There are two harmonica playing bluesmen known as Sonny Boy Williamson. The… Read Full Bio ↴There are two harmonica playing bluesmen known as Sonny Boy Williamson. They are colloquially referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson I and Sonny Boy Williamson II respectively, but are of no relation.
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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I Have Been Dealing With The Devil
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Now, my baby wasn't even decided
About our weddin' ring
When it come to our marryin'
It didn't seem to 'mount to a other thing

But I been dealin' with the devil
I been dealin' with the devil
I believe I been dealin' with the devil

My woman don't love me, no mo'

Well now, I've got the meanest woman
The meanest woman you most ev'are seen
She sleep wit a ice pick in her hand
Man, an she fights all in her dream

I sooner be sleepin' with the devil
I sooner be sleepin' with the devil
I sooner be sleepin' with the devil
My woman don't love me, no mo'

Now, my mother, she said one thing
You know an then father said the same
'You keep on foolin' 'round, Sonny Boy
'Women, really gon' change your name'

I been dealin' with the devil
I been dealin' with the devil
I been dealin' with the devil
My woman don't love me, no mo'

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Ah, you know I been havin'
You know, little, you know, friendly
Just friendly with the devil , you know

Yeah, but I got in little trouble
I don't do that no mo', watch!

Now baby, you know I ain't goin' down
You know, this big road by myself
Now, an if I can't take you
I'm gonna carry somebody else

Because I been dealin' with the devil, now
I been dealin' with the devil

I been dealin' with the devil
A-my woman don't love me, no mo'

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Sonny Boy Williamson's “I Been Dealing With the Devil” is a classic blues tune that tells the story of a man who has been dealing with the devil and has lost the love of his woman. The song begins with the man reflecting on his relationship with his significant other. He explains that they weren't even sure about getting married in the first place, and now, it seems that the marriage didn't carry any weight. He then reveals that he's been dealing with the devil, and his woman doesn't love him anymore. The devil in the song can be interpreted as a metaphor for the troubles and hardships of life, and how it can affect our relationships.

In the second verse, Sonny Boy introduces us to his woman, whom he describes as the meanest woman he has ever seen. She sleeps with an ice pick in her hand and fights in her dreams. He then goes on to say that he would rather sleep with the devil than his woman. This line can be interpreted as his reluctance to deal with the problems in his relationship or the difficulties of being with a difficult partner.

The song's final verse has Sonny Boy referring to his parents' warning about dealing with women, and how they can cause significant troubles in a man's life. He admits that he has been dealing with the devil and his woman doesn't love him anymore. The song's repetition of the line, "I been dealin' with the devil" emphasizes the theme that life's hardships can create chaos and disrupt our relationships.

Line by Line Meaning

Now, my baby wasn't even decided About our weddin' ring When it come to our marryin' It didn't seem to 'mount to a other thing
My partner wasn't sure about getting married, and when we finally did, it didn't mean much.

But I been dealin' with the devil I been dealin' with the devil I believe I been dealin' with the devil My woman don't love me, no mo'
I've been struggling with something very challenging; it feels like it's brought on by the devil himself. It's caused my partner to stop loving me.

Well now, I've got the meanest woman The meanest woman you most ev'are seen She sleep wit a ice pick in her hand Man, an she fights all in her dream
I've got the angriest woman imaginable. She sleeps while clutching an ice pick and fights in her dreams.

I sooner be sleepin' with the devil I sooner be sleepin' with the devil I sooner be sleepin' with the devil My woman don't love me, no mo'
I would rather sleep with the devil than my current partner, who has refused to love me anymore.

Now, my mother, she said one thing You know an then father said the same 'You keep on foolin' 'round, Sonny Boy 'Women, really gon' change your name'
My parents warned me that if I kept up with my behavior, women would be the end of me.

I been dealin' with the devil I been dealin' with the devil I been dealin' with the devil My woman don't love me, no mo'
I've really been struggling with something very terrible, that feels demonic. My relationship has suffered because of it.

Ah, you know I been havin' You know, little, you know, friendly Just friendly with the devil , you know Yeah, but I got in little trouble I don't do that no mo', watch!
I've been dabbling in some minor mischief with the devil, but I got in some trouble and I don't do that anymore.

Now baby, you know I ain't goin' down You know, this big road by myself Now, an if I can't take you I'm gonna carry somebody else
I'm not going down in flames alone. If my current partner won't join me, I'll take someone else with me.

Because I been dealin' with the devil, now I been dealin' with the devil I been dealin' with the devil A-my woman don't love me, no mo'
I've been grappling with something very dangerous, that I believe has demonic origins. My partner has left me because of it.

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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