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.
The Best Jockey In Town
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You say you're a race horse mama, but your jockey ain't never been found
But you've found the best little jockey, I'm the best rider in town
Now you may be a good race horse mama, but I don't think you're so hot
You may be a good race horse, but I don't think you're so hot
Cause when it comes to ridin' what you know, baby I've done forgotten
To be a good race horse mama, a good jockey's what you really need
Cause when you get on your home stretch, you don't know how to pick up your speed
Now to be a good race horse, you got to try and hold your second spot
To be a good race horse mama, you got try to hold your second spot
As soon as you get on your home stretch, give your jockey every bit you got
Now if you wanna be a good race horse, let me do your trainin' from now on
If you want to be a real good race horse, let me do your trainin' from now on
And I will make you win races, mama that have never been won
I'm a jockey by trade, I've rode the best horses that run
I'm a jockey by trade, I've rode the best in horses that run
And if you don't start jumpin', I will show you how the ridin's done
The song The Best Jockey in Town by Lonnie Johnson is a song that conveys a message about the importance of having a good jockey in horse racing. The lyrics describe a conversation between the singer and a racehorse mama who claims to be a good race horse but can't find a jockey to ride her. The singer asserts that he is the best jockey in town and that having a good jockey is essential for a race horse to win. He also criticizes the racehorse mama's skills, emphasizing how he has forgotten more about riding than she knows.
The song is a commentary on the importance of expertise in a given field. The singer highlights how having the right person with the right skill set in a particular area is essential for success. It also has a message about humility and the importance of recognizing one's limitations. The racehorse mama in the song is described as overconfident, and the singer points out her flaws to her.
Overall, The Best Jockey in Town is a song that uses a conversation between two characters to comment on the importance of expertise and humility, emphasizing that having the right person with the right skill set is essential to success.
Line by Line Meaning
You say you're a race horse mama, your jockey ain't never been found
Even though you call yourself a racehorse mama, you don't have a jockey to ride you yet
But you've found the best little jockey, I'm the best rider in town
You're lucky because I'm the best jockey around and I'm here to ride you
You may be a good race horse mama, but I don't think you're so hot
You might think you're a good racehorse mama, but I'm not so sure about that
Cause when it comes to ridin' what you know, baby I've done forgotten
You might know how to run, but when it comes to riding and controlling your speed, I am better than you
To be a good race horse mama, a good jockey's what you really need
Being a good racehorse mama means you need a good jockey to ride you properly
Cause when you get on your home stretch, you don't know how to pick up your speed
You don't know how to accelerate and increase your speed when you're approaching the finish line
To be a good race horse mama, you got try to hold your second spot
If you want to be a good racehorse mama, you need to try to maintain your second position during the race
As soon as you get on your home stretch, give your jockey every bit you got
When you're approaching your final stretch, you need to give everything you've got to your jockey to help you win the race
If you want to be a real good race horse, let me do your trainin' from now on
If you want to become better at racing, let me train you from now on
And I will make you win races, mama that have never been won
With my help, you will be able to win races that you have never won before
And if you don't start jumpin', I will show you how the ridin's done
If you don't start running properly, I will demonstrate how it's done and show you how to do it right
Contributed by Anthony L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.