Wold was born in Oakland, California. When he was four years old, his parents split up. His father played boogie-woogie piano and Wold tried to learn when he was five or six, but could not. At the age of eight, he learned to play the guitar from K. C. Douglas, who worked at his grandfather's garage, later realizing that he had been taught the blues. Douglas wrote the song "Mercury Blues" and had played with Tommy Johnson in the early 1940s. Wold left home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, and lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. At various times, Wold worked as a carnie, a cowboy and a migrant worker. Paraphrasing H. L. Mencken, Wold described this time of his life by saying "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three."
When asked about his nickname, Wold has said: "because it's just true: I always get seasick". When he was ill on a ferry from Norway to Copenhagen, later in his life, a friend began playfully using the name and, despite Wold not rising to it for a while, it stuck. When asked about his name on British Sunday morning television show, Something for the Weekend, he replied, "I just get sick on boats". On Top Gear, when asked about his name, Wold replied "Well, I guess I just don't like boats!"
Wold made his first UK television appearance on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny BBC TV show on New Year's Eve 2006. He performed a live rendition of "Dog House Boogie" on the "Three String Trance Wonder" and the "Mississippi Drum Machine". After that show his popularity exploded in Britain, as he explained in an interview:
"I can't believe it, all of the sudden I'm like the cat's meow!"
He was well received in the UK, winning the 2007 MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act and going on to appear at major UK festivals such as Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury. In 2007 he played more UK festivals than any other artist.
Wold toured early in 2008, playing in various venues and festivals in the UK. He was joined on stage by drummer Dan Magnusson. KT Tunstall also dueted with Wold at the London Astoria in January 2008.[20] Wold also played many other festivals throughout the world in 2008, including Fuji Rock in Japan, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Australia, also in April 2008,[21] and Roskilde in Denmark.
Wold's major-label debut, I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left was recorded with Dan Magnusson on drums, was released by Warner Music on September 29, 2008, and features Ruby Turner and Nick Cave's Grinderman.
He has toured the UK extensively since 2007 being supported by Duke Garwood, Gemma Ray, The Sugars, Billie the Vision and the Dancers in January 2008, Amy LaVere in October 2008, Melody Nelson at the Brighton Dome on 7 October, and Joe Gideon & The Shark in January 2009. His tours in October 2008 and January 2009 were all sold out and included performances at the Royal Albert Hall, the Edinburgh Queen's Hall, the Grand Opera House in Belfast, the Apollo in Manchester, the City Hall in Newcastle and the London Hammersmith Apollo.
In 2009, Wold was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist, That same year, BBC Four broadcast a documentary of Wold visiting the southern USA entitled Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home. On January 21, Wold hosted "Folk America: Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers" at the Barbican in London, a show that was also televised and shown with the documentary on BBC Four as part of a series tracing American roots music.
In an interview with an Australian magazine, Wold attributes much of his unlikely success to his cheap and weather-beaten guitar, "The Trance Wonder" and reveals the guitar's mojo might come from supernatural sources. "I got it from Sherman, who is a friend of mine down in Mississippi, who had bought it down at a Goodwill store. When we were down there last time he says to me, 'I didn't tell you when you bought it off me, but that guitar used to be haunted'. I say, 'What are you talking about, Sherman?'. He says, 'There’s 50 solid citizens here in Como who'll tell you this guitar is haunted. It's the darnedest thing – we’d leave it over in the potato barn and we'd come back in and it would be moved. You'd put it down somewhere and the next morning you’d come back and it would have moved. When you took that guitar the ghost in the barn left'. He told me this not very long ago and I said to him, 'Sherman! Why didn't you tell me this before?' and he said, 'Well the ghost was gone – I didn't want it around here no more!'"
On January 3, 2010, Wold appeared on the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear as the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car. He was the last star to drive in the blue Chevrolet Lacetti.
In February 2010, Wold was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist for the second consecutive year.
In 2010, Wold made numerous festival appearances throughout the summer, including the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, the main stage at V Festival, the main stage at the Hop Farm Festival and many more.
In February 2011, Wold signed to Play It Again Sam to release his new album with the exception of the US, where it will be released on Third Man Records. Subsequently his new album You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks was released on his new labels and it was announced that former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones had played on the new album, and performed alongside Wold to promote it.
On 16 August 2014 he was the headline act at Beautiful Days in Exeter, UK, and on the 24th August he headlined at 'Victorious Festival' in Southsea, Portsmouth, UK.
Heavy Weight
Seasick Steve Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Seems too many things on my mind
And that weight is a-heavy
That weight's so heavy
Sometimes you just can't make it on your own
And you just can't seem to find
Your way back home
And that weight is a-heavy
So hey won't you easy my
Hey won't you ease my mind
Sometimes you need a friend
There at beginning
And there at the end
With the weight they gonna help you carry
With that weight they gonna help you carry
So hey won't you ease my
Hey won't you ease my mind
Hey won't you ease my
Hey won't you ease my mind
Yeah sometimes it's tough bein' on your own
You got no one to lean on
You know what I'm sayin'
To turn to
Hey won't you ease my
Hey won't you ease my mind
Sometimes you need a friend
There at beginnings
And there at the end
That weight they gonna help you carry
That weight they gonna help you carry
Hey won't you ease my, hey won't you ease my (x4)
Mind
The song "Heavy Weight" by Seasick Steve is about going through a tough time and feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders. As the lyrics suggest, sometimes we need help from others to ease our minds and to help carry the burden. The first long paragraph describes how the singer has been going through a difficult period with too many things on their mind. The heavy weight that they are feeling is almost unbearable. They feel lost and struggling to find their way back home. The singer reaches out for help, asking someone to ease their mind.
In the second long paragraph, the singer acknowledges that sometimes we need a friend to help us through tough times. These friends are there at the beginning and at the end, helping us carry the weight. The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the need for relief and assistance: "hey won't you ease my mind." The song reminds us that it's okay to ask for help and that we all need someone to lean on at times.
Line by Line Meaning
I been walkin' through a troubled time
I have been enduring a difficult period in my life
Seems too many things on my mind
I seem to have too many things on my mind
And that weight is a-heavy
And that burden is very heavy
That weight's so heavy
That burden is incredibly heavy
Sometimes you just can't make it on your own
Sometimes, it's impossible to do it all by yourself
And you just can't seem to find
And you just can't seem to locate
Your way back home
A way to return to where you belong
So hey won't you easy my
So, hey, can you please ease my burden?
Sometimes you need a friend
Sometimes you require a companion
There at beginning
Who is there from the beginning
And there at the end
As well as being there until the end
With the weight they gonna help you carry
They will assist you in bearing your burden
So hey won't you ease my mind
So, hey, would you mind easing my burden?
Hey won't you ease my
Hey, can you ease my burden?
Yeah sometimes it's tough bein' on your own
Yeah, sometimes it's challenging to be alone
You got no one to lean on
You have no one to rely on
You know what I'm sayin'
You understand what I'm expressing
To turn to
To seek support from
That weight they gonna help you carry
That burden they will help you bear
Hey won't you ease my, hey won't you ease my (x4)
Hey, can you ease my burden, hey, can you ease my burden, hey, can you ease my burden, hey, can you ease my burden?
Contributed by Samuel V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.