McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kan… Read Full Bio ↴McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy. As a young man, McCoy was drawn to the music scene in Memphis, Tennessee where he played guitar and sang vocals during the 1920s. He teamed up with future wife Lizzie Douglas, a guitarist better known as Memphis Minnie, and their 1929 recording of the song "Bumble Bee" on the Columbia Records label was a hit.[2] In 1930, the couple moved to Chicago where they were an important part of the burgeoning blues scene. Following their divorce, McCoy teamed up with his brother to form a band known as the Harlem Hamfats that performed and recorded during the second half of the 1930s.

In 1936, the Harlem Hamfats released a record with the song "The Weed Smoker's Dream" on it. McCoy later refined the tune, changed the lyrics and titled the new song "Why Don't You Do Right?" for Lil Green, who recorded it in 1941. It was covered a year later by both Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee, becoming Lee's first hit single. "Why Don't You Do Right?" remains a jazz standard and is McCoy's most enduring composition.

At the outbreak of World War II Charlie McCoy entered the military, but a heart condition kept Joe McCoy from service. Out on his own, he created a band known as "Big Joe and his Rhythm" that performed together throughout most of the 1940s. The band again included his brother Charlie on mandolin and Robert Nighthawk on harmonica.[3] In 1950, at the age of 44, McCoy died of heart disease in Chicago, only a few months before his brother Charlie. They are both buried in Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant took his and Memphis Minnie's recording of "When the Levee Breaks," which was in his personal collection, and presented it to guitarist Jimmy Page, who revamped it and slightly altered it lyrically, and help record it on Led Zeppelin's 1971 album, Led Zeppelin IV.

In addition to those mentioned earlier, McCoy's songs have also been covered by Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, The Ink Spots, Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Ann Kelly, Cleo Laine and A Perfect Circle.

Memphis Minnie McCoy-Lawler (born Lizzie Douglas, June 3, 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana; died August 6, 1973 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an American Blues guitarist, vocalist, and composer.

Born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana, Minnie was one of the most influential and pioneering female blues musicians and guitarists of all time. She recorded for forty years, almost unheard of for any woman in show business at the time and possibly unique among female blues artists. A flamboyant character who wore bracelets made of silver dollars, she was the biggest female blues singer from the early Depression years through World War II. One of the first blues artists to take up the electric guitar, in 1942, she combined her Louisiana-country roots with Memphis blues to produce her own unique country-blues sound; along with Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, she took country blues into electric urban blues, paving the way for giants like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, and Jimmy Rogers to travel from the small towns of the south to the big cities of the north. She was married three times, and each husband was an accomplished blues guitarist: Kansas Joe McCoy (a.k.a. "Kansas Joe") later of the Harlem Hamfats, Casey Bill Weldon of the Memphis Jug Band, and Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlers.[1] Paul and Beth Garon's 1992 biography on Memphis Minnie, Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues, makes no mention of a marriage to Weldon, but only says that she recorded two sides with him, in November 1935, for Bluebird Records. It does describe the relationships and marriages to McCoy and Lawlers.[2]

After learning to play guitar and banjo as a child, she ran away from home at the age of thirteen. She travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, playing guitar in nightclubs and on the street as Lizzie "Kid" Douglas. The next year, she joined the Ringling Brothers circus. Her marriage and recording debut came in 1929, to and with Kansas Joe McCoy, when a Columbia Records talent scout heard them playing in a Beale Street barbershop in their distinctive "Memphis style," and their song "Bumble Bee" became a hit.[3] In the 1930s she moved to Chicago, Illinois with Joe. She and McCoy broke up in 1935, and by 1939 she was with Little Son Joe Lawlers, with whom she recorded nearly 200 records. In the 1940s she formed a touring Vaudeville company. From the 1950s on, however, public interest in her music declined, and in 1957 she and Lawlers returned to Memphis. Lawlers died in 1961.

Bumble Bee
Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Bumble bee, bumble bee
Please come back to me
Bumble bee, bumble bee
Please come back to me
He got the best old stinger
Any bumble bee that I ever seen

He stung me this morning

I been looking for him all day long
He stung me this morning
I been looking for him all day long
Lord, it got me to the place
Hate to see my bumble bee leave home

Bumble bee, bumble bee
Don't be gone so long
Bumble bee, bumble bee
Don't be gone so long
You's my bumble bee
And you're needed here at home

I can't stand to hear him
Buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee
Want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee
And you know your stuff
Oh, sting me, bumble bee
Until I get enough

Bumble bee, bumble bee
Don't be gone so long
Bumble bee, bumble bee
Don't be gone so long
You's my bumble bee
And you're needed here at home

I don't mind you going
Ain't going to stay so long
Don't mind you going
Don't be gone so long
You's my bumble bee
And you're needed here at home

I can't stand to hear him
Buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee
I want you to stop your fuss
You's my bumble bee
And you know your stuff

Oh, sting me, bumble bee
Until I get enough

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to "Bumble Bee" by Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie are all about longing for a lost love, embodied by the image of a bumble bee. The singer pleads with the bee to come back to her, singing "Bumble bee, bumble bee please come back to me," and describing the bee as having "the best old stinger any bumble bee I ever seen." The bee has stung the singer and left her searching for him all day, but despite the pain, she can't help but feel a deep connection to this buzzing insect, saying "You're my bumble bee, and you're needed here at home."

