The two are easy to distinguish. Williamson I played the harmonica acoustically and was essentially a pre-War artist. Williamson II was entirely an electrified harpist, in the style of Little Walter, reflecting the advent of the jukebox and electrified instruments following World War II.
(Compare the albums Sonny Boy Williamson I ~~ Sonny Boy Williamson II)
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Sonny Boy Williamson I (30 March 1914 - 1 June 1948)
also known as John Lee Curtis Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, born in Jackson, Tennessee, whose first record Good Morning little School Girl was a hit in 1937. He was widely popular throughout the whole southeast of the U.S., and was practically synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade, making his a commonly used stage name by the time he was murdered in 1948. He is buried at the Old Blairs Chapel Church, south west of Jackson, Tennessee.
more on wikipedia
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Sonny Boy Williamson II (11 March 1908 - 25 May 1965) also known as Willie Williamson, Willie Miller, Little Boy Blue, The Goat and Footsie.
Aleck "Rice" Miller was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.
Born as Aleck Ford to Millie Ford on the Sara Jones Plantation in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, his date and year of birth are a matter of uncertainty. He claimed to have been born on December 5, 1899, but one researcher, David Evans, claims to have found census record evidence that he was born around 1912. His gravestone lists his date of birth as March 11, 1908.
He lived and worked with his sharecropper stepfather, Jim Miller, whose last name he soon adopted, and mother, Millie Ford, until the early 1930s. Beginning in the 1930s, he traveled around Mississippi and Arkansas and encountered Big Joe Williams, Elmore James and Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, who would play guitar on his later Checker Records sides. He was also associated with Robert Johnson during this period. Miller developed his style and raffish stage persona during these years. Willie Dixon recalled seeing Lockwood and Miller playing for tips in Greenville, Mississippi in the 1930s. He entertained audiences with novelties such inserting one end of the harmonica into his mouth and playing with no hands.
In 1941 Miller was hired to play the King Biscuit Time show, advertising the King Biscuit brand of baking flour on radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas with Lockwood. It was at this point that the radio program's sponsor, Max Moore, began billing Miller as Sonny Boy Williamson, apparently in an attempt to capitalize on the fame of the well known Chicago-based harmonica player and singer John Lee Williamson (Sonny Boy Williamson I). Although John Lee Williamson was a major blues star who had already released dozens of successful and widely influential records under the name "Sonny Boy Williamson" from 1937 onward, Aleck Miller would later claim to have been the first to use the name, and some blues scholars believe that Miller's assertion he was born in 1899 was a ruse to convince audiences he was old enough to have used the name before John Lee Williamson, who was born in 1914 (this is made somewhat less likely, however, by the fact that Miller was certainly older than Williamson even if one does not accept the 1899 birthdate.) Whatever the methodology, Miller became commonly known as "Sonny Boy Williamson", and Lockwood and the rest of his band were billed as the King Biscuit Boys.
In 1949 he relocated to West Memphis, Arkansas and lived with his sister and her husband, Howlin' Wolf (later, for Checker Records, he did a parody of Howlin' Wolf entitled "Like Wolf"). Sonny Boy started his own KWEM radio show from 1948 to 1950 selling the elixir Hadacol.
Sonny Boy also brought his King Biscuit musician friends to West Memphis: Elmore James, Houston Stackhouse, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Robert Nighthawk and others, to perform on KWEM Radio.
In the 1940s Williamson married Mattie Gordon, who remained his wife until his death.
Williamson's first recording session took place in 1951 for Lillian McMurry of Jackson, Mississippi's Trumpet Records (three years after the death of John Lee Williamson, which for the first time allowed some legitimacy to Miller's carefully worded claim to being "the one and only Sonny Boy Williamson"). McMurry later erected Williamson's headstone, near Tutwiler, Mississippi, in 1977.
When Trumpet went bankrupt in 1955, Sonny Boy's recording contract was yielded to its creditors, who sold it to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. Sonny Boy had begun developing a following in Chicago beginning in 1953, when he appeared there as a member of Elmore James's band. It was during his Chess years that he enjoyed his greatest success and acclaim, recording about 70 songs for Chess subsidiary Checker Records from 1955 to 1964.
In the early 1960s he toured Europe several times during the height of the British blues craze, recording with The Yardbirds and The Animals, and appearing on several TV broadcasts throughout Europe. According to the Led Zeppelin biography 'Hammer of the Gods', while in England Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator. Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" mentions that during this tour he allegedly stabbed a man during a street fight and left the country abruptly.
Sonny Boy took a liking to the European fans, and while there had a custom-made, two-tone suit tailored personally for him, along with a bowler hat, matching umbrella, and an attaché case for his harmonicas. He appears credited as "Big Skol" on Roland Kirk's live album 'Kirk in Copenhagen' (1963). One of his final recordings from England, in 1964, featured him singing "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" with Hubert Sumlin providing the guitar. Due to his many years of relating convoluted, highly fictionalized accounts of his life to friends and family, upon his return to the Delta, some expressed disbelief upon hearing of Sonny Boy's touring across the Atlantic, visiting Europe, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and other landmarks, and recording there.
