to have a child together
Come off that off the wall jive
Stop playing games or being dishonest
'Cause if you carry me, know by god, you're filled with my child
If we have sexual relations and you conceive, you will bear my child
Oh I love my baby, gotta see her when I can
Expressing love and desire to spend time with their partner
Find my baby messin' with another man
Discovering infidelity in the relationship
I caught my baby
Admitting to discovering the infidelity
Oh I love my baby, its as sharp as a knife
Despite the betrayal, still feeling deeply in love with their partner
Oh baby, you been hard to my desire
Feeling rejected by their partner
Oh baby, come off that off the wall jive
Continuing to demand honesty and transparency in the relationship
'Cause if you carry me, know by god, you're filled with my child
Reiterating the consequences of sexual relations and the potential for starting a family
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Sonny Boy Williamson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Frogwash Wright
Always play Joe...LOUD! Screw the neighbors they’ll adjust!
Maxim Popov
Blues is the healer 💙 Your funeral and my trial ❤
KEITH LEGEND
Sheer Friggin' Magic.... What an amazing group of talent and Joe thanks to you and the crew for countless hours of listening pleasure. You turned me onto my favorite color my man........ Blues....... Peace
M. Rose Gastou
Très bien on ne s'en lasse pas de votre musique ,bravo !
GuiitarBilly
Joe sounds great through any (cranked:) amp. This said, really love the Marshall based tones. I saw a vid of an LA show earlier this year where he brought out the Jubilees & was like hell yeah. Recent show clips from his 2021 tour have him back thru the tweeds (still fine) so maybe the LA & Vegas shows were one/two offs.
He did some Cream tunes playing an SG in those shows so maybe that was the reason for a brief appearance from the Marshalls 🤷♂️. Would Love Joe to do a full US tour leaning into Cream/Brit Blues (& going back to Marshalls;).
Peter Karel Kraus
Now he's gone all Fender Twin, likeTed Nugent lol.
Alex S
Omg looovvveeeeeeeee, please never stop playing bud....big inspiration to us all :-)
Bernard Paquin
jo étonne toujours,de plus en plus fort je le redis c'est le plus grand guitariste au monde actuellement.MERCI jo.
BIG G Kreutzer
You are ONE of the Most Incredible and amazing players ever never stop keep our music alive for ever Joe to the END !!!
Brad Tuftin
Thank you for doing what you do!