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.
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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.
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Bye Bye Bird
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
These sounds belong to one man.
One man from Mississippi, USA.
One man known as the wizard of the harp.
One man known as the menace.
And his name is Sonny Boy Williamson.
Bye bye bird,
Bye bye bird,
Bye bye bird,
Bye bye bird, I'm gone.
Bird, I'm gone,
Bird, I'm gone,
Bird, I'm gone,
Bird, I'm gone,
I'm gone, (child, you find)
(Back home).
The lyrics to the Sonny Boy Williamson & The Yardbirds song "Bye Bye Bird" showcase the band paying tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson, who was known as "the wizard of the harp" and "the menace". He was a legendary blues player from Mississippi, USA whose influence was felt throughout the entire music world. The lyrics contain the repeated phrase "Bye bye bird", which is a clear reference to Williamson's nickname of "Little Boy Blue" and is also a nod to the fact that his signature instrument was the harmonica, often referred to as a "blues harp".
The song has a mix of joy and melancholy, as the band is celebrating the legacy of Sonny Boy Williamson while also lamenting his passing. The final line, "I'm gone (child, you find) (Back home)", can be interpreted in a number of ways. It may be a reference to Williamson's spirit moving on to the next world, or it may be a message to his fans that they should continue to seek out and listen to his music even though he has passed away.
"Bye Bye Bird" is a classic blues song that has been covered by many artists over the years, but this version by Sonny Boy Williamson & The Yardbirds stands out as a testament to the power and influence of the man himself. It highlights the fact that even though he may be gone, his music continues to live on and inspire new generations of musicians.
Line by Line Meaning
Yeah, we know these sounds.
We are familiar with the sounds that will follow.
These sounds belong to one man.
The sounds that follow are produced by one man.
One man from Mississippi, USA.
The man who produces these sounds is from the US state of Mississippi.
One man known as the wizard of the harp.
This man is renowned for his talent with the harmonica.
One man known as the menace.
Some people consider this man to be a troublesome figure.
And his name is Sonny Boy Williamson.
This man's name is Sonny Boy Williamson.
Bye bye bird,
Goodbye bird,
Bye bye bird,
Goodbye bird,
Bye bye bird,
Goodbye bird,
Bye bye bird,
Goodbye bird,
Bye bye bird, I'm gone.
Goodbye bird, I am leaving.
Bird, I'm gone,
I'm leaving, bird,
Bird, I'm gone,
I'm leaving, bird,
Bird, I'm gone,
I'm leaving, bird,
Bird, I'm gone,
I'm leaving, bird,
I'm gone, (child, you find)
I am leaving, (child, you will figure things out)
(Back home).
(I am returning home).
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: WILLIE DIXON, WILLIE WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anders Karlsson
The Greatest harmonica.. what a tone and tecnique!❤️
Blues at it’s best. Shame he didn’t got more appreciation..🎤😊
christine shepardson
He knew that he was the best of all for 30 years, and got all the appreciation he wanted
Dennis Stone
Cause he never sold his soul . Heavens gonna have a few gems i can't wait
Василий Котлубей
Господи... Сколько раз, я уже прослушал эту мелодию, просто взрыв мозга...
K M
Magic and pure bliss working through my soul. The magic still lingers on 60 years later
KishaScape
Bye Bye Boib
pirruri pirruri
This man was a musical genius may he rest in peace
KishaScape
Bye Bye Boib
Ely Sazo
Se nota la nostalgia, portador de sufrimiento, música nacida de la vida, música del corazón.. que tiempos..
J Gregory Wilson
This man was the greatest harp player that ever lived. I wish we had more footage of him.