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.
Love Is The Answer
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Only those in love, is the ones can understand.
And those who play with love, they're never in demand.
Love is something great, it's not to be kicked around.
Love is something great, it's not to be kicked around.
And once you love please don't hurt it, 'cause it's so great to have around.
With you in my arms baby, nothin' could ever go wrong.
And with you in my arms baby, I'm never left alone.
I give you my heart and soul, and that was all of me.
Well I give you my heart and soul, baby that was all of me.
Your sweet kindness baby, have made me everything that a man wants to be.
In Lonnie Johnson's song Love is the answer, the artist expresses the idea that one can only understand love if they are experiencing it. He emphasizes that love is a powerful feeling that should not be taken for granted or played with. The artist urges his listeners to cherish their love and not hurt it because it is something great to have around. With the one he loves in his arms, he feels invincible, and nothing can ever go wrong. He also expresses his willingness to give his heart and soul to his beloved, and their kindness has transformed him into everything that a man wants to be.
Overall, Lonnie Johnson's Love is the answer is a powerful and emotional tribute to love. The lyrics celebrate the beauty of love and emphasize the importance of cherishing it. The song advocates for the need to remain committed to one's beloved and not to take their love for granted.
Line by Line Meaning
Only those in love, is the ones can understand.
Love is something that cannot be understood without actually experiencing it. Only those in love can truly understand it.
And those who play with love, they're never in demand.
People who don't take love seriously and play with it don't turn out to be the ones who are valued. They tend to be less in demand.
Love is something great, it's not to be kicked around.
Love is a great emotion and should never be taken for granted or mistreated.
And once you love please don't hurt it, 'cause it's so great to have around.
Since love is such a valuable feeling, it should never be intentionally hurt or destroyed because it's such a treasure to have in life.
With you in my arms baby, nothin' could ever go wrong.
Being with the one you love makes everything feel right and nothing feels impossible to handle because the love you share is powerful enough to overcome all obstacles.
And with you in my arms baby, I'm never left alone.
Having the one you love close to you makes you feel secure and like you're never alone no matter what.
Well I give you my heart and soul, baby that was all of me.
When someone gives their heart and soul to someone they love, they are giving everything they have and everything that makes them who they are.
Your sweet kindness baby, have made me everything that a man wants to be.
When someone is kind to us, it can transform us into the best version of ourselves, and for this singer, his love's kindness has helped him become everything he wants to be as a man.
Writer(s): Lonnie Johnson
Contributed by Adrian G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885
best bending - like a mordent ornamental