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
Keep It to Yourself
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Please, darling, do me a favor, keep our business to yourself
I don't want you to tell nobody in your family
And don't mention it to nobody else
Don't tell your mother
Don't tell your father
Don't tell your sister
Please, darling, keep our business to yourself
Don't you tell nobody
And don't mention it to nobody else
You have a husband
I have a wife
If you start to talking
That's gonna mess up our life
Please, please baby, keep our business to yourself
Don't you tell nobody
And don't mention it to nobody else
Goodbye darling
In Sonny Boy Williamson's song Keep It to Yourself, the singer addresses their lover and implores them to keep their affair secret. The singer is aware that their partner is married and that if anyone else were to hear about the affair, it could potentially ruin their lives. The singer urges their partner not to tell anyone, not even their family, as it could lead to disastrous consequences.
The lyrics are a classic example of a cautionary tale of the dangers of infidelity. The singer is terrified of the consequences of their actions being revealed and is doing everything in their power to keep their secret intact. The song is dripping with irony as the singer is asking the person who they are having an affair with to keep quiet. This creates a mood of tension and paranoia as the singer is always on alert, wondering if their lies will unravel.
Sonny Boy Williamson's Keep It to Yourself is a classic blues song that has been covered by a number of artists. The song is a testament to the power of the blues, which has the ability to capture and express the pain and fear of everyday life. The song speaks to the human experience of trying to keep secrets and the devastating impact that can have on one's life.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby, do me a favor, keep our business to yourself
Darling, please keep what happened between us a secret
Please, darling, do me a favor, keep our business to yourself
I am requesting you to not tell anyone about us
I don't want you to tell nobody in your family
It would be better if you don't tell your relatives anything about us
And don't mention it to nobody else
It is important to keep this secret and not tell anyone else
Don't tell your mother
Do not share this information with your mother
Don't tell your father
Don't let your father know about us
Don't tell your sister
It would be better if you keep this to yourself and not share with your sister
Don't mention it to your brother
I request you to keep this confidential and not mention it to your brother
Please, darling, keep our business to yourself
I request you to not share our secret with anyone
Don't you tell nobody
It is important to keep this secret and not share with anyone
And don't mention it to nobody else
Please do not share our secret with anyone else
You have a husband
You are married to someone else
I have a wife
I am married too
If you start to talking
If you share our secret with others
That's gonna mess up our life
This will have negative consequences for both of us
Please, please baby, keep our business to yourself
It is very important to keep our secret safe, please don't tell anyone
Don't you tell nobody
It is imperative to keep this information secret
And don't mention it to nobody else
Please do not share our secret with anyone else
Goodbye darling
Farewell, my love
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@bobaldo2339
This tempo is perfect and irresistible, had me dancing around by myself (my age is 79). Sonny Boy (Rice Miller) is the greatest! Funky, down to it, Chicago blues - my favorite kind.
@davidroberttaylor57
My mother, who died in 2019, had alzheimer's...I used to put on Sonny Boy and she beamed with pleasure.
@ddoeser5830
Ben ook een liefhebber van de muziek indrukwekkend R.I.P ❤🇳🇱 ONVERGETELIJK JAAR 2O22 🙏👋🌹🎼
@brianandcindy1
Robert Lockwood, Jr.'s guitar behind this is fantastic. It's quiet, but to me, it's the highlight of the song.
@SlimDavenport
He also does terrific backing on Little Walter cuts.
@crayhead
You can tell it’s Lockwood right away!!
@duncanmiller1288
Brilliant session musicians on these mid 50s cuts, just in love with the rhythm guitarists 😊
@bobaldo2339
Absolutely right!! Chess recorded him in great company. These guys play the kind of blues I like best.
@davidrekrut3432
Great song, great harp player!
@medoelwerfally
He is the king 👑 of the Harmonica
The one ☝🏼 and the only ! !