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)
--------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------
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
Cross My Heart
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You`re not suposed to tell a lie
If you cross your heart to someone
You`re not suposed to tell a lie
Before you say a wrong
Or either do wrong
It have to be so long
Or either goodbye
The first time I crossed my heart
I was by your bedside on my knees
Yes, the first time I crossed my heart
I was by your bedside down on my knees
Sure enough, may (spoke)
And I know the difference between
I knew I`d have to beg you
Please, darlin`, help me please
I cross my heart
For you`re the one, yes I know
I cross my heart to you
To you baby, because I know
There`s no one else, I know
Anything you tell me to do
I have to do it or I`ll have to go
The lyrics of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Cross My Heart" speak about the significance of keeping one's promise, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. He emphasizes the importance of crossing one's heart and promising someone that they will not tell a lie, which shows how important it is to be truthful in a relationship. The song encourages listeners to think carefully before saying or doing anything that is not right, and how the right course of action is either to say goodbye or to wait until the right time to do it.
The second stanza of the song speaks of the first time Williamson crossed his heart, which was by his lover's bedside when he begged for her forgiveness. He pleaded with her to help him, and he knew that he had to do whatever she wanted. He crossed his heart to her, emphasizing his desire to keep his promise and prove his lovethrough his actions. The song then closes with the repetition of crossing his heart multiple times, showing his deep conviction in being honest and doing what is right for his lover.
Line by Line Meaning
If you cross your heart to someone
If you make a promise to someone
You`re not suposed to tell a lie
You're not supposed to break that promise by lying
Before you say a wrong
Before you do something wrong
Or either do wrong
Or before you say something wrong
It have to be so long
You have to wait a long time
Or either goodbye
Or you have to leave for good
The first time I crossed my heart
The first time I made a promise
I was by your bedside on my knees
I was begging you for forgiveness
Yes, the first time I crossed my heart
Yes, the first time I made a promise
Sure enough, may (spoke)
I definitely spoke the truth
And I know the difference between
And I know what is right and what is wrong
I knew I`d have to beg you
I knew I'd have to ask for your forgiveness
Please, darlin`, help me please
Please, my love, help me make it right
I cross my heart
I make a promise
For you`re the one, yes I know
Because you are the one I love and trust
To you baby, because I know
To you, my love, because I trust and respect you
There`s no one else, I know
I know there is no one else for me
Anything you tell me to do
I will do anything you ask of me
I have to do it or I`ll have to go
I am committed to keeping my promise, or I will lose you
Writer(s): Sonny Boy Williamson, Bruce Springsteen Copyright: Bruce Springsteen Music, Arc Music Corp.
Contributed by Addison J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jo Melville-Smith
Just sooooo love this !! The piano and the harmonica playing is amazing ! Used to play this track over and over !! Pure blues !!!
νικμαστεροφσιτυ σιτυ
pure
Brian Allen
The man is a genius
Philharpo
The book says Robert Junior Lockwood and Luther Tucker guitars, Otis Spann piano, Willie Dixon bass and Fred below drums. Sonny Boy (Rice Miller) is playing something like a Marine Band in F. Classic.
マキ
ロバート・Jr.ロックウッドのギターが素晴らしい✨
davidratcliffe1
Who is the guitar player?
Travis King
Sounds like Hubert. I think its Robert Lockwood Jr. If you find out please tell
Михаил Диковицкий
Sound like Matt Murphy. But I'm not sure.