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.
Me
Memphis Minnie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Won't you be my chauffeur
I wants him to drive me
I wants him to drive me downtown
Yes he drives so easy, I can't turn him down
But I don't want him
But I don't want him
To be ridin' these girls
So I'm gonna steal me a pistol, shoot my chauffeur down
Well I must buy him
Well I must buy him
A brand new V8
A brand new V8 Ford
Then he won't need no passengers, I will be his load
(spoken: Yeah, take it away)
Going to let my chauffeur
Going to let my chauffeur
Drive me around the
Drive me around the world
Then he can be my little boy, yes, I'll be his girl
In "Me and My Chauffeur Blues," Memphis Minnie sings about her desire for a chauffeur to drive her downtown. She describes the driver as someone who "drives so easy" that she can't resist him. However, she doesn't want him to be "ridin' these girls around," so she plans to shoot him down with a stolen pistol. Later in the song, she changes her mind and decides to buy him a brand new V8 Ford, stating that she will be his only passenger from then on. She even goes so far as to suggest that he can be her "little boy," while she will be his girl, intimating a romantic relationship between them.
The song can be interpreted as a commentary on the power dynamics between men and women in relationships at the time it was written, as well as a reflection of Memphis Minnie's own experiences as a black female blues musician in the early 20th century. The lyrics suggest a woman who is asserting her agency and control over her own life, even if it means resorting to violence. At the same time, it also reveals a vulnerability and desire for companionship and romantic love.
Line by Line Meaning
Won't you be my chauffeur
Asking someone to be her driver
I wants him to drive me
Desiring the person to drive her
Yes he drives so easy, I can't turn him down
The person drives smoothly, making her want him even more
But I don't want him
She doesn't want him to be driving other women around
To be ridin' these girls around
She doesn't want him to be driving other women
So I'm gonna steal me a pistol, shoot my chauffeur down
She's considering violent action to prevent him from driving other women
Well I must buy him
She needs to buy him something
A brand new V8
A powerful car with a V8 engine
Ford Then he won't need no passengers, I will be his load
If he has a new car, he won't need to drive other passengers and can focus on her
Going to let my chauffeur
Giving permission to the person to be her driver
Drive me around the world
Traveling with her driver anywhere she desires
Then he can be my little boy, yes, I'll be his girl
In this relationship, she will be the dominant one and he will be subservient to her
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ERNEST LAWLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@anandaji4075
Lyrics
Won't you be my chauffeur
Won't you be my chauffeur
I wants him to drive me
I wants him to drive me downtown
Yes he drives so easy, I can't turn him down
But I don't want him
But I don't want him
To be ridin' these girls
To be ridin' these girls around
So I'm gonna steal me a pistol, shoot my chauffeur down
Well I must buy him
Well I must buy him
A brand new V8
A brand new V8 Ford
Then he won't need no passengers, I will be his load
(spoken: Yeah, take it away)
Going to let my chauffeur
Going to let my chauffeur
Drive me around the
Drive me around the world
Then he can be my little boy, yes, I'll be his girl
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Ernest Lawler
Me and My Chauffeur lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
@jillianfoley5930
Memphis Millie. I am playing you today 1 November 2021 and still adore you and find you so wonderfull. I am approaching my 80th birthday and am so grateful to have had you in my life.
@edwardgordon4309
No multitrack recording, no signal processing, no auto tune, no sampling... just pure raw talent, natural reverb of the room and one take recording on a single channel with a single microphone
@anandaji4075
~amusing
@jillianfoley5930
Such a beautiful elegant lady = play this and am Heaven! Now 78 and and am sad that at a late time in my life I have discovered this wonderful lady. But thanks to You Tube have this on continually.
@alziron
Nice day to you sir. Good music.
@jillianfoley5930
@@alziron thank you for your reply - have been a bit neglected but due to your comment have got on to Millie again - many thanks. Jillian.
@46tmb
Better late than never
@jillianfoley5930
@@46tmb You can say that again!
@johnnyturner3215
Somehow blues in modern times became trite and predictable. The blues Memphis Minnie played was vibrant and alive, clever and real. Amazing how much better her music was than that of blues today, and some of her stuff was among the first music ever recorded!
@johnsmith100
Listen to Jimmy and Mama Yancey :)