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.
WIPE IT OFF
Lonnie Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
LJ: Unless you wipe it off.
CW: I'm wipin' it off.
LJ: Ah, wipe it off.
CW: Ah, doot dee doe.
LJ: ‘Cause I keeps it shiny, you got to wipe it off.
CW: Wipe it off.
LJ: Now you wipe ‘em off.
CW: Wipe' it off.
LJ: Ah, wipe them off.
CW: I'm wipin' it off.
LJ: Your hands are full of coal dust, you got to wipe them off.
CW: You got to wipe them off.
LJ: Mr. Barber, don't be no fool, you can't use that same old tool,
LJ: Unless you wipe it off.
CW: Ah, wipe it off.
LJ: Ah, wipe it off.
CW: I'm wipin' it off.
LJ: They old and rusty, you better wipe them off.
CW: You better wipe it off.
LJ: Sister Kate told little brother Bud, you done dropped your baseball in the mud,
LJ: Now you got to wipe it off.
CW: I'm wipin' it off.
LJ: Ah, you better wipe it off.
CW: I'm wipin' it off, papa.
LJ: I love to play with your baseball, you better wipe it off.
CW: You got to wipe it off.
The song 'Wipe It Off' by Lonnie Johnson is a playful and upbeat tune that talks about the importance of keeping things clean. The lyrics can be interpreted in different ways, but at the surface level, it seems to be about hygiene and cleanliness. Sister Kate, Mr. Neal, Mr. Barber, and little brother Bud are all instructed to wipe their hands, tools, and belongings clean before they can use them, implying that they may be dirty or contaminated. The phrase 'wipe it off' is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the importance of cleanliness.
On a deeper level, the song could also be interpreted as a commentary on social hierarchy and power dynamics. Sister Kate, a woman, is the one instructing the men to clean up, which could be seen as unusual for the time the song was written (1927). Additionally, the repeated instruction to 'wipe it off' could be seen as a subtle critique of the societal norms that require people to constantly 'clean up' their appearances and behaviors to meet certain standards.
Line by Line Meaning
Sister Kate told Mr. Neal, you can't ride in my automobile,
Sister Kate warned Mr. Neal that he couldn't ride in her car unless he cleaned it first.
Unless you wipe it off.
She required him to wipe the car off to make it shiny and presentable.
Ah, wipe it off.
She emphasized the importance of wiping the car off.
‘Cause I keeps it shiny, you got to wipe it off.
She kept the car shiny and required others to clean it so that it stayed presentable.
Take your hands off my jelly roll, they been out in the cold.
Someone was touching the singer's jelly roll with cold hands.
Now you wipe ‘em off.
The singer asked the person to wipe their hands off before handling his jelly roll.
Your hands are full of coal dust, you got to wipe them off.
The person had coal dust on their hands and needed to clean them before touching something else.
Mr. Barber, don't be no fool, you can't use that same old tool,
The singer warned Mr. Barber not to use the same old tool without first cleaning it.
They old and rusty, you better wipe them off.
The tool was old and rusty and needed to be wiped off before use.
Sister Kate told little brother Bud, you done dropped your baseball in the mud,
Sister Kate informed little brother Bud that he had dropped his baseball in the mud.
Now you got to wipe it off.
He needed to clean the baseball before playing with it again.
I love to play with your baseball, you better wipe it off.
The singer enjoyed playing with the baseball but wanted it cleaned first.
You got to wipe it off.
The baseball needed to be cleaned before anyone could play with it.
Writer(s): Lonnie Johnson Copyright: Lonesome Ghost Blues
Contributed by Hudson M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jean-Michel Dehalu
This song has been covered by Jeff Healey & The Jazz Wizards under the title "It's Tight Like That/Wipe ' Em Off".
Sister Kate told Mister Bud, you dropped your parcel in the mud
Now wipe it off
I'll wipe it off
Oh wipe it off
I'm wipin' it off
I get tired of tellin' you to wipe it off
You better wipe it off
Sister Kate told Mr. Neal, you can't ride in my automobile
Unless you wipe it off
I'll wipe it off
Oh, wipe it off
I'll wipe it off
'Cause I keeps it shiny, you gotta wipe it off
Wipe it off
Take your hands off my jelly roll, they been out in the cold
Now you wipe 'em off
Wipe' it off
Ah, wipe them off
I'm wipin' it off
Your hands are full of coal dust, you got to wipe them off
You got to wipe them off
Mr. Barber, don't be no fool, you can't use that same old tool
Unless you wipe it off
Ah, wipe it off
Ah, wipe it off
I'm wipin' it off
They old and rusty, you better wipe them off
You better wipe it off
Sister Kate told little brother Bud, you done dropped your baseball in the mud
Now you got to wipe it off
I'm wipin' it off
Ah, you better wipe it off
I'm wipin' it off, papa
I love to play with your baseball, you better wipe it off
You got to wipe it off
Ramiro Alfonso Lopez Amaya
la piel obscura los inventores del ritmo blues fue el savor de los 20s.
el penquista
Pure gold.
Dave Roth
...thanks for going to the bother of uploafing such a nice sounding transfer...ain't it gratifyin to see no "dislike"s...cheers...
HUTCHfromBA
Richlite fretboards, Lol ! Blues On....
busessuck1
@boomaga Well I am glad you're here to determine intellegence levels ...I was using "worst" in terms of nasty, did you not pick up on the central theme of this song?
busessuck1
This is probably the worst out of your collection so far... that's no a bad thing though, hehe