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.
You Gotta Move
R.L. Burnside Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ok! Rio's boot camp へようこそ
心も体も胃袋も鍛えて
Perfect body 作っていくぞ!
Survival sensation, come on!
まずは hand release push up
そうだ 大胸筋を感じろ
明日の自分をイメージするんだ
Yeah, break down to dance!
休むことなく その場跳び
天まで届くほど 全力で跳べ
その先に理想の未来があるぞ
Hey, jump up, pump up, yeah, shake your body
森羅万象 神々よ
与えたまえ 折れることなき 力を
Everybody scream!
Move your body till you die!
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, three, four, five
Move your body till you die!
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, three, four, five
Move your body till you die!
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, three, four, five
Come on, okay, 息づく rhythm のバイブレーション
Move your body till you die!
さあまだまだまだまだいくぞ! 体の芯まで感じるビートで
体揺らせ (体揺らせ)
軽く超えろ (軽く超えろ)
掴め ヴィクトリー (掴め ヴィクトリー)
伝説となれ!
さあ 少し水分補給したら次のセットだ
えー
Are you ready?
おつぎは第３匍匐
地平線の果てまで
あらゆる障害
逆境を越えていけ
Okay 一緒にみんなで come on! be together!
さあ combat swimmer stroke の時間だ
水平線の彼方まで
地球を一周二周 百周だ!
So muscle, hustle, this is a joy!
宇宙創造 星たちよ
煌めかせろ 闇を劈く 光を
Move your body till you die!
One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, three, four, five
Yo, yo もっともっと上がっていくぞ
Move your body till you die!
さあ勝負はこれから move your body, body, shake your baby, yeah!
体揺らせ (体揺らせ)
軽く超えろ (軽く超えろ)
掴め ヴィクトリー (掴め ヴィクトリー)
伝説となれ!
いただきます
カミキリムシのスープ
タランチュラの丸揚げ
ネズミ ヘビ カラスの姿焼き
フルーツコウモリ 野兎
バロット オオグソクムシの丸揚げ
豚の脳みそ煮込み
ごちそうさまです!
Move your body till you die!
Hey, everybody まだまだスピードを上げていくぞ come on
Move your body till you die!
Go, go, hurry up! 時間の彼方へ弾ける to dance
体揺らせ (体揺らせ)
軽く超えろ (軽く超えろ)
掴め ヴィクトリー (掴め ヴィクトリー)
伝説となれ!
5分後再開だ
えー もうほんま無理 鬼か
ありがとうございました
The lyrics of R.L. Burnside's "You Gotta Move" are explicit and invite the listener to witness the sensual movements of a woman. The singer repeatedly asks for the woman to show him her moves and describes her booty as "rude," highlighting the sexual overtones of the song. The chorus features a call-and-response structure between the singer and a female voice, further emphasizing the erotic nature of the song.
The verses of the song contain references to partying and making money, suggesting a lifestyle of hedonism and materialism. There is also a mention of violence, with the line "Got a few shooters outside." Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of a wild and lawless existence, focused on pleasure and excess.
The song's title and chorus are borrowed from an earlier gospel blues song of the same name, which has been covered by several artists including The Rolling Stones and Mississippi Fred McDowell. While the original song is a religious hymn about the need to move in order to escape sin and find redemption, Burnside's version subverts this meaning by using the same refrain in a highly sexualized context.
Line by Line Meaning
Let me see how you dah move
Show me how you dance/move
Shorty got ass and it rude
The woman has a large and attractive butt
Push back push back
Move your hips back
Wine up slow
Move your hips and waist in a circular motion slowly
Look back twerk that
Turn around and show off your butt by doing the twerk dance
Bad bitch whoa
A sexy woman who knows how to dance well
Drop down top down
Lower your body and your top clothing
Hit that flow
Move your body in time with the music
Back up act up
Move your body back and act provocatively
There she go
The woman is dancing and moving sexily
In the club looking bad as fuck
Looking extremely attractive in the nightclub environment
I just wan her work
Wanting to see her amazing dance moves
Kicking up , She don’t give a fuck
Dancing energetically with complete disregard for anyone else's opinions
Only turning up
Focused only on partying and having a good time
She with some demons
She is partying with wild and uninhibited people
Mobbing with gang
Partying with a group of friends
Dousie Rolling Up
Rolling marijuana cigarettes with a friend named Dousie
We making Money
We are earning a lot of money
We don’t need excuses
We don't need any excuses to party or have a good time
Profit going up
We are making a lot of profit
Roll it up
Roll a marijuana cigarette
Heavy in the jam with tha loud pack
Smoking large amounts of marijuana in a crowded environment
Lawd it stinking up
The smell of the marijuana is very strong
Got a few shooters outside
There are some armed guards/security outside
But they mind on caking up
They are focused on making money
Don’t push man that living on the edge
Don’t take unnecessary risks
Might waste your luck , can’t make it up
If you're not careful, you may end up regretting it
Bad thing working on your boy
A seductive woman is tempting the male singer
Using my dick like toy
The woman is using the singer sexually
Fuck boy shit I avoid
I don't engage in childish behavior
She talk that shit I enjoy
I like when the woman is talking dirty or being sexually suggestive
Villinz we making the gwap
My group and I are making a lot of money
That’s why they hating a lot
That's why people are jealous or talking negatively about us
Got a new mask for a op
We have a new disguise or mask for our illegal activities
Know that we come for the top
We are going for the number one position
Anything aiming it pop
Anything we aim at, we will achieve or attack
Backup
Support or backup is needed
I got that new shit don’t act up
I have new and better goods, don't act unruly or disrespectfully
Dem dude ain’t real just hot up
Those guys aren't genuine or trustworthy, they are just pretending to be cool
I’m the street
I'm well-known and respected in the local area
Withthem dealers and mad fuk
I spend time with drug dealers and violent people
Couple my niggaz they living in lock up
Some of my friends are currently incarcerated
That’s why this money we chasing
We need to make as much money as possible to support our lifestyle and help our friends in prison
Must rack up
We need to make a lot of money quickly
Something gah move
Something needs to happen or take place
Can’t just stop
We can't just quit, we need to keep trying to succeed
When then pack done
When this workload or task is completed
Can’t go broke hell naw not a option
We can't afford to go bankrupt, it's not an option
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Kenichi Maeyamada, DJ Kooo
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@guitarnickbluealgroovyrus
Great blues!😎💙