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.
Sweet Potato Blues
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He raise sweet potatoes and cotton and corn.
He said by gosh, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
I got a sweet potato head is steaming hot.
Before I give it away I'm goin' ta let it rot.
I got sweet potatoes, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
If you want good potatoes bake it in my pan.
I got sweet potatoes, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
Keep up your stove, head is burnin' low.
I'm goin' ta show you something mama, you never seen before.
I got sweet potatoes, ain't goin' ta give you none.
I ain't goin' ta give you none of my bakin' I ain't got enough.
If you want to get my sweet potatoes you got to buy my stuff.
‘Cause I got sweet potatoes, and I ain't goin' ta give you none.
Lonnie Johnson's "Sweet Potato Blues" is a song about a man who is unwilling to share his sweet potatoes with others. The opening lines introduce us to Uncle Josh, a farmer who grows sweet potatoes, cotton, and corn. However, he is depicted as selfish when he declares, "by gosh, I ain't goin' ta give you none." This attitude extends to the singer, who claims to have a steaming hot sweet potato head but threatens to let it rot before giving it away. Even Old Aunt Jane, who is willing to share her sweet potato if baked in her pan, cannot convince the singer to part with his own.
The singer's stubbornness grows stronger throughout the song, refusing to give away his sweet potatoes. He even appears to tease his mother by claiming his "head is burnin' low" before revealing something she has never seen before. The song is a commentary on selfishness and greed, showing how easily people can become attached to the things they have and refuse to share with others.
Line by Line Meaning
Old uncle Josh, he lives down on the farm.
There's an old man named Uncle Josh who lives on a farm.
He raise sweet potatoes and cotton and corn.
He grows crops like sweet potatoes, cotton, and corn on his farm.
He said by gosh, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
Uncle Josh refuses to share his sweet potatoes with anyone.
I got a sweet potato head is steaming hot.
The singer has a head full of ideas, just like a sweet potato that's been cooked and is about to burst open.
Before I give it away I'm goin' ta let it rot.
Rather than share his ideas, the singer would rather let them go to waste.
I got sweet potatoes, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
The singer has something valuable that he's not willing to share.
Old aunt Jane gotta sweet potato in her hand.
There's an old lady named Aunt Jane who has a sweet potato in her possession.
If you want good potatoes bake it in my pan.
Aunt Jane claims that her sweet potatoes are the best if cooked in her pan.
I got sweet potatoes, I ain't goin' ta give you none.
Just like Uncle Josh and the singer, Aunt Jane won't share her sweet potatoes either.
Keep up your stove, head is burnin' low.
The singer is suggesting that the listener should pay attention and listen closely.
I'm goin' ta show you something mama, you never seen before.
The singer promises to present something new and exciting to the listener.
I got sweet potatoes, ain't goin' ta give you none.
As a final reminder, the singer emphasizes that his sweet potatoes are not up for grabs without payment.
Contributed by Sadie R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.