The lyrics take on a sensual quality as the singer begs the bee to "sting me, bumble bee, until I get enough," evoking both the pleasure and pain that come with love. The repeated refrain of "Don't be gone so long" highlights the heartache and loneliness of separation, while also underscoring the singer's dependence on her bumble bee's love and companionship.

Overall, "Bumble Bee" is a charming and whimsical love song that blends together the natural world and human emotion in a uniquely poetic way.

Line by Line Meaning

Bumble bee, bumble bee
The singer is calling out to their bumble bee companion

Please come back to me
The singer misses their bumble bee and wants them to return

He got the best old stinger
The singer admires their bumble bee's stinger and considers it superior to others

Any bumble bee that I ever seen
The singer has seen other bumble bees but none with as impressive a stinger as their companion's

He stung me this morning
The bumble bee has caused the singer some pain earlier in the day

I been looking for him all day long
The singer has been searching for their bumble bee since the sting

Lord, it got me to the place
The sting has affected the singer's emotional state

Hate to see my bumble bee leave home
The singer does not want their bumble bee to stray too far from home

Don't be gone so long
The singer urges the bumble bee to not take too long to return home

You's my bumble bee
The singer sees the bumble bee as their own companion

And you're needed here at home
The singer finds comfort in the company of the bumble bee and wants them to stay close

I can't stand to hear him
The sound of the bumble bee buzzing is bothersome to the singer

Buzz, buzz, buzz
This is the sound the bumble bee makes

Want you to stop your fuss
The singer wants the bumble bee to stop making noise

And you know your stuff
The singer acknowledges that the bumble bee is good at what they do

Oh, sting me, bumble bee
The singer seems to enjoy the pain the bumble bee's sting causes

Until I get enough
The singer is seemingly addicted to the pain brought about by the bumble bee's sting

I don't mind you going
The singer does not mind the bumble bee leaving

Ain't going to stay so long
However, the singer still wants the bumble bee to return soon

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MINNIE MCCOY

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS

No Related Genres

More Genres

No Artists Found

More Artists Load All

No Albums Found

More Albums Load All

No Tracks Found

Genre not found

Artist not found

Album not found

Search results not found

Song not found

Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@deirdreryan6147

3y↑8

"Bumble bee, bumble bee, please come back to me
Bumble bee, bumble bee, please come back to me
He got the best old stinger any bumble bee that I ever seen
He stung me this morning
I been looking for him all day long
He stung me this morning
I been looking for him all day long
Lord, it got me to the place
Hate to see my bumble bee leave home."

@chuckheppner3374

8y↑8

Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee 🐝
https://youtu.be/RKBzv5lWLQs
Memphis Minnie's lyrics for her songs entitled Bumble Bee:

[Columbia]
Bumble bee, bumble bee, please come back to me 2x
He got the best old stinger any bumble bee that I ever seen
He stung me this morning, I been looking for him all day long 2x
Lord, it got me to the place, hate to see my bumble bee leave home
Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long 2x
You's my bumble bee and you're needed here at home
I can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me, bumble bee, until I get enough
Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long 2x
You's my bumble bee and you're needed here at home
I don't mind you going, ain't going to stay so long
Don't mind you going, don't be gone so long
You's my bumble bee and you're needed here at home
I can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, I want you to stop your fuss
You's my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me bumble bee, until I get enough

[Vocalion]
Bumble bee, bumble bee, won't you please come back to me 2x
He got the best ol' stinger any bumble bee that I ever seen
He stung me this morning, I been looking for him all day long 2x
He had me to the place once, I hate to see my bumble bee leave home
I can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, I want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me, bumble bee, until I get enough
Hmmm, stinger long as my right arm 2x
He stung me this morning, I been looking for him all day long
Sometimes he makes me happy, then sometimes he makes me cry 2x
He had me to the place once, I wish to God that I could die

[No. 2]
Bumble bee, bumble bee, where you been so long 2x
You stung me this morning, I been restless all day long
I met my bumble bee this morning as he flying in the door 2x
And the way he stung me, he made me cry for more
Hmmmm, don't stay so long from me 2x
You is my bumble bee, you got something that I really need
I'm gonna build me a bungalow just for me and my bumble bee 2x
Then I won't worry, I will have all the honey I need
He makes my honey, even now makes my comb 2x
It's all I want now my bumble bee just to stay at home

