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.
Thunderbird
Seasick Steve Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Going up north
Rootin' potatoes
Freight down to Cali
Pick some tomaters
SP to the jungle
Old SB
Thats the life for me.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird
Drinking Thunder bird.
Well
Make up a little Frisco
Nobody's holding back
The nickels, the dimes
They're fallin' like rain
Run to the liquor shack
Here come the stories
Most of them lies
Wouldn't trade for all the world none of your borin' life
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird
Drinking Thunder bird.
Alright
Yeah
While you're sitting in your rush hour trafic
Freeway like a parking lot
I just think about the Thunderbird
Riding west and free on a hot shot
While you're dining out at Chez Louies
Fresh parfait and a hundred dollar wine
Right
On the fire I'm cooking spaghettiohs
Underneath a billion stars tonight
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Strictly Thunderbird
Strictly Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Come on
Come on now
Come on now
Drinking Thunderbird
Yeah the Thunderbird
Yeah the Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Thunderbird
Seasick Steve's song "Thunderbird" is a tribute to the cheap, high-alcohol fortified wine of the same name. In the song, Seasick Steve describes his experiences of travelling from North to South California, picking potatoes and tomatoes on the way. His preferred drink throughout the journey and beyond is Thunderbird, which he drinks "strictly." The chorus repeats the phrase "Drinking Thunderbird, strictly Thunderbird," emphasizing the singer's addiction to the drink. The lyrics speak to a romanticized ideal of a life of freedom and adventure, with Seasick Steve on the road, cooking spaghettios under the stars, and drinking Thunderbird. The song is peppered with colorful descriptions of the people, places, and experiences that made up Seasick Steve's life, such as the "liquor shack" and the "billion stars tonight."
Line by Line Meaning
If you're going to sing a song about drinking wine then you should, drink some wine.
If you want to sing about drinking wine, then you should actually drink some.
Going up north
Traveling to the north.
Rootin' potatoes
Digging out potatoes.
Freight down to Cali
Freight train ride down to California.
Pick some tomaters
Picking tomatoes.
SP to the jungle
Taking Southern Pacific train down to the jungle.
Old SB
Old Santa Barbara.
Under the eukalyptus
Under the shade of Eucalyptus trees.
Thats the life for me.
This is the kind of life he desires.
Drinking Thunder bird.
Drinking Thunderbird wine.
Strictly Thunderbird.
Exclusively Thunderbird.
Make up a little Frisco
Create a small San Francisco.
Nobody's holding back
Nobody is holding back.
The nickels, the dimes
The nickels and dimes.
They're fallin' like rain
They are falling like rain.
Run to the liquor shack
Running to the liquor store.
Here come the stories
Now the stories will begin.
Most of them lies
Most of them are not real.
Wouldn't trade for all the world none of your borin' life
Wouldn't exchange his life for anything in the world.
While you're sitting in your rush hour trafic
While you are stuck in heavy traffic during rush hour.
Freeway like a parking lot
The freeway is packed full like a parking lot.
I just think about the Thunderbird
He only thinks about drinking Thunderbird wine.
Riding west and free on a hot shot
Riding west freely on a train.
While you're dining out at Chez Louies
While you eat out at fancy restaurants like Chez Louies.
Fresh parfait and a hundred dollar wine
Fresh dessert and expensive wine.
Right
Sure.
On the fire I'm cooking spaghettiohs
He is cooking Spaghettios on a campfire.
Underneath a billion stars tonight
He is under a billion stars tonight.
Come on now
Come now, let's continue drinking Thunderbird wine.
Yeah the Thunderbird
Yes, the Thunderbird wine is good.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird wine.
Come on
Come on, let's continue drinking Thunderbird wine.
Contributed by Jordyn H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Walter Schmitz
Steve is great! Can't get enough of his playing, but Dan Magnusson is the best drummer I've ever heard!
sharla brun
God i love this! The beat is impossible to tap something too, I cant help but nod to slightly its! Like physically impossible to not wanna move to it! I saw him live hes just too cool! :D
NK
Wow 10 years ago
Richard Troell
Steve Wold and Justin Johnson, simply two of the best modern bluesmen out there right now.
Pienvde
Wow, this is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard in my life!
BNOW HomeBoy
Simply the best rock and rock blues country man out right now, hands down!
Dennis Julein
yes indeed.
Peter Fleming
This was the first song of Steve's that I heard and I was hooked, great sounds.... B-)
I need a good name
live at pukkelpop 2010, just awsome, the only artist playing on self made instruments with only one or two strings who had the whole audience eating out of his hands even though almost nobody knew him, just gotta live his personality
Jelte Visser
saw him live, nothing beats this