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.
New falling rain blues
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Storm is risin', the rain begin to fall.
Trouble is breakin' down my window, blues breakin' down my door.
My blues started at sunrise, and rides me all through the day.
My blues start at sunrise, and ride me all through the day.
It takes the sweet woman I love, to drive these blues away.
Come into my arms, sweet woman, please explain yourself to me.
Tell me who do you really want or do you still want your usta be?
'Cause sometimes you with me, baby, then again you gone.
Sometimes you with me, baby, then again you gone.
If you want your usta be, then you'd better let me alone.
Blues, fallin' like showers of rain.
Blues, fallin' like showers of rain.
Every once in a while, I can hear my baby call my name.
In Lonnie Johnson's song "New Falling Rain Blues," he expresses his bluesy state of mind caused by a storm that is brewing outside. The opening two lines of the song set the tone and indicates that this blues musician is feeling down and low. He highlights the fact that trouble is also breaking down his window, which symbolizes that he feels vulnerable and helpless. The rain acts as a metaphor for his blues. As the rain falls, so does his mood, and it seems like he is feeling helpless and needs someone to lift his spirits.
Johnson then goes on to sing about how his blues started at sunrise and have lasted throughout the day. It seems as though he is unable to shake off his sadness, and only the woman he loves can help him do that. He pleas for her to come back to him and explain herself because sometimes she is with him then gone in the next moment. He is confused about her intentions and wonders whether she wants to be with her usta be or him.
The song ends on a melancholic note where Lonnie Johnson compares his blues with showers of rain, and he can hear his baby calling his name. These final lines tell us that he feels he is lost and stranded, but he is still thinking about his lover that he wants back.
Overall, New Falling Rain Blues is a song that expresses Lonnie Johnson's feelings of sadness and dismay when it comes to love. He is hoping that the woman he loves will return and alleviate his blues, which bring him down.
Line by Line Meaning
Storm is risin' and the rain begin to fall.
The chaos in my life is starting to show as troubles constantly arise.
My blues started at sunrise, and rides me all through the day.
My worries and emotional pain began first thing in the morning and stay with me all day.
Come into my arms, sweet woman, and please explain yourself to me.
I need answers from the one I love, hoping they can help me with my struggles.
'Cause sometimes you with me, baby, then again you gone.
There's inconsistency in the love I receive, sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't.
Blues, fallin' like showers of rain.
The sadness and despair continually falls over me like pouring rain.
Every once in a while, I can hear my baby call my name.
Despite the pain, there are brief moments of hope, where I can hear my love calling for me.
Writer(s): Lonnie Johnson
Contributed by Brayden B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MasoodMangali
this man, mr. d. white johnson, was in my ear shot, as i recalled a rainy days meet, and he said to me as directly as
possible,
'fly high kid, for the shores, shore, shall great, cause in may, there
is no rain, yet do pain, the dain, meet and greet!'
peace and blessings, of the utmost to
you sir, for awakening, the tigers eyed
eye, within, and without me
💜💙
@Lithium...
Storm is risin', and the rain begin to fall.
Storm is risin', and the rain begin to fall.
Trouble is at my window, and the blues is knockin' down my door.
My blues start before sunrise, and last the whole day through.
My blues start before sunrise, and last the whole day through.
Yes, I've had the blues so bad, ever since I lost a sweet woman like you.
Come on back to me baby, there'll never be no one but you.
Please come on back to me baby, there'll never be no one but you.
I tried so hard baby, but I can't please you no way I do.
Sometimes you're with me, but the most of the time you're gone.
Sometimes you're with me, but the most of the time you're gone.
And if you don't want me baby, then why in the devil don't you let me alone.
Blues, fallin' down like drops of rain.
Blues, fallin' down like drops of rain.
Every once in a while, I can hear my baby call my name.
@gilkenson53
the older the blues, the better it is.. What a great voice her had!!!
@randytaylor2752
"And if you don't want me baby, then why in the devil won't you let me alone?" Hilarious! 😂😂
Lonnie's got that kind of soul you can't learn in a music conservatory!
@Harpgrindin
who are the 10 fools who downthumbed!? For their info, Lonnie Johnson was one of the most technically proficient guitar players to EVER walk this earth. Virtually nobody played like this 90 years ago.
@thegypsyman9043
Lonnie actually was a jazz artist who could play blues according to his biography. His sound & tone were well advanced as was his playing style. He was already playing "uptown style" urban blues before anyone called it that. Rhythm & Blues would come next.
@thegypsyman9043
He at times played 9 strings (12 - 3) & his early duet recordings with late Eddie Lang are now considered vaiuable classic jazz/blues collectibles.
@cfpl2375
Here here!
@smellincoffee
Some people are just born dumbasses, and then they sign up for extra practice.
@bluesingmusic3443
If I remember this was the 1st song he ever recorded (1925), he played violin on the original. This was along with "Mr Johnson's Blues". Thus the great one began, his long career. The Father of Improvised Lead Guitar. Ever notice you can buy Note for Note sheet music/tabs of the leads done by every artist, EXCEPT Lonnie. I've seen a few that have a few bars, then it inevitably says: ad lib. Almost 100 yrs, & he still hasn't been totally figured out.
@GeorgeWhitney
This guy is the real deal!
@GeorgeWhitney
I love his voice too. Had the pleasure to meet his granddaughter who introduced me to his music. Grateful!