King Biscuit Boy or Son Richard (9 March 1944-5 January 2003) was a Canadia… Read Full Bio ↴King Biscuit Boy or Son Richard (9 March 1944-5 January 2003) was a Canadian blues and rhythm & blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter.

Born Richard Alfred Newell in Hamilton, Ontario, he first heard the blues on U.S. radio. At the age of seventeen he started playing the harmonica, playing with local blues and rock bands. In 1966 he joined the Toronto band, the Mid-Knights, leaving them to go on tour singing and playing harmonica from 1968 to 1970 with Ronnie Hawkins (who named him "King Biscuit Boy" after the Arkansas blues programme, King Biscuit Time).

"Biscuit", who also played guitar, made his first LP, Official Music in 1970 with Hawkin's old backing band, now called Crowbar. His first solo album was the 1974 King Biscuit Boy, followed by many others.

He continued to perform intermittently in Canada and the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s. He received two nominations for the Juno award, and in 1995 was presented with the Great Canadian Blues Award.
Due to his heavy drinking, Newell's health deteriorated as he aged, which led to performance problems and cancelled shows. He died at his home in Hamilton, Ontario, in 2003, two months short of his fifty-ninth birthday.
A couple of months after his death, friends of Newell held a benefit show at a downtown Hamilton, Ontario, club, to create a trust fund in his name. More than 100 musicians from across the country showed up to play at Club 77 at the first annual "Blues with a Feeling" benefit show. The show was successful and "The Friends of Richard Newell" have held one every year since, with the money raised going to a music scholarship fund at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton, Ontario.

Get It Right
King Biscuit Boy Lyrics

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Hey everybody
Wanna squeeze my strings
I wanna rock it like B.B. King
Get it right
Get it right
Get it right
You got to get it right tonight

Hey everybody come to order
We're on a rocket like Muddy Waters
Get it right
Get it right
Get it right
You gotta get it right tonight

Hey everybody don't you understand
I wanna rock it like Bobby Blue Bland
Get it right
Get it right
Get it right
You gotta get it right tonight

Hey everybody couldn't you and him
Can't get it right or get like Sunnyland Slim
Get it right
Get it right
Get it right
You gotta get it right tonight

Hey everybody
Wanna squeeze my strings
I wanna rock it like B.B. King
Get it right
Get it right
Get it right
You gotta get it right tonight

Get it right
Get it right

Get it right
You gotta get it right tonight

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of King Biscuit Boy's song "Get it right" is a song about the desire to play the guitar and play it right. The song is also about paying homage to some of the greatest blues guitarists of all time, like B.B King, Muddy Waters, Bobby Blue Bland, and Sunnyland Slim. The song opens with the memorable line "Hey, everybody, wanna squeeze my strings", emphasizing the importance of the guitar in the song. The next line "I wanna rock it like B.B King" further enforces this message highlighting the desire for great guitar skills.

Subsequent verses pay homage to other legendary blues musicians such as Muddy Waters and Bobby Blue Bland. The chorus "Get it right, Get it right, Get it right, You gotta get it right tonight" is repeated frequently throughout the song, emphasizing the importance of playing the guitar correctly with an urgency to do it now.

Overall, King Biscuit Boy's "Get it right" song is, at its core, a tribute to the blues greats, and a declaration of the desire to be able to play the guitar like them. The lyrics also enforces the importance of paying tribute to the legends while striving to play the guitar to the best of one's ability.

Line by Line Meaning

Hey everybody
Attention everyone

Wanna squeeze my strings
I want you to appreciate the music I'm playing on my guitar

I wanna rock it like B.B. King
I want to play music like B.B. King did.

Get it right
Play well

You got to get it right tonight
It's important to play well tonight.

Hey everybody come to order
Listen up, everyone

We're on a rocket like Muddy Waters
We're playing great music like Muddy Waters did.

Get it right
Play well