The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential American guitar and f… Read Full Bio ↴The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential American guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of popular music of the time.

The Mississippi Sheiks consisted mainly of the Chatmon family, who came from Bolton, Mississippi and were well known throughout the Mississippi Delta. The father of the family had been a "musicianer" (someone with good technical ability on his or her instrument adept at sight-reading written music) during slavery times, and his children carried on the musical spirit. Their most famous (although by no means permanent) member was Armenter Chatmon - better known as Bo Carter - who managed a successful solo career as well as playing with the Sheiks, which may have contributed to their success.
When the band first recorded in 1930, the line-up consisted of Carter with Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, and Walter Vinson. Charlie McCoy (not to be confused with Charlie McCoy, a later American musician) played later, when Bo Carter and Sam Chatmon ceased playing full time. It was Lonnie Chatmon and Vinson who formed the real center of the group.

Bo Carter's solo work is notable for being sexually suggestive in songs and this is carried on to an extent with the group. They primarily earned their income like Robert Johnson and Skip James. They toured throughout the Southern United States, but also reached as far north as Chicago and New York.
Their first and biggest success was "Sitting on Top of the World" (1930), later to be recorded by Bob Wills (numerous times), Howlin' Wolf, Nat King Cole, Bill Monroe, Harry Belafonte, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Cream, Grateful Dead, Jeff Healey, John Lee Hooker, Bill Frisell and Jack White, and re-done by Robert Johnson, as "Come On in My Kitchen". The song was also the theme to the film A Face in the Crowd (1957) produced by Elia Kazan and starring Andy Griffith. Throughout their five active years, the Mississippi Sheiks recorded over seventy songs for the Okeh, Paramount and Bluebird labels.
Their last recording session as the Mississippi Sheiks was in 1936. Bo made a few more sessions on his own, but by 1938 he too was dropped. When the band dissolved, the Chatmon brothers gave up music and returned to farming.
The Sheiks and related groups under other names, such as Mississippi Mud Steppers and Blacksnakes, recorded about a hundred sides in the first half of the 1930s, among them original compositions (probably by Vinson) like "The World is Going Wrong" and "I've Got Blood in My Eyes For You" (1931) - both recorded by Bob Dylan - or the topical "Sales Tax" (1934).

Sam Chatmon made more recordings in the 1960s and Walter Vinson contributed three selections (using the Mississippi Sheiks band name) to Riverside's 1961 series, Chicago: The Living Legends.

In 2004, they were inducted in the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame. Their 1930 blues single "Sitting on Top of the World" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 1978 Rory Gallagher recorded a tribute song "The Mississippi Sheiks" for his Photo Finish album.
In 2009, Black Hen Music released Things About Comin' My Way, a tribute album to the Mississippi Sheiks. The album's seventeen artists include Bruce Cockburn, Bill Frisell, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Geoff Muldaur, Kelly Joe Phelps and John Hammond.

In 2013 Jack White's Third Man Records teamed up with Document Records to reissue The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order of Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and The Mississippi Sheiks.

Tell Me To Do Right
Mississippi Sheiks Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You're tellin' me to do right, baby
And you won't do right, yourself
You tellin' me to do right, baby
And you won't do right, yourself
Ev'rytime my back is turned
You comin' and dodging with somebody else

I believe I'm going to leave you

So, you can take care of yourself
I believe I'm going to leave you
So, you can take care of yourself
Iris, the reason I'm going to leave you
You can get you somebody else

I hate to leave you
But the talk is all over town
I hate to leave you
But the talk is all over town
Ah, but I've been a good boy to you
But you gonna put the poor boy down

'Whoa, here boy'

I know you're going miss him
Good man, when he's gone away
I know you're gonna miss him
Good man, when he's gone away
It may not be so soon, baby
But it will be're along in a lonesome day

It may be soon
Baby, an it may be late
It may be soon
Baby, an it may be late

Yes, says she's a red-hot mama
Lord, an she sure won't break.

Overall Meaning

The Mississippi Sheiks' "Tell Me To Do Right" is an old-time blues song that speaks about a dysfunctional relationship where one partner is constantly talking about doing the right thing while their actions suggest the opposite. The singer describes his partner as being unfaithful and hypocritical, telling him to "do right" while she herself is "comin' and dodging with somebody else." Frustrated by her behavior, the singer decides to end the relationship even though he hates to leave her. He believes that she can take care of herself and that she can find somebody else who will treat her better. The song ends with the suggestion that the woman is a "red-hot mama" who won't be broken by the singer's departure.

Line by Line Meaning

You're tellin' me to do right, baby
You're asking me to behave properly

And you won't do right, yourself
Even though you won't do the same

Ev'rytime my back is turned
Whenever I'm not looking

You comin' and dodging with somebody else
You're being unfaithful with another person

I believe I'm going to leave you
I think it's time for me to go

So, you can take care of yourself
You'll have to fend for yourself now

Iris, the reason I'm going to leave you
The reason I'm leaving you, Iris

You can get you somebody else
You can find yourself another partner

I hate to leave you
It pains me to go

But the talk is all over town
But everyone is talking about us

Ah, but I've been a good boy to you
I've been faithful and honest with you