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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Rainy day blues
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee)
(John Lee Williamson)
Recorded December 17, 1938 - Aurora, Illinois
Album: The Bluebird Recordings RCA #66796-2 BMG
Recorded: June 17th and December 17th, 1938
With Speckled Red (Rufus Perryman) - piano
Probably Willie Hacher - mandolin and Robert Lee McCoy - gtr.
Rainy day, rainy day
Ya oughta hear my baby sing the blues
Rainy day, some rainy day
You oughta hear my baby sing the blues now
Now an she said she just walkin' around
Just to tell these strange people the news
Now what's the use of loving?
Peoples, said I don't see why I should
What's the use of love?
Peoples, said I don't see why I should now
Now, an you know this little woman that I'm lovin'
Lord, an she don't mean me no good
Now but that would be alright, now
My bad luck ain't going to last always
Now but that would be alright
My bad luck ain't going to last always
Now just because I'm down an out now
I'm gonna see some ol' lucky day
Take care of my wife an my baby
Tell 'em that I'll be back home someday now
Take care of my wife and my baby
Tell 'em I'll be back home someday now
Now tell 'er that she ain't actin' nothin' but a fool
Doggin' me 'round this way
Lord, sometime I go out walkin'
People, go out walkin' to myself
Lord, sometime I go out walkin', now
Go out walkin', talkin' to myself, now
Now because my baby be's on my mind
An I don't be's thinkin' about nobody else
Now I'm-a just as sure
Just as sure as one an one is two now
Now am I just as sure
Just as sure as one an one is two now
Now, when I give you my money
Babe, I'm gon' be up 'n dead like you, now.
~
In Sonny Boy Williamson's song "Rainy Day Blues," the singer is lamenting his bad luck and reflecting on his troubled relationship with his lover. He starts by describing the blues his lover sings on a rainy day, acknowledging her pain but also suggesting that she enjoys being miserable. The singer then ponders the point of love, questioning why he should bother with it when his lover doesn't treat him well. He admits that his lover is constantly on his mind, even when he's out walking alone.
Towards the end of the song, the singer decides that his bad luck won't last forever and that he'll eventually have a lucky day. He asks the listener to take care of his wife and baby while he's gone and to tell his wife that she's acting foolishly by mistreating him. Finally, the singer asserts that he is just as sure about his fate as he is that "one and one is two" and warns his lover that when he gives her his money, he'll be "up 'n dead like you."
The lyrics in "Rainy Day Blues" portray a classic blues theme of love gone wrong, and Sonny Boy Williamson's harmonica playing adds to the sense of despair and longing. While the song may seem simple at first glance, it contains layers of emotion and meaning that reveal themselves more fully with each listen.
Line by Line Meaning
Rainy day, rainy day
Sonny Boy Williamson is setting the scene for this song. It is a rainy day.
Ya oughta hear my baby sing the blues
Sonny Boy Williamson's lover is singing the blues on this rainy day.
Rainy day, some rainy day
Williamson repeats the opening line to emphasize the mood of the weather.
You oughta hear my baby sing the blues now
Williamson is clearly enamored of his lover's voice, even when she is singing of her own sadness.
Now an she said she just walkin' around
Williamson's lover seems to be wandering and talking to strangers.
Just to tell these strange people the news
His lover is sharing her troubles with those she meets on the street.
Now what's the use of loving?
Williamson is questioning the value of love in his life.
Peoples, said I don't see why I should
Williamson is confused about why he should bother with love.
What's the use of love?
He repeats the question, seeking answers from himself and his audience.
Peoples, said I don't see why I should now
Williamson is resolute in his confusion, seeing no good reason to keep loving.
Now, an you know this little woman that I'm lovin'
Despite his confusion, Williamson continues to love this woman.
Lord, an she don't mean me no good
Williamson's lover has not been treating him well, even though he still loves her.
Now but that would be alright, now
Williamson is trying to find the silver lining in his situation.
My bad luck ain't going to last always
He is confident that things will get better soon.
Now just because I'm down an out now
Williamson acknowledges that he is currently facing some tough times.
I'm gonna see some ol' lucky day
He is hopeful that his luck will soon turn around.
Take care of my wife an my baby
Williamson has a family that he cares for and will return to someday.
Tell 'em that I'll be back home someday now
He wants his family to know he is coming back to them.
Now tell 'er that she ain't actin' nothin' but a fool
Williamson wants his wife or lover to know that she has been treating him poorly.
Doggin' me 'round this way
He is unhappy with how she has been treating him and he wants her to stop.
Lord, sometime I go out walkin'
Williamson takes walks by himself to clear his head.
People, go out walkin' to myself
During these walks, he talks to himself.
Lord, sometime I go out walkin', now
He repeats this line for emphasis.
Go out walkin', talkin' to myself, now
He is alone with his thoughts during his walks.
Now because my baby be's on my mind
Despite his wandering, Williamson is still always thinking of his lover.
An I don't be's thinkin' about nobody else
He has a singular focus on his lover and his own struggles with love.
Now I'm-a just as sure
Williamson is confident in his next statement.
Just as sure as one an one is two now
He compares the certainty of his statement to the certainty of simple addition.
Now am I just as sure
He repeats the line for emphasis.
Just as sure as one an one is two now
He is certain that giving his money to his lover will lead to his death.
Now, when I give you my money
Williamson is warning his lover not to take his money.
Babe, I'm gon' be up 'n dead like you, now.
He believes that if she takes his money, she will kill him. He repeats this warning in direct address to her.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: J. MAYO WILLIAMS, JOE TURNER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Valentin Hasler
I love it
Gordon Gibson
Simply the best.....SBW#1