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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Deep Down in the Ground
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You hear'd that rumblin'?
Deep down in the ground oh, Lord
Do you hear'd that rumblin'
Deep down in the ground?
Now an it must be the devil
You know, turn my wimens around
Stack o' dollars
Just as high as I am tall, oh Lord
Stack o' dollars
Just as high as I am tall
Now an if you be my baby
Mama, you can have them all
Well, great big woman
Great big woman
Head right full a-hair, oh Lord
She's a great big woman
Head right full a-hair
I call her tailor made
But-a peoples, they don't allow me there
Now here's my hand, babe
Now here's my hand
'If I never see you any mo', whoa Lord
Now, here's my hand
If I never see you any more
Well now, I'm gonna leave you alone
To go with Mr. So and So
Now, tell me baby
Now, tell me baby
Where did you stay last night, oh Lord?
Tell me babe
Baby, where did you stay last night?
Now, wit' yo' hair all tangled
An yo' clothes ain't fittin' you right
The song Deep Down in the Ground by Sonny Boy Williamson is a blues song that tells the story of a man who is hearing a rumbling sound deep down in the ground, which he interprets as the devil turning his women around. The song features a call and response style, with the singer asking various questions, and a chorus of backup singers responding with the same phrase about hearing the rumbling sound.
The first verse starts with the line "You hear'd that rumblin'?" repeated twice, which sets the tone of the song as mysterious and ominous. The repetition of the line emphasizes the urgency of the situation, as the singer is trying to get the attention of the listener. The second part of the verse suggests that the cause of the sound is the devil, who is turning his women around. This phrase could be interpreted in many ways, but it likely means that the singer's women are being seduced or corrupted by the devil, causing them to turn away from him. The use of the word "womens" instead of "women" suggests that the singer has multiple partners or mistresses.
The second verse talks about a stack of dollars that is as high as the singer is tall. The singer offers all these riches to his baby if she will be with him, suggesting that the singer is trying to win back the affection of his women with wealth. The repetition of the phrase "stack o' dollars" emphasizes the importance of wealth in the singer's life, and how he believes it can solve his problems.
The third verse describes a great big woman with a head full of hair. The singer calls her "tailor-made," indicating that she is perfect for him. However, he laments that he is not allowed to be with her, likely due to her social status or marital status. This verse portrays the singer as a man who wants what he cannot have, and is frustrated by the limitations placed on him by society.
Overall, the song speaks to themes of wealth, love, and social status. It paints a picture of a man who is trying to win back the affection of his partner with money, but is ultimately limited by societal constraints. The ominous rumbling sound throughout the song adds a layer of mystery and tension, suggesting that the singer's problems go beyond just matters of the heart.
Line by Line Meaning
You hear'd that rumblin'?
Did you hear that rumbling?
Deep down in the ground oh, Lord
It's coming from deep within the ground, possibly something sinister. A fearful expression.
Do you hear'd that rumblin'
Did you hear that rumbling?
Deep down in the ground?
It's coming from deep within the ground, possibly something sinister. A fearful expression.
Now an it must be the devil
It sounds so eerie that it must be the work of the devil.
You know, turn my wimens around
He thinks the noise might be the devil turning his women around or making them behave in strange ways.
Now a stack o' dollars
He has a stack of dollars.
Stack o' dollars
He has a stack of dollars.
Just as high as I am tall, oh Lord
He has a lot of money, as evident by the size of the stack he has tucked away. He addresses 'Lord' as an expression of surprise.
Now an if you be my baby
If the woman he's addressing is his baby (girlfriend/wife), who he's clearly proud of and devoted to,
Mama, you can have them all
he is willing to hand over all the money to her.
Well, great big woman
He sees a large woman with a bushy hairdo.
Great big woman
He sees a large woman with a bushy hairdo.
Head right full a-hair, oh Lord
She has a head full of hair that's unmanageable and in his opinion, majestic. He addresses 'Lord' because he's surprised by her beauty.
She's a great big woman
He can see that she's big, but also charming.
Head right full a-hair
She has a head full of hair that's unmanageable and in his opinion, majestic.
I call her tailor made
He finds her perfect in a way she's specifically made for him, but the society doesn't let him approach or embrace her.
But-a peoples, they don't allow me there
He's frustrated that he's not allowed to be with her in public because of her size or race or because of the society's norms regarding interracial dating.
Now here's my hand, babe
He extends his hand towards his babe and she takes it.
If I never see you any mo', whoa Lord
If he never sees her again, he will always remember her.
Now, here's my hand
Again he offers his hand to her.
If I never see you any more
If he never sees her again, he will always remember her.
Well now, I'm gonna leave you alone
He's going to leave her alone for good.
To go with Mr. So and So
He's going to leave her to be with Mr. So and So. This could be a symbol for death, where he's leaving the soul to the afterlife.
Now, tell me baby
He asks her a question.
Where did you stay last night, oh Lord?
He inquires about her whereabouts last night. Lord here denotes a sign of surprise again.
Tell me babe
He wants his babe to confess where she went or where she's been.
Baby, where did you stay last night?
He inquires about her whereabouts last night.
Now, wit' yo' hair all tangled
Her hair is all tangled, which indicates that she's been out all night, maybe she's been cheating.
An yo' clothes ain't fittin' you right
Her clothes don't fit her well, which indicates she's been out all night, perhaps with someone else.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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