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.
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Shake That Boogie
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
An' stayed out all night long
She never came home
Until the break of dawn
C'mon, shake yo' boogie
Whoa, shake a-yo' boogie
C'mon, shake a-yo' boogie
I'm goin' to buy me a dog
On a wired nose
I even kill a man
About my jellyroll
But c'mon, shake a-yo' boogie
Oh, shake a-yo' boogie
C'mon an shake a-yo' boogie
Because yo' boogie's is alright wit' me
'Alright, John'
Oh, but look-a-here, baby
See what-a you've done, done
You taken my money
You got me on a bum
C'mon shake a-yo' boogie
Whoa, shake a-yo' boogie
C'mon an shake a-yo' boogie
Because yo' boogie alright wit' me
You know, me an my baby
Don't do nothin' but fuss an fight
I said, 'Look-a-here, baby
Things ain't goin' on right'
But c'mon, shake yo' boogie
Oh, shake a-yo' boogie
C'mon an shake a-yo' boogie
You know, yo' boogie alright wit' me, now
'Ride! Take it away, Lacey'
I don't need no steam-heatin'
By my bed
The little girl I got
Keep me, cherry red
But c'mon shake a-yo' boogie
Whoa, shake a-yo' boogie
C'mon an shake a-yo' boogie
Because yo' boogie's alright wit' me
'Now John, I got it this time by myself'
In Shake the Boogie by Sonny Boy Williamson I, the lyrics describe the singer's troubles with his significant other, who stayed out all night long and returned only at dawn. However, the singer doesn't seem too upset about it and instead tells the listeners to come and shake their boogie, indicating that he is ready to forget his troubles and let himself loose. The singer even goes on to say that he would buy a dog with a wired nose, and that he would "even kill a man about [his] jellyroll," which shows that he is not too deeply invested in his relationship and would rather focus on having a good time.
Despite the discontent in his relationship, the singer still finds solace in his boogie, which he claims is "alright" with him. He addresses his girlfriend, telling her that she has caused him financial troubles, but again, he redirects his attention back to the boogie, emphatically urging everyone to shake it. He acknowledges that he and his partner fight often, but again declares that he loves his boogie, suggesting that it is the one constant in his life that brings him joy.
Overall, Shake the Boogie is a fun-loving, light-hearted song that encourages listeners to let loose and forget their problems, even if only for a little while. The lyrics portray a relationship that may not be doing the best but is overshadowed by the singer's love for the boogie.
Line by Line Meaning
Now, an my baby went out
My significant other went out for the night.
An' stayed out all night long
My significant other didn't come back until dawn.
She never came home
My significant other didn't come back.
Until the break of dawn
My significant other came back when it was light outside.
C'mon, shake yo' boogie
Let's get up and dance.
Whoa, shake a-yo' boogie
Let's dance fast and hard.
Because your boogie's alright wit' me, yeah
I like the way you dance.
I'm goin' to buy me a dog
I'm going to buy a dog for protection.
On a wired nose
With a muzzle made of wire.
I even kill a man
I'd kill a person to protect my food.
About my jellyroll
About my dessert.
Oh, but look-a-here, baby
Listen to me, my significant other.
See what-a you've done, done
See what behavior you're exhibiting.
You taken my money
You took my money.
You got me on a bum
You've left me broke.
You know, me an my baby
Me and my significant other.
Don't do nothin' but fuss an fight
We argue a lot.
I said, 'Look-a-here, baby
I said to my significant other.
Things ain't goin' on right'
Things aren't going well between us.
I don't need no steam-heatin'
I don't need a heater to keep me warm.
By my bed
When I sleep.
The little girl I got
My significant other.
Keep me, cherry red
Keeps me happy and content.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network
Written by: WILLIE WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Hilmar Wensorra
In very loving memory of Mr. Willie James Lacey (1915 - 1977 R.I.P. Gone but NOT forgotten), who plays guitar on the above recording ...
Steve Counsel’s other channel
Sonny Boy Williams is a name synonymous with blues harmonica, so much so there were actually two very famous harp players who used the name, the first, John Lee who came to local fame in Chicago in the 1940's was perhaps technically a better harmonica player and laid the groundwork stylistically for the younger harp players who followed including Little Walter, Billy Boy Arnold and notably James Cotton. I love both Sonny boys for very different reasons but I have a soft spot for John Lee having cut my chops by playing along with his records over and over. This track shows how good he really was.
JawboneandJolene
Did you mean WilliamSON?!
Your commentary would be more credible if you got the NAME RIGHT.
Redeye Calendar
I agree that SB 1 John Lee was one of the greats but actually it was Rice Miller Sonny Boy 2 who was technically more advanced. SB 1 stands alone though as unique among harp players and wrote tremendously great lyrics.
M H
Rice Miller had undeniably great tone, which John Lee didn't quite have. The harmonica was more of a side note to Lee's singing. But John Lee was an upbeat and eclectic individual whose style predated rock and roll in its own way. He was so popular that Rice Miller felt the need to rip off Lee's stage name, which I think is unfortunate as one would think Miller's style could have stood on its own, but the game was different back then. Making money in the music business is never easy and it definitely wasn't easy in their time.
Barry Miller
John Lee's tone was quite good, you need to listen to more recordings. Rice Miller pretty much stole his harp and singing styles in addition to his name, although Rice's style did become more nuanced and unique as his career progressed. John Lee's career was cut short by a robber in the 40s; one can only wonder how he would have evolved as well. One thing for sure, the identity theft and later intimidation of John Lee by Rice was a dirty, rotten thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Rice had him murdered, knowing that the identity theft would become more of an issue with the original still around as his star rose. Smh.
Philharpo
Interesting theory (the murder) for which there is no evidence. There is also a theory that John lee benefitted by selling a lot more records in the South (he operated around Chicago) as a result of Rice Miller's fame as a SBW. Great track anyway.
Tim Dodge
Proof there was HOT Rock 'n' Roll before the mid-1950's! Love the singing and hot harmonica work. Also, let's give credit to the great Blind John Davis on boogie piano and Willie Lacey on excellent electric guitar.
Jazmin Milillo
amo esta música, me encanta el blus 😍😍
YowBro
Damn. Both Sonny Boys are awesome!