One commentator noted that Burnside, along with Big Jack Johnson, Paul "Wine" Jones, Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes and James "Super Chikan" Johnson, were "present-day exponents of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound."
Early life and career
Burnside was born in Harmontown, Mississippi, in Lafayette County. He spent most of his life in North Mississippi, working as a sharecropper and a commercial fisherman, as well as playing guitar at weekend house parties. He was first inspired to pick up the guitar in his early twenties, after hearing the 1948 John Lee Hooker single, "Boogie Chillen" (which inspired numerous other rural bluesmen, among them Buddy Guy, to start playing). He learned music largely from Mississippi Fred McDowell, who lived nearby in an adjoining county. He also cited his cousin-in-law, Muddy Waters, as an influence.
During the 1950s, Burnside grew tired of sharecropping and moved to Chicago in the hope of finding better economic opportunities. But things did not turn out as he had hoped. Within the span of one year his father, brother, and uncle were all murdered in the city, a tragedy that Burnside would later draw upon in his work, particularly in his interpretation of Skip James's "Hard Time Killing Floor" and the talking blues "R.L.'s Story", the opening and closing tracks on Burnside's 2000 album, Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.
Around 1959, he left Chicago and went back to Mississippi to work the farms and raise a family. Burnside was convicted for murder and sentenced to six months' incarceration (in Parchman Prison) for the crime. Burnside's boss at the time reputedly pulled strings to keep the murder sentence short, due to having need of Burnside's skills as a tractor driver. Burnside later said "I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."
His earliest recordings were made in the late 1960s by George Mitchell and released on Arhoolie Records. Another album of acoustic material was recorded that year and little else was released before Hill Country Blues, in the early 1980s. An album's worth of singles followed, released on ethnomusicology professor Dr. David Evans' Highwater Records record label in Memphis, Tennessee.
Later life and career
In the 1990s, he began recording for the Oxford, Mississippi, label Fat Possum Records. Founded by Living Blues magazine editor Peter Redvers-Lee and Matthew Johnson, the label was dedicated to recording ageing North Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death, and he usually performed with his friend and understudy, the slide guitarist Kenny Brown, with whom he began playing in 1971 and claimed as his "adopted son."
Burnside attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, the leader of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, touring and recording with this group and gaining a new audience in the process.
After the death of Kimbrough and the burning of Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, Mississippi, Burnside quit recording studio material for Fat Possum, though he did continue to tour. After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.
Members of his large extended family continue to play blues in the Holly Springs area: grandson Cedric Burnside tours with Kenny Brown and most recently with Steve 'Lightnin' Malcolm as part of the 'Juke Joint Duo', while his son Duwayne Burnside has played guitar with the North Mississippi Allstars (Polaris; Hill Country Revue with R. L. Burnside). Duwayne's solo career began when "Duwayne Burnside and the Mississippi Mafia" recorded "Live At the Mint" in October 1997. Members included Cedric Burnside, Eddie Batos, Joe Hill from Alien Ant Farm, and David Kimbrough, Jr. (Junior Kimbrough's son) with Duwayne's father sitting in on a few tracks. Duwayne and the Mississippi Mafia released "Under Pressure" in March 2005, which was recorded at Delta Studios in Clarksdale, Mississippi featuring Jimbo Mathus, rhythm guitar (Squirrel Nut Zippers), Roy Cunningham on drums (Stax Sessions), and Burnside's son Garry Burnside on bass guitar. In 2004, the Burnside sons opened Burnside Blues Cafe, located 30 miles southeast of Memphis at the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 and Mississippi Highway 7 in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
In January 2006, Garry and Cedric released The Record under the moniker "Burnside Exploration".
Death
Burnside had been in declining health since heart surgery in 1999. He died at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on September 1, 2005 at the age of 78.[4] Services were held at Rust College in Holly Springs [which is also where services were held for his friend, Junior Kimbrough, who died in 1998], with burial in the Free Springs Cemetery in Harmontown. Around the time of his passing, he resided in Byhalia, Mississippi and his immediate survivors included:
His wife: Alice Mae Taylor Burnside (married 1951); died November 16, 2008
Daughters: Mildred Jean Burnside, Linda Jackson, Brenda Kay Brooks, and Pamela Denise Burnside;
Sons: Melvin Burnside, R.L. Burnside Jr., Calvin Burnside, Joseph Burnside, Daniel Burnside, Duwayne Burnside, Dexter Burnside, Garry Burnside, and Rodger Harmon
Sisters: Lucille Burnside, Verelan Burnside, and Mat Burnside
Brother: Jesse Monia
35 Grandchildren
32 Great-Grandchildren
Style
Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice and played both electric and acoustic guitars (both with a slide and without). His drone-based style was a characteristic of North Mississippi hill country blues rather than Mississippi Delta blues. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to 12- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats according to his preference. He called this "Burnside style" and often commented that his backing musicians needed to be familiar with his style in order to be able to play along with him.
