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.
Flood Water
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
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It's been snowin' forty days and nights, rivers and lakes begin to freeze.
Some places through my old hometown, water ‘s up above my knees.
Storm begin risin', and the sun begin sinking down.
Storm begin risin', the sun begin sinking down.
I says, “Mother and Dad, pack your trunk. We ain't safe here in this town.
When it lightnin' my mind gets frightened, my nerves begin weakenin' down.
And the shack where we was livin' begin movin' ‘round.
Women and children were screamin', sayin', “Mama why must we go?”
Women and children were screamin', sayin', “Lord, where must we go?”
“The floodwater have broke the levees and we ain't safe here no more.”
And begin cloud as dark as midnight, keep raining all the time.
I say, “Oh, I wonder why the sun don't ever shine?”
And the way it keeps rainin' its drivin' me out my mind.
The lyrics to Lonnie Johnson's "Flood water" describe a catastrophic flood in his hometown, resulting from forty days and nights of continuous snow. Initially, the water levels begin rising, and the storm intensifies as the sun sets. Lonnie fears for his parents' safety and urges them to pack their belongings and leave town. With every bolt of lightning, Lonnie's anxiety increases, and he experiences nerve-wracking sensations. His family's house starts moving around, and it's clear that the flood is becoming more intense.
Women and children cry for help, terrified about what will become of them. The floodwater has broken the levees, and remaining in the town isn't an option. The situation is so dire that the clouds darken, despite it being daytime, and rain continues to fall non-stop. Lonnie wonders why the sun never shines despite the storm lasting for a full forty days and nights. It's the story of a family struggling to survive amidst unimaginable circumstances.
The song doesn't provide a resolution, so we don't know if Lonnie's family and others in the town received help, survived, or if the flood claimed any lives. However, it highlights the trauma and devastation that natural disasters can bring, and how helpless people can feel in such situations.
Line by Line Meaning
It's been snowin' forty days and nights, rivers and lakes begin to freeze.
It has been snowing continuously for forty days and nights, which has caused the rivers and lakes to freeze.
Some places through my old hometown, water ‘s up above my knees.
Water has flooded some parts of my hometown to the point that it reaches above my knees.
Storm begin risin', the sun begin sinking down.
As the storm approaches, the sun starts to set.
I says, “Mother and Dad, pack your trunk. We ain't safe here in this town.
I advise my mother and father to pack their belongings because it is no longer safe for us to stay here.
When it lightnin' my mind gets frightened, my nerves begin weakenin' down.
When there is lightning, my mind becomes afraid and my nerves weaken.
And the shack where we was livin' begin movin' ‘round.
The house we were living in starts to shake and move around.
Women and children were screamin', sayin', “Lord, where must we go?”
The women and children are screaming and asking for guidance on where to go for safety.
“The floodwater have broke the levees and we ain't safe here no more.”
The floodwater has broken through the levees, and it is no longer safe for us to remain in this area.
I say, “Oh, I wonder why the sun don't ever shine?”
I wonder why it seems that the sun is never shining amidst the continuous downpour.
And the way it keeps rainin' its drivin' me out my mind.
The continuous rain is making me crazy.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: LONNIE JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind