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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Sonny Boy's Jump
Sonny Boy Williamson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee)
(Sonny Boy Williamson I)
Sonny Boy Williamson - vcl and hca
Eddie Boyd - piano, Bill Sid Cox - gtr, Ransom Knowling - sbass
Recording: Chicago July 2, 1945
Album: Vol. 4 Document Records DOCD5058
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com
(Instrumental and harmonica intro)
When my baby left me
My baby left me a mule to ride
When my baby left me
My baby left me a mule to ride
Now when the train left the station
My mule laid down an died
You know I sent my baby
You know, a brand new twenty dollar bill
You know I sent my baby
You know a brand new twenty dollar bill
Now if that don't bring her back
I'm sho' my shotgun will
(harmonica, piano & instrumental)
Now if I can't come in
Let me sit down in front of your do'
Now if I can't come in
Let me sit down in front of your do'
I'll leave so early in the mo'nin
Your real man would never know
(harmonica, piano & instrumental)
Lake Michigan ain't no river
Chicago ain't no hill town
Lake Michigan ain't no river
An Chicago ain't no hill in town
But if I feel this-a way tomorrow
I swear I'll be Memphis bound.
(harmonica, piano & instrumental)
~
"Sonny Boy's Jump" is a blues song originally recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson in 1945. The song is an upbeat, harmonica-driven tune that tells the story of a man whose lover has left him and he's left with nothing but a mule to ride. As the train leaves the station, his mule dies, and he's sent into a fit of despair. He tries to win his lover back by sending her a twenty-dollar bill, but he admits that he'll resort to violence if need be.
The song's structure is simple - it's essentially a series of verses punctuated by harmonica and piano solos. Sonny Boy Williamson's harmonica playing is the star of the show, and he demonstrates his technical proficiency throughout the song. The lyrics, while seemingly straightforward, are imbued with nuance and meaning. The singer's desperation is palpable, and we get the sense that he's willing to do just about anything to get his lover back.
One interesting aspect of "Sonny Boy's Jump" is the way that it combines traditional blues motifs with more modern elements. The harmonica solo, for instance, showcases a jazzy, bebop-influenced style that was relatively new at the time. The piano playing is similarly modern, highlighting Eddie Boyd's nimble fingers and virtuosic technique. The song is a testament to Williamson's versatility as a performer, and his ability to bridge the gap between different genres and styles of music.
Line by Line Meaning
When my baby left me
After my lover left me,
My baby left me a mule to ride
My lover replaced me with a mule, a source of my transportation.
Now when the train left the station
A train leaves from the depo,
My mule laid down an died
My mule unexpectedly died which left me stranded without a source of transportation.
You know I sent my baby
I made an attempt to get my lover's attention,
You know, a brand new twenty dollar bill
By sending them a twenty dollar bill as a gesture of goodwill.
Now if that don't bring her back
If my gesture of goodwill doesn't resonate with them,
I'm sho' my shotgun will
I will try to win their affections through force if necessary.
Now if I can't come in
If I am not welcomed,
Let me sit down in front of your do'
I will sit outside your door instead.
I'll leave so early in the mo'nin
I'll leave before dawn breaks
Your real man would never know
So that no one would ever know I was there
Lake Michigan ain't no river
Lake Michigan should not be mistaken as a river.
Chicago ain't no hill town
Chicago is not a town on a hill.
But if I feel this-a way tomorrow
I may change my mind tomorrow and feel different,
I swear I'll be Memphis bound.
So I may leave for Memphis instead
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Arjhendrix
that chirrrp on the harmonica has never been replicated in 60+ years... :-), yeah it feels so goood! John Lee Forever!
Arjhendrix
wow n thanks for sharing. John Lee!
Ramona Rael
Sonny Boy. The one the original. The best.
Engadine Man
how does he do that at @1:45
Andrew the Gracious Lord Robertson Dow
@Keri Betti I have to disagree. I'm trying to learn this song, and have been able to trill on the Draw breath too. However, on a "C" diatonic, I make this note to be Blow 10, so academic.
Jonathan Garner
The same tongue "flutter" as you would use when trilling an R.
Keri Betti
that is a tongue flutter; can only do on the exhale breath. A trick also used by Flute players (Jethro Tull etc)