His earliest recordings, like those of John Lee Hooker, sound very similar in their vocal and instrumental style. Many of his songs do not have chord changes, but use the same chord or repeating bass line throughout, giving his music a hypnotic feel. His vocal style is characterized by a tendency to "break" into falsetto briefly (usually at the ends of long notes).
Like the bluesman T-Model Ford, Burnside utilized the stripped-down element of his music, playing up the rawness, emphasizing his image as a lifelong hard-drinking man, and singing songs of swagger and rebellion. Burnside collaborated in the late 1990s with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on the album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey. Consequently, he gained the attention of many within this underground music scene, cited as an influence by Hillstomp[9] and covered on record by The Immortal Lee County Killers. Burnside's "Skinny Woman" was also interpolated into the song "Busted" by fellow Fat Possum musicians The Black Keys, a band associated with the punk blues scene in their early years.
He also knew many toasts (African American narrative folk poems such as "Signifying monkey" and "Tojo Told Hitler") and frequently recited them between songs at his live concerts and on his recordings.
Selected albums
First Recordings (recorded in the late 1960s by George Mitchell; re-released by Fat Possum Records in 2003)
Too Bad Jim (produced in 1992 by Robert Palmer)
Well, Well, Well (songs and interviews from 1986-1993, released in 2001 on MC Records)
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (1996, featuring the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion)
Mr. Wizard (1997)
Acoustic Stories (1997)
My Black Name A-Ringin' (1999)
Burnside on Burnside (a critically acclaimed 2001 live album recorded in the Crystal Ballroom on Portland, Oregon's Burnside Street)
Come On In, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down, and A Bothered Mind (three albums of remixed material, often featuring guest artists, released in 1998, 2000 and 2004, respectively)
Films
Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads (1991). Directed by Robert Mugge
American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America, part 3: "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1990). Written, directed, and produced by Alan Lomax; developed by the Association for Cultural Equity at Columbia University and Hunter College. North Carolina Public TV; A Dibb Direction production for Channel Four. This is a lightly re-edited version of "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1978) made by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long in Association with Mississippi Authority for Educational Television
You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen (2003; released by Fat Possum Records in 2005). Produced and directed by Mandy Stein. Oxford, Mississippi: Plain Jane Productions, Inc; Fat Possum Records.
In popular culture
The 2007 Samuel L. Jackson / Christina Ricci film, Black Snake Moan is infused with countless Burnside nods, including: the Reverend R. L. character and when Jackson plays the blues toward the end of the film, he thanks "Ced" and "Kenny" - Cedric Burnside (Burnside's grandson) and Kenny Brown (Burnside's "adopted son"), who were primary sidemen through the 1990s and early 2000s. Cedric and Kenny are also part of Jackson's band in the juke joint scene.
"It's Bad You Know," and "Shuck Dub" were featured in the HBO series The Sopranos.
"Got Messed Up" was featured in the FX series Rescue Me during an opening montage on Season 5 Episode 18, "Carrot".
A Burnside poster can be seen on a wall in brothers Drake and Josh's room in the Nickelodeon sitcom, Drake & Josh.
Can't Be Satisfied
R.L. Burnside Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the high risers
On the mansions with the maids
We gotta come together y'all come on
Case, Ginuwine, Tyrese and me R.L.
Help me sing it fellas, yeah
I'm standing here alone
Gotta stay strong, hmm
To endure this pain
I'm dealing with right now
It flipped my whole life upside down
I don't want your help
I don't need your sympathy, no
What can a brother do for me?
(See he can you help you up when you are down)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can be your eyes when you can't see)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can help me be the best man I can be)
(Oh I can be, I can be oh I can be, I can be)
He can help me be the best man I can be
(Oh yeah, yeah, yeah) (Be the best man)
I made a big mistake
And I'm feeling so ashamed
And I don't want to lose
My friendship over it
I've gotta keep the faith, yes I do
'Cause I'm still your boy
I've got your back
That'll never, never, never never gonna change
So I can just cite the truth
And keep smiling in your face
What can a brother do for me?
(He can you help you up when you are down)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can be your eyes when you can't see)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can help me be the best man I can be)
(I can be, I can be oh I can be, I can be)
He can help me be, the best man I can be
I keep struggling but I'm trying my best
I got some issues with my own confidence
Lord help me to forgive and forget
Can you please help me to be a better man?
For the rest of the darkest nights
Shines the brightest sun
I hate the man I used to be
I'm better than before
What can a brother do for me?
(He can you help you up when you are down)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can know the wrong to make it right)
What can a brother do for me?
(He can be your eyes when you can't see)
What can a brother do for me?
