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.
Get Yourself Together
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got rocks in my bed, and I can't sleep there no more.
Old rockin' chair's got me, and the blues is knockin' on my door.
If you neva' been in love, please don't try to find it out.
If you neva' been in love, please don't try to find it out.
And if you feel your po' little heart start slippin', then you better ask somebody what it's all about.
Ahh, greased n lightenin, greased n lightenin. [spoken words probably Dan Dixon]
'Cause it hurts to love someone, that you can't have all by yo'self.
Hurts to love someone, that you can't have all by yo'self.
And the part that really hurts you so bad - when you got to share them with somebody else.
Take it bass ... Oh, git it an' git it good! [spoken words Lonnie Johnson]
Now you told me that you love me baby, and you told me a lie.
But today you quit me - make up your mind or die.
So get yo'self together, 'cause I ain't goin stand no more doggin' around.
I know you got somebody else, cause the talk s all over town.
Now Im gettin' awful tired, of sleepin' by myself.
If you dont want my lovin', then Ill just dish it on out to somebody else.
I got to get myself together, cause Im tired of sleepin' by myself.
And if you dont want my lovin', then Ill just shove it on out there to somebody else.
"Get Yourself Together" is a slow blues number by American blues artist Lonnie Johnson. The lyrics of the song are about a failed relationship, and the resulting heartache and loneliness. Johnson compares the pain of failed love to having rocks in his bed, making it impossible to sleep. He advises those who have never been in love to avoid it entirely, and warns that it can be even more painful to love someone you can't have entirely. The song also expresses frustration with a former lover who has moved on, expressing a desire to move on and find love elsewhere.
Line by Line Meaning
I got rocks in my bed, and I can't sleep there no more, no more.
I am restless and cannot sleep peacefully anymore because there are rocks in my bed.
Old rockin' chair's got me, and the blues is knockin' on my door.
I am hearing the blues knocking on my door and it is affecting me emotionally, probably due to my past memories.
If you neva' been in love, please don't try to find it out.
If you have never experienced love, don't try to look for it as it can be tricky and lead to heartbreaks.
And if you feel your po' little heart start slippin', then you better ask somebody what it's all about.
If you feel that your heart is starting to slip and you are falling in love, then you must seek advice from a person who has experienced it before.
Hurts to love someone, that you can't have all by yo'self.
It's painful to love someone you can't have and share them with someone else.
And the part that really hurts you so bad - when you got to share them with somebody else.
The most painful part is when you have to share the person you love with someone else.
Now you told me that you love me baby, and you told me a lie.
You lied to me by saying that you love me.
But today you quit me - make up your mind or die.
You left me, and now you must decide whether you want to be with me or not.
So get yo'self together, 'cause I ain't goin stand no more doggin' around.
Stop wasting my time and make a decision, I won't tolerate it anymore.
I know you got somebody else, cause the talk s all over town.
I am aware that you are seeing someone else because it's the talk of the town.
And if you dont want my lovin', then Ill just dish it on out to somebody else.
If you don't want to be with me, I will move on and love someone else.
I got to get myself together, cause Im tired of sleepin' by myself.
I must gather myself and move on because I am tired of being alone.
And if you dont want my lovin', then Ill just shove it on out there to somebody else.
If you don't want my love, I will give it to someone else who values it.
Contributed by William B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
David Evans
my favourite Lonnie Johnson song - superb voice and guitar