Lizzie Douglas was born on June 3, 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana. She was the eldest from her 13 other siblings. Her parents Abe and Gertrude Douglas nicknamed her the Kid during her early childhood. At the age of 7 she and her family moved to Walls, Mississippi, which was just south of Memphis. The following year after she moved, she received her first guitar for Christmas. She began to practice and learn how to play both the banjo and the guitar and it was seen that she had a great talent as a musician. When she first began performing she did not use her first name Lizzie, but played under the name Kid Douglas. When she was 13 years old she ran away from her home to live on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. She would play on street corners for most of her teenage years and would eventually go home when she ran out of money. She began to get noticed singing and playing guitar on the street corners. This brought an opportunity for her to tour, travel, and play with the Ringling Brothers Circus. Eventually she came back to Beale Street and got consumed in the blues scene. At the time, women, whiskey, and cocaine were high in demand with the people and places she would be around. She made her money by playing guitar, singing, and prostitution, which was not uncommon at the time. Most of the female performers were prostitutes because of financial desperation. It was said “She received $12 for her services-an outrageous fee for the time.” (Memphis Minnie Biography,1). She was known as a woman that was very strong and that could take care of herself.
She had been married three times in her life; first with Will Weldon sometime in the 1920s, then Joe McCoy (1929–1934), and finally to Earnest Lawlars (a.k.a. Little Son Joe), in 1939. She and McCoy would perform together during their marriage. During this time, a talent scout from Columbia Records discovered her. When she and McCoy went to record in New York, she decided to change her name to Memphis Minnie. During the next few years she and McCoy released many singles and duets. She released the song “Bumble Bee” in 1930, which ended up being one of her favorite songs, and led her to a recording contract with the label Vocalion. Under this label, they continued to produce recording for two years, one of them being “I’m Talking About You”, which was one of her more popular songs. They soon decided to leave Vocalion and move to Chicago. She and McCoy introduced country blues to the urban environment and became very well known.
Memphis Minnie continued to have success throughout the years recording under many different labels like Decca Records and Chess Records. Some believe her fame was the reason for her divorce with McCoy due to jealousy and resentment towards her. She remarried after to Earnest Lawlars (a.k.a. Little Son Joe) and began recording material with him. She became very well known in the blues industry and ended up being one of the most famous blues performers of all time, competing with both men and women.
She continued to record throughout the 50’s, but her health began to become a problem for her. She retired from her musical career and ended up going back to Memphis. “Periodically, she would appear on Memphis radio stations to encourage young blues musicians. As the Garons wrote in Women With Guitar, 'She never laid her guitar down, until she could literally no longer pick it up.'” She suffered a stroke in 1960, which caused her to be bound by wheelchair. The following year her husband, Earnest “Little Son Joe” Lawlars died. She had another stroke a short while after and eventually ended up in the Jell Nursing Home. She could no longer survive on her social security income so magazines wrote about her and readers sent her money for assistance. On August 6, 1973 she died of a stroke. She was buried in an unmarked grave at the New Hope Cemetery in Memphis. A headstone paid for by Bonnie Raitt was erected by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on October 13, 1996 with 35 family members in attendance including her sister, numerous nieces (including Laverne Baker) and nephews. Her headstone is marked:
Lizzie "Kid" Douglas Lawlers
aka Memphis Minnie
The inscription on the back of her gravestone reads:
"The hundreds of sides Minnie recorded are the perfect material to teach us about the blues. For the blues are at once general, and particular, speaking for millions, but in a highly singular, individual voice. Listening to Minnie's songs we hear her fantasies, her dreams, her desires, but we will hear them as if they were our own."
After her death some of her old work began to surface and some of her songs were featured on blues compilations. She was one of the first 20 blues artists that were inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame.
Call The Fire Wagon
Memphis Minnie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why'ever had the shack and your clothes burn down?
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
Saved my baby and my wardrobe trunk
I lost everything else I had in front
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
Standing on the streets in my sleeping gown
Watching that shack and my clothes burn down
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
Fast asleep laying in my bed
Lord, this smoke is 'bout to kill me dead
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
This big city's all right but I'm so far from town
A shack catches fire, you know it's got to burn down
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
Well, the jinx overtaken us, now and carrying us down
Me and my baby got to leave this town
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
In Memphis Minnie's "Call The Fire Wagon," the artist sings about a personal experience of having her home and wardrobe burned down. She pleads for the presence of a fire wagon, a colloquial term for a fire truck, but sadly there is none in town. The song paints the picture of a woman standing outside in her sleeping gown, watching her life's possessions burn down in front of her, and frantically looking for help to put out the fire. In addition, Minnie describes how the smoke of the fire is suffocating her and making it difficult to breathe.
This song is a reflection of the time period in which it was written. The early 1900s were an era in which many African Americans lived in poverty and often had inadequate access to resources such as fire trucks. The song was written during the Great Depression, a time in which many people endured financial hardships, which made the loss of their possessions through a fire even more challenging to recover from.
Line by Line Meaning
I was talking to the people that lives in town
I spoke to the townspeople
Why'ever had the shack and your clothes burn down?
What caused your clothes and shack to burn down?
So call the fire wagon, call the fire wagon
We need to call the fire brigade
Call the fire wagon, ain't no fire wagon in town
Unfortunately, there is no fire brigade in town
Saved my baby and my wardrobe trunk
I was able to rescue my child and my clothing trunk
I lost everything else I had in front
Unfortunately, I lost all of my other possessions
Standing on the streets in my sleeping gown
I was standing on the street in my nightdress
Watching that shack and my clothes burn down
I was watching my shack and clothes burn to the ground
Fast asleep laying in my bed
I was sound asleep in my bed
Lord, this smoke is 'bout to kill me dead
The smoke is overwhelming me and could kill me
This big city's all right but I'm so far from town
The city is okay, but I feel far from home
A shack catches fire, you know it's got to burn down
If a shack catches on fire, it's likely to burn to the ground
Well, the jinx overtaken us, now and carrying us down
We've become unlucky and it's affecting us in a negative way
Me and my baby got to leave this town
My child and I must leave this town
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MINNIE MCCOY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@chazradcliff794
I worked in a Nursing home. There was this Black Man always had a suit coat on and a hat. Sang this song for us on request. What a great colorful man he was. One of his versus....10 toes up and 10 toes down, one little butt going round and round, Call the fire wagon......call the fire wagon. Aint no firewagon in town.
@johnnydobroboy
Heard her voice before on the radio spent 2 weeks trying to find out who she was thank you very much for uploading this I love blues chicks ;)
@boblongmire5835
Recorded June 22, 1937
@arjhendrix
Lizzie drive me Dizzie thank you bluesregards