Lyr Req: songs by Sonny Boy Williamson

09 Dec 96 - 10:29 AM (#698)
Subject: Sonny Boy Williamson lyrics?
From: [e-mail]

I'm lookig for some Sonny Boy Williamson lyrics like Jackson blues Susie Q Whisky headed blues Goodbye red Oh Lord Blues .. and others but I haven't get it yet because I have problems with the language. If there's someone interested in the harmonica tabs of any of these songs please post me I'm trying to get them.

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10 Oct 01 - 05:22 AM (#568813)
Subject: Lyr Add: SUSIE-Q and WHISKEY HEADED BLUES etc
From: masato sakurai

Maybe overdue for the reply, but this will make one unanswered thread answered. None of these lyrics are in Blues Lyrics On Line or Harry's Blues Lyrics Online (See Mudcat links page).

SUSIE-Q (1938)

1 Well now I knowed a family : lived down in the avenue
2 Old man Mose : and sister Sue
3 Well now I knowed the man : by the name of old man Mose
4 He got so happy : pull off all his clothes
5 Well I knowed a lady : by the name of sister Kate
6 Pulled off her clothes : in front of her front gate
7 Crying you step one step : then mess all around
8 You look up : then you look down
9 Well now I know a girl : by the name of sister Louise
10 She jumped up : and danced with who she pleased
11 Now look a-here baby : now tell me what you going to do
12 You can't marry me : and somebody else do

WHISKEY HEADED BLUES (1938)

1 Now you's a whiskey-headed woman : now and you drunk all the time
2 Now if you don't stop drinking : now I believe you going to lose your mind
3 Well now every time I see you : you's at some whiskey joint
4 Standing at the back door : asking for another half a pint
5 Because you's a whiskey-headed woman : now and you stay drunk all the time
6 Now if you don't stop drinking : I believe you going to go stone blind
7 Well now and I took you out of the street baby : when you didn't have no place to lay
8 You ain't acting nothing but a fool : dogging me around this a-way
9 Well now every time I meet you baby : you walking up and down the street
10 You grinning laughing nd talking : with most every man you meet

GOODBYE RED (1938)

1 Well goodbye Red : now ain't going to cry
2 Well I ain't going to frown : wouldn't tell you no lie
3 Well my little Red : she just don't know
4 Well now she say she love me : she wild about Mr so-and-so
5 Well I ain't going to worry : about the way you do
6 Well the way you treat me : coming back home to you
7 Well I ain't going to frown : I ain't going to make no noise
8 Well I ain't going to bring no *help* : and none of these ??? *toys*
9 Well I waved my hand : Red shook her head
10 Well I'm sick and tired : I reckon I'm going to bed
11 Now tell me Red : what you want me to do
12 Now do you think I can love you : and be your little dog too
13 Well after a while : be all over now
14 Now because didn't have nobody : to raise no sand nohow

LORD, OH LORTD BLUES (1938)

1 Now I'm going away baby : just to wear you off my mind
2 Now and you keep me bothered : worried all the time
3 Now and sometimes I feel : like I'm going away to stay
4 Well I get to thinking about my baby : I just as swear and I can't stay away
5 Now I want you to tell me baby : baby just what's getting wrong with you
6 Now and you don't treat me : nothing baby like you used to do

???: undecipherable
*--*: questionable

SOURCE: Michael Taft, Blues Lyric Poetry: An Anthology (Garland, 1983)

~Masato

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10 Oct 01 - 05:29 AM (#568815)
Subject: Lyr Add: LORD, OH LORD BLUES (Sonny Boy Williamson
From: masato sakurai

The title of the last should be "Lord, Oh Lord Blues."

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11 Oct 01 - 03:13 AM (#569594)
Subject: RE: Sonny Boy Williamson lyrics?
From: marty D

I'm in heaven. Thanks masato. I just found a Sonny Boy, King Biscuit time album in the junk store for a quarter. What luck.

marty

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11 Oct 01 - 04:14 AM (#569608)
Subject: RE: Sonny Boy Williamson lyrics?
From: masato sakurai

Marty,

I'm afraid King Biscuit Time is by another Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller, or Sonny Boy Williamson #2) with others (Robert Jr. Lockwood?). I have that album, but it is now missing somewhere in my house. The lyrics above are by #1, who died in 1948. Both were harpists, though. If you want #2's lyrics, click HERE and HERE. And, more than 20 of #2's songs are transcribed in Jeff Todd Titon, Downhome Blues Lyrics (University of Illinois Press, 1981).

~Masato

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