Johnny Copeland was born March 27, 1937, in Haynesville, LA, about 15 miles south of Magnolia, AR (formerly Texarkana, a hotbed of blues activity in the 1920s and '30s). The son of sharecroppers, his father died when he was very young, but Copeland was given his father's guitar. His first gig was with his friend Joe "Guitar" Hughes. Soon after, Hughes "took sick" for a week and the young Copeland discovered he could be a front man and deliver vocals as well as anyone else around Houston at that time.
His music, by his own reasoning, fell somewhere between the funky R&B of New Orleans and the swing and jump blues of Kansas City. After his family (sans his father) moved to Houston, Copeland was exposed, as a teen, to musicians from both cities. While he was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde."
Copeland and Hughes fell under the spell of T-Bone Walker, whom Copeland first saw perform when he was 13 years old. As a teenager he played at locales such as Shady's Playhouse — Houston's leading blues club, host to most of the city's best bluesmen during the 1950s — and the Eldorado Ballroom. Copeland and Hughes subsequently formed The Dukes of Rhythm, which became the house band at the Shady's Playhouse. After that, he spent time playing on tour with Albert Collins (himself a fellow T-Bone Walker devotee) during the 1950s, and also played on stage with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Mama Thornton, and Freddie King. He began recording in 1958 with "Rock 'n' Roll Lily" for Mercury, and moved between various labels during the 1960s, including All Boy and Golden Eagle in Houston, where he had regional successes with "Please Let Me Know" and "Down on Bending Knees," and later for Wand and Atlantic in New York. In 1965, he displayed a surprising prescience in terms of the pop market by cutting a version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" for Wand.
After touring around the "Texas triangle" of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, he relocated to New York City in 1974, at the height of the disco boom. It seems moving to New York City was the best career move Copeland ever made, for he had easy access to clubs in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Boston, all of which still had a place for blues musicians like him. Meanwhile, back in Houston, the club scene was hurting, owing partly to the oil-related recession of the mid-'70s. Copeland took a day job at a Brew 'n' Burger restaurant in New York and played his blues at night, finding receptive audiences at clubs in Harlem and Greenwich Village.
Copeland recorded seven albums for Rounder Records, beginning in 1981 and including Copeland Special, Make My Home Where I Hang My Hat, Texas Twister, Bringing It All Back Home, When the Rain Starts a Fallin', Ain't Nothing But a Party (live, nominated for a Grammy) and Boom Boom; he also won a Grammy award in 1986 for his efforts on an Alligator album, Showdown! with Robert Cray and the late Albert Collins. Although Copeland had a booming, shouting voice and was a powerful guitarist and live performer, what most people don't realize is just how clever a songwriter he was. His latter-day releases for the PolyGram/Verve/Gitanes label, including Flyin' High (1992) and Catch Up with the Blues, provide ample evidence of this on "Life's Rainbow (Nature Song)" (from the latter album) and "Circumstances" (from the former album).
Because Copeland was only six months old when his parents split up and he only saw his father a few times before he passed away, Copeland never realized he had inherited a congenital heart defect from his father. He disovered this in the midst of another typically hectic tour in late 1994, when he had to go into the hospital in Colorado. After he was diagnosed with heart disease, he spent the next few years in and out of hospitals, undertaking a number of costly heart surgeries. Early in 1997, he was waiting for a heart transplant at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. As he was waiting, he was put on the L-VAD, a recent innovation for patients suffering from congenital heart defects. In 1995, Copeland appeared on CNN and ABC-TV's Good Morning America, wearing his L-VAD, offering the invention valuable publicity.
Despite his health problems, Copeland continued to perform and his always spirited concerts did not diminished all that much. After living 20 months on the L-VAD — the longest anyone had lived on the device — he received a heart transplant on January 1, 1997 and for a few months, the heart worked fine and he continued to tour. However, the heart developed a defective valve, necessitating heart surgery in the summer. Copeland died of complications during heart surgery on July 3, 1997.
Every Dog's Got His Day
Johnny Copeland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For the last time
You made a grown man cry
Now I'm leavin' you behind.
Oh, I know when you left me mama
Girl, it didn't take you a long time to say
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama,
I just wanna leave this with you mama,
And if he's a good dog, he just might have two days.
I keep on tryin'
I keep on tryin' to please you mama.
I did everything
I did everything a good man would do.
But oh you talk about me some more
Your friends told me everything you had to say.
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama
Every dog, every dog got his day.
And if he's a good dog, he just might have two days.