Upon his return to the U.S., he resumed playing the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA, and performed around Helena, Arkansas. As fellow musicians Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis waited at the KFFA studios for Williamson on May 25, 1965, the 12:15 broadcast time was closing in and Sonny Boy was nowhere in sight. Peck left the radio station and headed out to locate Williamson, and discovered his body in bed at the rooming house where he'd been staying, dead of an apparent heart attack suffered in his sleep the night before.
Williamson is buried on New Africa Rd. just outside Tutwiler, Mississippi at the site of the former Whitman Chapel cemetery.
more on wikipedia
Better cut that out
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It made-a you mad
When you get drunk
You look-a just as bad
You better cut that out
Yeah, you better cut that out
You better cut that out, boy
A-now-now, when you get high
You know now, you'll get worse
When you get drunk
You throw a rock in a hearst
You better cut that out
Yeah, you better cut that out
Ya better cut that out, boy
Befo' it be too, late
I see you're on your knees
You know you mistreat a friend
The next thing you know
You'll been wonderin' where you been
You better cut that out
Yeah, you better cut that out
Ya better cut that out, boy
Befo' it be too, late
Ya went downtown
Ya say, you didn't go to stay long
The next time I saw ya
You's in another man's home
You better cut that out
Yeah, you better cut that out
Ya better cut that out, boy
Befo' it be too, late
Well now, when you get high
You don't know what to do
You say you get high
Because you feelin' blue
An you better cut that out
Yeah, you better cut that out
Well, ya better cut that out, boy
Befo' it be too, late
The song "Better Cut That Out" by Sonny Boy Williamson is a cautionary tale about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. The lyrics focus on the consequences of getting drunk or high, including mistreating friends, losing track of time, and ending up in uncomfortable or even dangerous situations. The first verse states that when you see a drunk man, it makes you mad, but if you get drunk, you will look just as bad. This demonstrates the hypocrisy of judging others for their behavior while failing to recognize your own shortcomings.
The second verse suggests that getting high will make a person worse and cause them to throw a rock in a hearse, which could be interpreted as a metaphor for self-destruction or causing harm to others. The third verse warns that mistreating friends will lead to regret and confusion, while the fourth verse tells a story about going downtown for a short time but ending up in someone else's home. The final verse acknowledges that some people use drugs or alcohol to cope with emotional pain, but warns that this is not a healthy or sustainable solution.
Overall, the song is a reflection on the dangers of addiction and the importance of self-awareness and responsibility. The lyrics suggest that we should look inward and examine our own behavior before judging others or engaging in destructive habits ourselves.
Line by Line Meaning
A-now-now, when you see a drunk man
When you come across someone who is intoxicated
It made-a you mad
It angers you
When you get drunk
When you become intoxicated
You look-a just as bad
You appear no better than the drunk person you judged earlier
You better cut that out
You need to stop doing what you are doing
Yeah, you better cut that out
Yes, you really need to stop doing that
You better cut that out, boy
You need to stop doing that, young man
Befo' it be too, late
Before it's too late
A-now-now, when you get high
When you become under the influence of drugs
You know now, you'll get worse
It will only make you feel worse
You throw a rock in a hearst
You will do something regrettable
I see you're on your knees
You are begging for forgiveness
You know you mistreat a friend
You have treated a friend poorly
The next thing you know
Before you realize it
You'll been wonderin' where you been
You will be lost and unsure of your whereabouts
Ya went downtown
You traveled to the central district of the city
Ya say, you didn't go to stay long
You claimed you wouldn't stay for very long
The next time I saw ya
The next encounter I had with you
You's in another man's home
You were inside the dwelling of another man
Well now, when you get high
When you are on drugs
You don't know what to do
You are uncertain of how to act
You say you get high
You claim to be getting high
Because you feelin' blue
Because you are feeling sad
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: WILLIE WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
onitram1
Thanks for posting. One of my favorite Sonny Boy #1 tunes. Your photos are of Sonny Boy #2 though!
harpothehealer
Love this never heard it before interesting, also that it was 1948
Jay Sewall
@onitram1 You got it right!
onitram1
@jaysewall1 Well...don't know what to tell you. Either you know the difference between the two Sonny Boys or you don't. All three photos show Sonny Boy #2 with K.F.F.A. (Helena, AR) and King Biscuit Flour. #2 had a show on K.F.F.A., sponsored by King Biscuit Flour. John Lee Williamson (Sonny Boy #1) never had any association with either. And....the two look completely different.
B Murray
great post
Jay Sewall
@onitram1 Looks like Sonny Boy 1 to me.
TheBluesfan12
@onitram1 yes
Janice Curtis
Again wrong picture its Sonny Boy No 2,
TheBluesfan12
hey peoples, i know this song is from john lee, and i also know that's rice miller on the pictures... i take this pictures because they are very cool. please no more comments because of the pictures. sorry my bad english... :)