Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician.[2] By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries.[2] In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955.[2]
After trying several labels without notable success, including Trumpet Records,[3] Milton set up the St. Louis based Bobbin Records label, which ultimately scored a distribution deal with Leonard Chess' Chess Records.[2] As a record producer, Milton helped bring artists such as Albert King and Fontella Bass to fame, while experiencing his own success for the first time.[2] After a number of small format and regional hits, his 1962 single, "So Mean to Me," broke onto the Billboard R&B chart, eventually peaking at #14.
Following a short break to tour, managing other acts, and spending time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received "Blind Man" (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, "We're Gonna Make It," a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B chart and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit "Who's Cheating Who?" All three songs were featured on his album, We're Gonna Make It, released that summer.
Throughout the late 1960s Milton released a number of moderately successful singles, but did not issue a further album until 1969, with Grits Ain't Groceries featuring his hit of the same name, as well as "Just a Little Bit" and "Baby, I Love You". With the death of Leonard Chess the same year, Milton's distributor, Checker Records fell into disarray, and Milton joined the Stax label two years later.[2] Adding complex orchestration to his works, Milton scored hits with "That's What Love Will Make You Do" and "What It Is" from his live album, What It Is: Live at Montreux. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.[4] Stax, however, had been losing money since late in the previous decade and was forced into bankruptcy in 1975.[2]
After leaving Stax, Milton struggled to maintain a career, moving first to Evidence, then the MCA imprint Mobile Fidelity Records, before finding a home at the independent record label, Malaco Records, where he remained for much of the remainder of his career.[2] His last hit single, "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number," was released in 1983 from the album of the same name.[2] In 1988, Little Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award.[2] His most final album, Think of Me, was released in May 2005 on the Telarc imprint, and included writing and guitar on three songs by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock trio Winterville.
The name 'Little Milton' was reused for Gerald Bostock, the fictional boy poet central to Jethro Tull's 1972 record Thick as a Brick.
Milton died on August 4, 2005 from complications following a stroke.
Feel So Bad
Little Milton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Feel like a ballgame on a rainy day
I tell you I feel so bad
Feel like a ballgame on a rainy day
Since I lost my baby
I shake my head and walk away (walk away)
Sometime I want to stay here
Then again I want to leave
Then again I want to stay
I just can't make my mind up
I shake my head and walk away (walk away)
I'm trying to tell you people
Tell you just how I feel
I'm trying to tell you people
Trying to tell you just how I feel
I feel so bad (yes I do)
My baby gave me a dirty deal
[Guitar solo]
Oh I feel so bad
Feel like a ballgame on a rainy day (yes I do)
I feel so bad
Feel like a ballgame on a rainy rainy rainy day
Since I lost my baby
I shake my head and walk away (I just walk away)
Sometime I want to stay here
Then again I want to leave (yes I do)
Sometime I want to leave here
Then again I want to stay (alright)
Well since I've got my clothes packed
I'll catch a train and ride away (gonna ride away)
I'm gonna ride away
I'm gonna leave her
I'm so lonely
I feel so bad
I'm gonna leave this town
Oh yeah
I can't stay no longer
Feel so bad
The lyrics to Little Milton's song "Feel So Bad" convey a sense of confusion and despair following the loss of a significant relationship. The use of the metaphor "feel like a ballgame on a rainy day" emphasizes the heavy, unsettled emotions that the singer is experiencing. He describes feeling unable to make up his mind about staying or leaving, constantly vacillating between the two options. The repetition of "I shake my head and walk away" emphasizes the singer's inability to fully commit to one course of action.
The singer is trying to express the deep sadness and betrayal he is experiencing following his partner's departure. The line "My baby gave me a dirty deal" highlights the sense of injustice and wrongdoing that he feels. The guitar solo in the middle of the song emphasizes the mournful tone and adds to the overall feeling of sadness.
Overall, "Feel So Bad" is a powerful expression of the emotional turmoil that can follow the loss of a relationship. Through his use of metaphor and repetition, Little Milton highlights the sense of confusion and despair that can accompany this type of loss.
Line by Line Meaning
Feel so bad
I am feeling extremely sad and depressed
Feel like a ballgame on a rainy day
My sadness feels like a miserable day with no hope
I tell you I feel so bad
I am expressing to others how terrible I feel
Since I lost my baby
My sadness is due to the fact that I lost my significant other
I shake my head and walk away (walk away)
I try to physically remove myself from situations that remind me of my loss
Sometime I want to stay here
At times, I want to stay and face my problems
Then again I want to leave
But at other times, I feel like running away and escaping my troubles
I just can't make my mind up
I am indecisive and cannot come to a conclusion
I'm trying to tell you people
I am attempting to communicate my emotions to others
Trying to tell you just how I feel
I am trying to express the depth of my sadness
My baby gave me a dirty deal
My significant other hurt me and betrayed my trust
Oh I feel so bad
My sadness is overwhelming and consuming
Since I lost my baby
My sadness is directly associated with the loss of my significant other
Sometime I want to stay here
I have moments where I am not ready to face reality
Then again I want to leave (yes I do)
But ultimately, I want to leave everything behind and start anew
I'm gonna leave her
I am going to leave my significant other
I'm so lonely
My sadness has led me to feel overwhelmingly lonely
I feel so bad
My sadness is all-consuming and has taken over my life
I'm gonna leave this town
I am planning to move away to escape my troubles
I can't stay no longer
I have reached my breaking point and cannot continue to stay in this place
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: SAM HOPKINS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Peter Dewar
what a voice...what a guitarist...what a talent
Jeanette Williams
The best blues artist ever. Wi This will always be my jam. Little Milton is so underrated!!! Thanks for posting this classic👌❤🥰
adjforreal
Okay, lets start a petition to get Little Milton story told on the big screen! Love him
WhiteOakPickups
Hollywood would screw it up though.
Steve Sewall
Great idea! Steve Sewall
Philip Selwood
Lovinn' this song. It's the first time I have heard it but I have played it three times already. Thanks a million for sharing.
SJS
THIS IS A REAL ROCKIN' BLUES SONG!!!!!
fearsomegladiator
I stumbled on this accidentally. All I can say is WOW, what an amazing blues artist!
Terry Richards
A MASTERPIECE! And a killer bass line!
Valenda Newell
LITTLE MILTON is the KING of BLUES, always wearing his 👑 when sanging his GROOVING GRITTY HITS !! 🎸🎸