All comments from YouTube:

@murph3001

4y↑28

She's so wonderful __ should be considered as one of great blues singers EVER

@pauljeavons4350

4y↑3

she was accepted as a true blues player by the best male blues players of that era and the truth is the blues belong to women, they are the ones that suffer the most . listen to fado or morena

@WocklessGamingforAnimeMoms

37w

@pauljeavons4350 she's one of my favorite Blues Guitarists alongside Ali Farka Toure,Boubacar Traroe,Barbacue Bob,John Mayall,Slim Harpo,and Lighting Slim.

@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe

11w

It's funny but she could play some guitar as well.

@fairygodmomma2313

1y↑9

Oh I LOVE this!!

@marthaaskins1439

45w↑4

Oh this is a keeper
Theres alot going on in this song and alot that could be done with it

@coravisser3846

2y↑6

This is such a beautifull one she was great a real great legende.Thank you so much for uploading Novonine

@gj3072

11y↑11

this lady had a great singing voice, I love it.

@wailflower

7y↑8

Driving groove...RIP Minnie

@SammieKay-ll8dr

Ms B I coming over to listen to the music

@deirdreryan6147

3y↑8

@lioneldarde1851

👏

@chuckheppner3374

8y↑8

@k8fearsnoart

50w

Thank you so much for posting the lyrics here for us! I've a hard time hearing sometimes, and always appreciate being able to read the lyrics (or the closed captioning). It's ever so much nicer than having to flip through tabs and potentially having YouTube stop playing. Thank you so much! 😊

@RUSSVJM

7y↑5

This is actually the version she recorded for Columbia around the same time

@annmariekavanagh1948

7y↑8

check out tempo increase . great voice . serious ta lent . legend.

@robertanderson7049

7y↑13

those old jazz clubs, after hours clubs, and speak easy joints must have been swinging .there was a time when Harlem was a swinging place.

@4lv1nt4n

12y↑2

thanks for posting, needed for homework.

@Shapulak

6y↑3

MEMPHIS MINNIE 3.6.2018

@gershonnundkumar6444

8y↑1

Big Mama Thornton mustve been channeling this when she gave this song a shot

@Jay-iu4st

13w

🌬

@Emily-ti4xk

7y↑1

I got her as my study in Literacy

@v.b.1702

4y↑4

Anyone else thinks of Canned Heat "going up the country" when they hear this song?

@GeneralTarik

Not particularly with this song but I think a lot of Old Timey Blues would give you that feeling. By chance, have you ever heard the original recorded version of “Walk Right In” by the Cannon Jug Stompers?

@GeneralTarik

Actually, check this out too:
https://youtu.be/sYy716zmXcM

@v.b.1702

4y↑1

GeneralTarik oh my god 😳...thank you loads and loads. If you have more of these, pls keep them coming 🙏

@GeneralTarik

I can’t think of anybody who had a hit with this but it’s been recorded probably 100 times by different artist. Robert Johnson “borrowed” it and recorded it as “Come On In My Kitchen”. These guys are heavily revered as old time Blues legends. The Mississippi Sheiks - Sitting On Too of the World!
https://youtu.be/hBuK2ZOZq6o

@v.b.1702

4y↑1

GeneralTarik let me know if anything comes up. In the meantime, very nice meeting you. Ps: I recognize “ come on in my kitchen” in the last song you sent me. You’re absolutely right.

@TyroneEpps

13w

This song os hot ! 😊

@acenturyofblackmusic1655

8y↑25

im in love with a dead woman

@joeapodaca9338

4y↑1

That's illegal

@publishrrr6223

Chill

@gamingshortsbyfacadenoface704

4y↑2

All I'm thinking about is Bioshock lol

@rotamina

9y↑1

Thats funny. You are right.

@Sergioantoniox

I'm in love with a woman more alive than most

@DXhardy831

11y

lol definitely

@CretinMike27

12y↑3

If I lived back then ... Memphis Minnie would have been so hot lol ... I'm sucker for a pretty woman with a guitar especially when they know how to play it.

@ricobullock4690

Stop bruh I’m cringing😭

@monkeyeyes4111

6y↑1

Is there two guitars playing?

@marciaewell2661

5y↑2

Kansas Joe McCoy her first husband

@Vespertits

5y↑3

ghost world anyone?

@nudge2626

12y↑1

This must have highly influenced muddy waters song "honey bee"

@marciaewell2661

5y↑2

She brought this style to chicago. She was one of the first musicans to have an electric band, guitar, drums, piano and also one of first to use a reso guitar in the 20's for her blues. It was about being heard in a loud bar and dance setting.