In 1915, Estes' father, a sharecropper who also played some guitar, moved the family to Brownsville, Tennessee. Not long after, Estes lost the sight of his right eye when a friend threw a rock at him during a baseball game. At the age of 19, while working as a field hand, he began to perform professionally. The venues were mostly local parties and picnics, with the accompaniment of Hammie Nixon, a harmonica player, and James "Yank" Rachell, a guitarist and mandolin player. He would continue to work on and off with both musicians for more than fifty years.
Estes made his debut as a recording artist in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, at a session organized by Ralph Peer for Victor Records. His partnership with Nixon was first documented on songs such as "Drop Down Mama" and "Someday Baby Blues" in 1935; later sides replaced the harmonica player with the guitarists Son Bonds or Charlie Pickett. He later recorded for the Decca and Bluebird labels, with his last pre-war recording session taking place in 1941. He made a brief return to recording at Sun Studio in Memphis in 1952, recording "Runnin' Around" and "Rats in My Kitchen", but otherwise was largely out of the public eye for two decades.
Estes was a fine singer, with a distinctive "crying" vocal style. He frequently teamed with more capable musicians, like "Yank" Rachell, Hammie Nixon, and the piano player Jab Jones. Estes sounded so much like an old man, even on his early records, that blues revivalists reportedly delayed looking for him because they assumed he would have to be long dead, and because fellow musician Big Bill Broonzy had written that Estes had died. By the time he was tracked down, by Bob Koester and Samuel Charters in 1962, he had become completely blind and was living in poverty. He resumed touring and recording, reunited with Nixon and toured Europe several times and Japan, with a clutch of albums released on the Delmark Records label. His later records are generally considered less interesting than his pre-war output. Nevertheless, Estes, Nixon and Rachell also made a successful appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.
Bob Dylan mentions Estes in the sleevenotes to Bringing It All Back Home (1965).
Many of Estes' original songs were based on events in his own life or on people he knew from his home town of Brownsville, Tennessee, such as the local lawyer ("Lawyer Clark Blues"), local auto mechanic ("Vassie Williams' Blues"), or an amorously inclined teenage girl ("Little Laura Blues"). "Lawyer Clark Blues" referenced the lawyer, and later judge and senator, Hugh L. Clarke. Clarke and his family lived in Brownsville, and according to the song let Estes 'off the hook' for an offense.
He also dispensed advice on agricultural matters ("Working Man Blues") and chronicled his own attempt to reach a recording studio for a session by hopping a freight train ("Special Agent (Railroad Police Blues)"). His lyrics combined keen observation with an ability to turn an effective phrase.
Some accounts attribute his nickname "Sleepy" to a blood pressure disorder and/or narcolepsy. Others, such as blues historian Bob Koester, claim he simply had a "tendency to withdraw from his surroundings into drowsiness whenever life was too cruel or too boring to warrant full attention".
Estes suffered a stroke while preparing for a European tour, and died on June 5, 1977, at his home of 17 years in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee. Estes is buried at Elam Baptist Church Cemetery in Durhamville, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.
His gravemarker reads:
Sleepy John Estes
".. ain't goin' to worry Poor John's mind anymore"
In Memory
John Adam Estes
Jan. 25, 1899
June 5, 1977
Blues Pioneer
Guitarist – Songwriter – Poet
Sleepy John Estes' epitaph ".. ain't goin' to worry Poor John's mind anymore" was derived from his song, "Someday Baby Blues." "I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More" was recorded in 1935, and in his song "Drop Down Mama", also recorded in 1935, Sleepy John refers to himself as "Poor John". Estes' grave at Elam Baptist Church Cemetery in Durhamville is located off a country road and at the far end of the cemetery. His grave is adjacent to a small grove of trees, secluded but not hidden.
In 1991, Estes was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Someday Baby
Sleepy John Estes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I don't care how long you stay
Good kind treatment
Bring you back home someday
Someday, baby
You ain't gon' worry my mind anymore!
