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.
Flyin' High
Johnny Copeland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Me and my guitar and the blues
Seem like yesterday,
Everything was goin my way
No one could have told me
I'll be sittin here singing the blues today
I was flying high,
Woke up one morning
I couldn't fly no more
But it seems like yesterday
Everything was goin my way
No one could have told me
I'll be sittin here singing the blues today
I was flying high,
Landing slow,
Woke up one morning
I couldn't fly no more
But it seems like yesterday
Everything was goin my way
No one could have told me
I'll be sittin here singing the blues today
Somebody tell me
What a man to do
When the world as took from him
Everything but the blues
Seem like yesterday
Everything was goin my way
No one could have told me
I'll be sittin here singing the blues today
Now i'm moving
From state to state
Every time i eat
I can break my plate
But it seems like yesterday
Everything was goin my way-ay
No one could have told me
Aaaaaai'll be sittin here singing the bluuuuuuueees today.
In Johnny Copeland's song "Flyin' High," the lyrics depict a person who was once successful and happy, but now finds themselves sitting alone with their guitar, singing the blues. The first stanza sets the tone for the rest of the song, describing the singer's feelings of loss and disappointment. The second stanza reinforces this sense of loss, as the singer describes a time when they were flying high but now feel grounded, unable to take off anymore.
As the song progresses, the singer questions what they should do when their world has taken everything from them except their blues. The final stanza depicts the singer as a nomad, moving from state to state, feeling as though they could break their plate every time they eat. The repetition of the lyrics throughout the song emphasizes the singer's sense of stuck-ness, feeling as though they're singing the same song over and over again.
Overall, the lyrics of "Flyin' High" convey a sense of sadness and hopelessness. The singer seems to be searching for a way to escape their blues, to fly high again, but they don't know how.
Line by Line Meaning
Here i sit, in this room,
I find myself alone in this room with nothing but my guitar and my blues to keep me company.
Me and my guitar and the blues
I am playing my guitar and letting out all the emotions that come when singing the blues.
Seem like yesterday,
It's hard to believe that it was only yesterday when everything was perfect and going my way.
Everything was goin my way
Life was beautiful and I had everything I ever wanted.
No one could have told me
I never imagined that things could turn around so suddenly and bring me down to where I am today.
I'll be sittin here singing the blues today
I am feeling the pain and expressing it through the only thing I know, which is singing the blues.
Woke up one morning
Out of nowhere, I woke up and couldn't do what I did best anymore.
I couldn't fly no more
All of a sudden, I lost my ability to fly high and feel alive.
Somebody tell me
I am desperately seeking advice from anyone who can guide me through this tough situation.
What a man to do
As a man, I am trying to find my way out of this situation with nothing but my determination and courage.
When the world as took from him
The world has taken everything from me, leaving me with nothing but my blues to cling onto.
Now i'm moving
I have decided to keep moving and not let my bad luck keep me down.
From state to state
I am traveling from one place to another, hoping that things will get better.
Every time i eat
I am struggling so much in life that even basic things like eating are difficult for me.
I can break my plate
I am so down that even something as simple as breaking a plate can relieve me of my frustration and anger.
Aaaaaai'll be sittin here singing the bluuuuuuueees today.
Despite all my struggles, I will continue singing the blues today to express my emotions and pain.
Writer(s): JOHNNY COPELAND
Contributed by Blake F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@zachmerrill8204
This is probably no joke my 200th time listening to this, and everytime it gets better. What a flawless performance. God i wish there was someone anymore that could sit down and just sing and play the guitar like this.
@joehughes9195
You have a fine taste in music. I could not agree with you more. His daughter is awesome as well.
@stmarsjr
Amen brother
@babkeebabkus8177
@Teddy St Mars he was magical...fck the blues has got so much depth....this is all of the human condition wrapped into one song
@kevindizzle2449
I could try
@damonjbrennan
one man, one guitar and a whole lot of soul
@Salieri47
One sentence, so much truth.
@mmmcosta
Perfect definition!!! 👏👏👏
@SnakeHouseExotics
One of the best voices for blues. Amazing performance. Stevie Ray Vaughan said that Johnny Copeland was "real", what he meant by that was that he sings and plays from the heart. I agree
@murph3001
Well said