(Guitar solo)
The first thing out of this place
I'm gonna make me reservations
Maybe somewhere down the line
I just might find consolation
Oh, you hurt me, mama
You hurt me so bad, I'm sad to say
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama
I just wanna leave this with you baby
Every dog got a day.
And if he's a good dog, he just might have two days.
A good dog, a bad dog, old dog, a young dog got a day, girl
A rich dog, poor dog, a big dog, a little dog got a day, girl
A good dog, a bad dog, a old dog, a young dog got a day, girl
A good friend of mine down in Texas told me one time
That if you a good dog, you just might have a whole season.
Every dog, every dog, every dog have a day.
Yeah!
In the song Every Dog's Got His Day, Johnny Copeland sings about a woman who has hurt him for the last time. He had done everything a good man would do to please her but in the end, she still talked about him. Despite the hurt, Johnny Copeland has made up his mind to leave her behind and find happiness somewhere else. He consoles himself by saying that every dog has his day, and if he is a good dog, he just might have two days. This line means that everyone gets a chance to shine or have their moment, and if you're lucky, it might happen twice.
The song speaks to resilience, perseverance, and the idea that everyone deserves their moment to be happy. It also recognizes the challenges that come with trying to please someone who may not value you. Johnny Copeland used the metaphor of a dog to explain that anyone who works hard and does the right thing will eventually get their day.
Line by Line Meaning
Woman you hurt me
You, woman, have hurt me deeply.
For the last time
This is the final time you've hurt me.
You made a grown man cry
Your actions have caused me to shed tears.
Now I'm leavin' you behind.
I have decided to move on from this toxic relationship.
Oh, I know when you left me mama
I am fully aware of when you ended things between us.
Girl, it didn't take you a long time to say
You wasted no time in ending things.
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama,
I have a message to give you before I go.
I just wanna leave this with you mama,
This message I have is important to me.
Every dog got his day.
Everyone will have their moment of comeuppance.
And if he's a good dog, he just might have two days.
A good person might have multiple moments of success.
I keep on tryin'
I continuously put in effort.
I keep on tryin' to please you mama.
I strive to make you happy.
I did everything
I did everything I could to make this work.
I did everything a good man would do.
I behaved as the model of a good man.
But oh you talk about me some more
You cannot stop talking negatively about me to others.
Your friends told me everything you had to say.
I am aware of all the ill things you have said about me.
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama
I still have my message to give you before I go.
Every dog, every dog got his day.
Again, everyone gets their moment of comeuppance.
And if he's a good dog, he just might have two days.
Once more, good people may experience more moments of success.
(Guitar solo)
(Musical interlude)
The first thing out of this place
My first order of business is leaving this location.
I'm gonna make me reservations
I have plans for future events.
Maybe somewhere down the line
Possibly in the future.
I just might find consolation
I am hoping to find solace from this heartache.
Oh, you hurt me, mama
You have caused me much pain.
You hurt me so bad, I'm sad to say
Your actions have seriously impacted me.
But I'm gonna leave this with you mama
My message is still important.
I just wanna leave this with you baby
I am emphasizing the importance of the message.
A good dog, a bad dog, old dog, a young dog got a day, girl
This is a reminder that everyone gets their moment of comeuppance and gender does not matter.
A rich dog, poor dog, a big dog, a little dog got a day, girl
Socioeconomic status or physical size does not determine whether or not someone will have their moment of success.
A good dog, a bad dog, a old dog, a young dog got a day, girl
Once again, everyone gets their moment regardless of age or moral status.
A good friend of mine down in Texas told me one time
A friend of mine from Texas imparted some wisdom onto me.
That if you a good dog, you just might have a whole season.
Being a good person might lead to a long-term period of success.
Every dog, every dog, every dog have a day.
This is a refrain that underscores the theme of the song.
Yeah!
(Exclamation of excitement and agreement.)
Writer(s): JOHNNY COPELAND
Contributed by Benjamin R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jim Gouwens
Rest in Peace Johnny. One of the greats!
Jibrin Alhassan
Truly one of the greatest! Johnny will always have me anyway. Rest on my man
Chad Kennedy
"Mr. Peanutbutter, you save me!"
"No, Todd, I save us."
judith rosillo
is this a crossover episode?
Yozume
-Mr. Peanutbutter
Chad Kennedy
"Bees, I need your help!!!"
"No way, Todd, you're on your own!"
"No! Bees... Come on!!!!"
And just like that, Todd's stupid amusement park have burned to the ground.
#BurnItDown
Pearl Henry
Rip Johnny
Jaz🫶
Mr.Peanutbutter 😂
Commenting on my own comments
Melyjaz Nava yeah
Nomology
Which episode?