Ah that wind
That old chilly breeze
Your BVDs
But someday baby you ain't gon' worry my mind anymore
If you don't quit bettin'
Boy them dice won't pay
It's gonna send you home
On your yes yes yes
But someday baby
You ain't gonna worry my life anymore
It ain't but the one thing that give a man the blues
He ain't got no bottom
On is last pair of shoes
But someday baby
You ain't gonna worry my mind anymore
I tell all the people in your neighborhood
You's a no good woman
You's a mean old girl
But someday baby
You ain't gonna worry poor John's mind anymore
In Sleepy John Estes's song Someday Baby Blues, the lyrics express the singer's frustration and disappointment with their partner's behavior. The singer doesn't care how long their partner stays away, as long as they receive good treatment when they return. Despite this, the singer knows that someday their partner's actions won't bother them anymore.
The second verse employs vivid imagery to describe the coldness of the wind blowing through the singer's partner's underwear as a metaphor for their cold and callous behavior. In the third verse, the singer admonishes their partner for their gambling and warns them that it will only bring them trouble. The final verse sees the singer publicly calling out their partner to their neighbors, calling them a no-good and mean person, and again emphasizing that someday their actions won't affect the singer anymore.
The song speaks to the universal experience of being disappointed and hurt by a loved one's actions. The lyricism is raw and emotive, portraying the feeling of betrayal and the singer's decision to let go of their partner's actions eventually.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't care how long you gone
The length of time you're away is of no concern to me
I don't care how long you stay
I am indifferent to the duration of your visit
Good kind treatment
Being treated well by you
Bring you back home someday
Will eventually bring you back home
Someday, baby
At some point in the future
You ain't gon' worry my mind anymore!
Your actions will no longer trouble me
Ah that wind
The breeze outside
That old chilly breeze
The familiar, cold gusts of wind
Come blowin' through
Passes through the area
Your BVDs
Your underwear
If you don't quit bettin'
If you continue to gamble
Boy them dice won't pay
The dice will not yield winnings for you
It's gonna send you home
You'll be sent back home
On your yes yes yes
In disgrace
It ain't but the one thing that give a man the blues
There is only one thing that causes a man sorrow
He ain't got no bottom
He has no soles on his shoes
On is last pair of shoes
Wears his only pair of shoes
I tell all the people in your neighborhood
I inform everyone in your local area
You's a no good woman
You are an unsavory character
You's a mean old girl
You are ill-tempered
You ain't gonna worry poor John's mind anymore
You will no longer trouble John's mindset
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOHN ADAM ESTES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@essencetoney933
Without blues there would be no rock and roll. This is why I love being black, blues 💙
@antoniolavellia7469
We had our Flagg and Tina Turner heritage days celebration a few days ago and I stood in Mr. Estes home turned museum and relished the fact that this man was truely a blues original and from what my Great Grandfather says, was a great guy.
@anthonymessineo8804
I love him too,, I spoke to John in 1973 on the phone in Brownsville, it was a high point in my 66 yrs of playin blues, I play country blues to this day thanx to you john, I’m carrying the torch now,,, thanx Alexis/ much ❤️
@iicjguitar0416
How did his voice sound? He lived well into the 1970s, which is pretty impressive considering his recording career lasted from 1929 - 1976!
@peskypesky
i had an album of Sleepy John Estes when I was a kid in San Antonio. I couldn't afford many records back then, so I listened to it a ton. This was one of the songs on it. So glad to hear it again.
@aaronestes3905
love my Grandpa!!!
@tilostrauss
John Estes one of the great and style influencing blues artists best remembered also over here in Germany
@loucostello3111
So do we.
@stacyblue1980
oh wow * sigh* I love him too. Very dearly. SO many do. (NoRosesForMe is my other channel. Cant access that channel - google sucks) But.. sorry- ahem yes you blessed soul. I grew up singing along and admiring this man. Was a little girl playin 'harp' and believing in the better. My how life flies by.
Thanks for diggin my video.
Best to you. :))
@tintomara6209
Words cannot express how much this man's music means to me.