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.
My Strange Man
Memphis Minnie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I met a strange man last night, and I taken him home with me
Now he done gone and left me, wonder where could my strange man be?
Strange man, strange man, won't you please come back to me?
Strange man, strange man, won't you please come back to me?
You is my strange man, you've got something that I really need
Hmmm, wonder where is my strange man gone?
Hmmm, wonder where is my strange man gone?
He left me this morning 'n' I've been lonesome all day long
I woke up this morning, half past three, I found my strange man, was standin' over me
Strange man, strange man, tell me where you been
Well, I sure feel happy to see you back home again
Strange man, strange man, please don't leave me no more
Strange man, strange man, please don't leave me no more
Next time you leave me, I'm gonna walk out and lock my door
In Memphis Minnie's song "My Strange Man," the singer expresses her feelings of loneliness and heartbreak after a man she had just met left her. She begins the song by stating that she met a strange man last night and had taken him home with her. There's a sense of desperation in her voice as she wonders where her strange man could be. She pleads with him to come back to her, telling him that he has something she really needs. The repetition of the phrase "strange man" emphasizes the singer's confusion and uncertainty about this man she has brought into her life.
As the song continues, the singer's desperation increases. She wonders where her man has gone and feels lonesome all day long. The mention of waking up at half past three to find her strange man standing over her adds a sense of eeriness to the song. However, the singer's tone changes as she expresses her relief at seeing her man again. She tells him that she's happy he's back, but she also pleads with him not to leave her again. She threatens to lock her door if he does.
Overall, Memphis Minnie's "My Strange Man" is a powerful expression of heartbreak and desperation. The lyrics convey the singer's emotions in a way that is relatable to anyone who has ever experienced the pain of losing someone they cared about unexpectedly.
Line by Line Meaning
I met a strange man last night, and I taken him home with me
Last night I met a man I didn't know and invited him to stay over at my place
Now he done gone and left me, wonder where could my strange man be?
He's left me and I'm wondering where he might have gone
Strange man, strange man, won't you please come back to me?
I'm calling out to him, hoping that he'll come back to me
You is my strange man, you've got something that I really need
I need him and I'm being honest about it
He left me this morning 'n' I've been lonesome all day long
He left me earlier today and I've been lonely ever since
I woke up this morning, half past three, I found my strange man, was standin' over me
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to find him standing over me
Strange man, strange man, tell me where you been
I'm asking him where he's been
Well, I sure feel happy to see you back home again
I'm happy to see him back home
Strange man, strange man, please don't leave me no more
I'm asking him not to leave me again
Next time you leave me, I'm gonna walk out and lock my door
If he leaves me again, I'm going to walk out and lock the door behind me
Contributed by Cole G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.