Lonnie Johnson's early recordings are the first guitar recordings that display a single-note soloing style with use of string bending and vibrato. While it cannot be proven that this contains the influence of earlier players who did not record, it is the origin of Blues and Rock solo guitar. Johnson's influence is obvious in Django Reinhardt, T-Bone Walker and virtually all electric blues guitar players.
[citation needed] Raised in a family of musicians, Johnson studied violin and guitar as a child, but concentrated on the latter throughout his professional career. A 1917 tour to England with a revue may have saved his life, for he returned to New Orleans in 1919 to find that most of his family had died in the 1918 influenza epidemic.
In the early 1920s, Johnson worked with the orchestras of Charlie Creath and Fate Marable on riverboats, but he made St. Louis his home in 1925. There he entered and won an Okeh Records blues contest that resulted in his making a series of memorable recordings for the label between 1925 and 1932, including guitar duets with Eddie Lang and vocal duets with Victoria Spivey. In the 1920s, Johnson also made guest appearances on records by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, the Duke Ellington orchestra, and The Chocolate Dandies, playing 12-string guitar solos in an extraordinary, pioneering single-string style that greatly influenced such future jazz guitarists as Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt, and gave the instrument new meaning as a jazz voice.
Lonnie Johnson's career was a rollercoaster ride that sometimes took him away from music. In between great musical accomplishments, he found it necessary to take menial jobs that ranged from working in a steel foundry to mopping floors as a janitor. He was working at Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Hotel in 1959 when WHAT-FM disc jockey Chris Albertson happened upon him. Albertson succeeded in securing for Johnson a Chicago engagement at the Playboy Club, which launched yet another comeback. Johnson subsequently performed with Duke Ellington and his orchestra and with an all-star folk concert, both at Town Hall, New York City.
He also toured Europe and recorded several albums for the Prestige Bluesville label, some with Elmer Snowden, and one with his Okeh vocal partner, Victoria Spivey. To his great regret, Johnson was always tagged as a blues artist, and he found it difficult to be regarded as anything else. "I had done some singing by then," he explained when asked why he entered the Okeh contest, "but I still didn't take it as seriously as my guitar playing, and I guess I would have done anything to get recorded--it just happened to be a blues contest, so I sang the blues."
Johnson died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 16, 1970 of complications resulting from a 1969 auto accident. He was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 1997.
One of Elvis Presley's earliest recordings was Johnson's blues ballad, "Tomorrow Night", which was also recorded by LaVern Baker
Bob Dylan wrote about the performing method he learned from Johnson in Chronicles, Vol. 1. Dylan thinks Robert Johnson had learned a lot from Lonnie.
Bull Frog Moan
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The load got heavy and the toad eased out, you should've seen the way that bull frog pout.
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is about to bust.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, got to keep movin' I can't stall.
The bull frog said, “toad shut you mouth, ‘cause I'm just a big frog from the south.
Toad yelled, “from the size of your lips, if you got brains a snake's got hips.”
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is ‘bout to bust.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, I got to keep movin' I can't stall.
“Shake your dusty on down the road,” said the bull frog to the toad.
“My sweet frog is waiting and here I am, come on good, lets do a swam.”
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is ‘bout to bust.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, I got to keep movin' I can't stall.
“I got a date at half-past-two,” said the bull frog to the googlely-goo.
“Me sweet frog is waiting behind the stump, and when we get together we bumpty-bump.”
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is ‘bout to bust.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, I got to keep movin' I can't stall.
“Get that knapsack off the ground, stop your chinnin' lets go to town.
You's a bull frog and I'm a toad, we got to move this heavy load.”
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is ‘bout to bust.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, I got to keep movin' I can't stall.
La da da da da da da, la da da da la da da.
La da la da la da da, la da la da la da da.
La da da da da, la da da da da.
La da da da da da da, la da da da la da da.
The lyrics of Lonnie Johnson's "Bull Frog Moan" features a conversation between a bullfrog and a toad who are both tired of carrying a load while croaking knee deep in dust. The bullfrog seems to be boasting about his importance and makes a derogatory comment about the toad's intelligence. The toad retaliates with a witty response about the bullfrog's proportions. The conversation ends with the bullfrog urging the toad to continue walking towards their destination and telling him about his date with a female frog. The song's theme centers around the struggle of physical labor and the desire to rest, interspersed with humorous exchanges between the two characters.
Line by Line Meaning
Seen the bull frog and the toad, shakin' it, breakin' it with the load.
I observed the bullfrog and the toad moving about and breaking things while carrying a heavy load.
Croakin' knee deep in dust, my back is about to bust.
Singing and struggling in a dusty environment, my back is on the verge of breaking.
I'm so tired, and that ain't all, got to keep movin' I can't stall.
I am exhausted and do not have the luxury of stopping, I must keep moving forward.
The bull frog said, “toad shut you mouth, ‘cause I'm just a big frog from the south.
The bullfrog demanded that the toad be quiet because he was only a big frog from the south.
Toad yelled, “from the size of your lips, if you got brains a snake's got hips.”
The toad belittled the bullfrog, suggesting that he lacked intelligence though he had big lips.
“Shake your dusty on down the road,” said the bull frog to the toad.
Move along and go to my sweet frog who is waiting for us, ordered the bullfrog to the toad.
“My sweet frog is waiting behind the stump, and when we get together we bumpty-bump.”
The bullfrog informed the Googley-goo that his sweet frog was waiting behind the stump and that they would soon meet and hop together.
“Get that knapsack off the ground, stop your chinnin' lets go to town.
Pick up your bag from the ground and stop talking, we need to hurry to town.
You's a bull frog and I'm a toad, we got to move this heavy load.”
You are a bullfrog, and I am a toad, so we must hurry to transport this hefty load.
La da da da da da da, la da da da la da da.
Meaningless sounds of the song's chorus.
La da la da la da da, la da la da la da da.
Meaningless sounds of the song's chorus.
La da da da da, la da da da da.
Meaningless sounds of the song's chorus.
La da da da da da da, la da da da la da da.
Meaningless sounds of the song's chorus.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
msjazzmeblues
There's no guitar duo better than Lang and Johnson!
Django
Superb, rare duet for these two masters.
Eddie was 27 and Lonnie, 30.
yuromacviva
gee this is great,the two of the best .
Chewww
right on