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.
Started Out WIth Nothin'
Seasick Steve Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You can't take what I ain't got
When I'm happy, you won't make me sad
Depending on you all
Well I'm not
Cause I started out with nothing
and I've still got most of it left
When I'm down well I stand up
Been down many times well you know it's true
Haven't had a red dime between me and you
Cause I started out with nothing
and I've still got most of it left (x3)
Repeatedly while rambling random stuff
Cause I started out with nothing
and I've still got most of it left (x3)
And if all fell apart today
I could just walk
Get on down the street
I ain't worried where I'm going to sleep
I can always find some food to eat
Cause I started out with nothing
and I've still got most of it left (x3)
In "Started Out with Nothin'" Seasick Steve sings about how he started with nothing and still has most of it left. The song is about independence, self-reliance, and resilience. When he says, "I can't lose what I never had, you can't take what I ain't got," he means that he is not attached to material possessions or riches that can be taken away from him. He has learned to be happy with what he has and not to fret about what he doesn't.
In the following lines, "When I'm happy, you won't make me sad, depending on you all, well, I'm not," Seasick Steve is stressing that he doesn't need anyone else to be happy; he can find joy within himself. He has learned to be self-sufficient and not to depend on anyone else for his happiness. It's about being content with yourself, and his sense of security comes from his inner fortitude, not what he owns.
Seasick Steve is also saying that he is not afraid of facing challenges, he has been down many times, but he can always get up again because he is tough and resilient. If everything were to fall apart today, he is confident that he would be able to find a way to survive. This confidence comes from the fact that he has been self-reliant his whole life and has learned to fend for himself. The overall message of the song is that when you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't lose what I never had
I don't worry about losing material possessions because I never had much to begin with
You can't take what I ain't got
I don't have a lot of material possessions for you to take from me
When I'm happy, you won't make me sad
My happiness doesn't depend on material wealth or possessions
Depending on you all, well I'm not
I don't rely on anyone else to provide for me
Cause I started out with nothing and I've still got most of it left
I never had much to begin with, so even though I don't have much now, I still have most of what I started out with
When I'm down I just get up
I don't let hard times get me down, I always find a way to persevere
When I'm down well I stand up
I face adversity head-on and don't back down
Been down many times well you know it's true
I've faced challenges and setbacks before
Haven't had a red dime between me and you
I don't have a lot of money, and neither do you
Repeatedly while rambling random stuff
I don't need to talk about anything specific, I just enjoy expressing myself
Cause I started out with nothing and I've still got most of it left (x3)
I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish with so little
And if all fell apart today
Even if everything went wrong today
I could just walk
I would keep moving forward
Get on down the street
I would keep going wherever my journey takes me
I ain't worried where I'm going to sleep
I don't worry about having a bed to sleep in, I'll find a place to rest
I can always find some food to eat
I don't worry about having food to eat, I'll find a way to sustain myself
Cause I started out with nothing and I've still got most of it left (x3)
I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish with so little
Writer(s): Steve Gene Wold
Contributed by Violet N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.