He can help me be the best man I can be
(I can be, I can be I can be, I can be)
He can help me be the best man I can be
(I can be, I can be I can be, I can be)
Help me be he best man I can be
(I can be, whoa I can be oh I can be, oh I can be)
Help me be the best man I can
'Cause he's my brother brother, brother, brother
Yes he is my brother brother, brother, brother
See when I'm down on my luck and I'm
Crying 'cause a woman done left me I ain't got nothing
And it's cold outside
He'll give me a ride when it's late at night
'Cause he's my brother, brother brother, brother
See sometimes I may go astray
But he'll lead me back the right way
And tell me everything's okay
'Cause he's my brother, brother brother, brother
Brother, brother, brother, brother, brother
Oh I know sometimes you'll need me and I got your back
Oh 'cause I know you got mine 'cause you're my brother
And I love you, love you, love you
You can count on me, sing it
Case, Tyrese and G, you are my
Brother, brother, brother, brother
R.L oh my brother, brother, brother
Late up at night
If you need a helping hand
Just call on me
Talking 'bout my brothers, brothers, brothers
All across the world
My brothers yeah, I love you
The lyrics to R.L. Burnside's song "Can't Be Satisfied" are about the pain, struggles and mistakes in a person's life as well as the importance of brotherhood and the support and guidance that one can get from their fellow men. The singer expresses his desire to be the best man he can be and realizes that he needs the support of his brothers to do so. He admits his mistakes and asks for forgiveness, hoping to move past them and become a better person. The song emphasizes the importance of being there for each other in tough times, as the "brotherhood" can make a huge difference in someone's life.
The repeated phrase "What can a brother do for me?" emphasizes the importance of support, guidance, and love that one can receive from their brothers. The song emphasizes the idea that it is not just about one person standing alone, but about a community of brothers who can lift each other up and help each other grow.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm standing here alone
R.L. Burnside is alone and trying to face another day
Trying to face another day
He is attempting to get through this tough time
Gotta stay strong, hmm
He needs to remain strong to make it through
To endure this pain
The pain R.L. Burnside is experiencing has flipped his life upside down
It flipped my whole life upside down
His life has been turned upside down because of what he's dealing with
I don't want your help
R.L. Burnside doesn't want or need anyone's sympathy
I don't need your sympathy, no
He is strong enough to handle this on his own
What can a brother do for me?
He is questioning what his friends can really do to help him
(See he can you help you up when you are down)
Having a friend help you when you're feeling down is valuable
(He can be your eyes when you can't see)
Friends can guide you through situations when you can't see clearly
(He can help me be the best man I can be)
Friends can help you reach your full potential
(Oh I can be, I can be oh I can be, I can be)
He is accepting that he wants to be the best version of himself
I made a big mistake
R.L. Burnside made a mistake and feels ashamed for it
And I'm feeling so ashamed
His actions are causing him to be ashamed
And I don't want to lose
He doesn't want to lose his friends' trust
My friendship over it
The mistake he made could potentially cost him his friend's trust
'Cause I'm still your boy
Despite his mistake, he remains their friend
I've got your back
He will continue to support his friends through thick and thin
That'll never, never, never never gonna change
His loyalty to his friends is unbreakable
So I can just cite the truth
He will be truthful with his friends
And keep smiling in your face
He will continue to be pleasant and happy around his friends
I keep struggling but I'm trying my best
R.L. Burnside continues to fight through hardship
I got some issues with my own confidence
He struggles with his self-esteem
Lord help me to forgive and forget
He pleads for help to move on from his mistakes
Can you please help me to be a better man?
He wants to become a better person
For the rest of the darkest nights
Even after the darkest moments in life
Shines the brightest sun
There will always be hope in the future
I hate the man I used to be
He regrets the person he was in the past
I'm better than before
He's grown and improved from his past mistakes
See when I'm down on my luck and I'm
When he's feeling low and out of luck
Crying 'cause a woman done left me I ain't got nothing
If he's feeling down due to relationship troubles or has nothing else going on
And it's cold outside
It's even harder to deal with negative feelings when the weather is poor
He'll give me a ride when it's late at night
His friend will be there for him even when it's not convenient
See sometimes I may go astray
R.L. Burnside sometimes makes mistakes or loses his way
But he'll lead me back the right way
His friend will always help him get back on track
And tell me everything's okay
His friend will reassure him that everything is alright
'Cause he's my brother, brother brother, brother
His friend is like a brother to him
Oh I know sometimes you'll need me and I got your back
He's aware his friend may need him one day, and he'll be there to support them
Oh 'cause I know you got mine 'cause you're my brother
He knows his friend will have his back, just like he has theirs
And I love you, love you, love you
He has love for his friends
You can count on me, sing it
He wants his friends to know they can rely on him
All across the world
Regardless of where they are, his friends can always count on him
My brothers yeah, I love you
He has love for his friends, and they are like brothers to him
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: JAMES SAMUEL III HARRIS, JAMES HARRIS III, TERRY LEWIS, JAMES WRIGHT, JAMES QUENTON WRIGHT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind