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Copyright © 2002-2004
by James P. Hauser except where otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.

THE ROCK 'N' ROLL CONNECTIONS OF

Sonny Boy Williamson II

The great harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson is one of the most colorful personalities in all of blues history. He has been described as a womanizer, a hard-drinker, a teller of tall tales, a liar, a loner, mysterious, moody, paranoid, bitter, and just plain mean.  And if he somehow found himself in an argument were things were heatin' up, he was not the type to shy away from a fight. It was well-known that he carried a switchblade, and there was a way about him which let you know that (to paraphrase a line from a Rod Piazza song) if you messed with the guy, he just might do some cuttin' that the doctor don't stitch.

Williamson had a regular habit of disseminating misinformation about himself. His real name was Aleck Miller, but, during his earlier days when he was still a relatively unknown bluesharp musician, he started using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. Not so coincidentally, there already was another bluesman named Sonny Boy Williamson--John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson--who was not only very well-known but also happened to be a great bluesharp player. (News spread slowly in those days. Get the picture?). Besides being a bit of an imposter (and despite all his rough edges), Sonny Boy could charm his way into any woman's heart or into any man's pocket.

Williamson was known to stretch or misdirect the truth on an occasion or two, and he was caught telling fibs about himself so many times that some people wouldn't believe a word he said. There has been some speculation that Williamson was an escaped convict from Mississippi's notorious Parchman Farm prison. If so, this would go a long way in explaining all the confusion that he created about himself and about the circumstances of his life.

Despite his faults, Williamson had a good side to him. It's been reported by people who knew him that he was a real softie deep down inside. Now mind you, Sonny Boy was a good six foot five inches tall, so you would have to go mighty deep to get to that soft spot. Williamson also had a great reputation for lending a generous helping hand to his fellow musicians. So he really did have a heart and wasn't such a bad guy. Besides that, the dude was so hip that he pret' near had room for an extra legbone! And you can forgive a man plenty when he's got that goin' for him.

The best thing about Sonny Boy though, was his music, his glooorrious music! He was a very expressive singer, an excellent songwriter, and a master at playing the harmonica and performing. While Little Walter, his bluesharp rival and label-mate at Chess Records, amplified his harmonica to create a smooth, urban, saxophone-like sound, Sonny Boy preferred to play unamplified, which gave his harp and music a grittier, more down-home feel. Also, playing unamplified allowed him to use his hands to shape each note to sound exactly the way he wanted. But Williamson could also play some incredible harp without even touching the instrument with his hands, gripping it and moving it around (believe it or not) solely with his mouth!

In 1963, Williamson toured Europe as part of the American Blues Festival with Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson, and Memphis Slim, and he put in such impressive performances that on many a night he simply "walked with the show". He was so popular in Europe that he stayed for quite a spell. And, while there, he did some shows using The Animals and The Yardbirds as his backup bands. Many of his songs are now blues classics including "Eyesight to the Blind", "One Way Out", and "Bye Bye Bird". These and other songs by Williamson have been recorded by bands ranging from The Moody Blues to The Who.

Sonny Boy Williamson died in 1965 and the blues world lost a major star who, despite his faults, was respected and loved. Sure, he had an abrasive and unpredictable personality, but nobody's perfect, and with life the way it is, you just gotta take the hairy with the smooth. And luckily, with Sonny Boy there sure comes plenty of smooth. The man was more than hip and more than top--he was kingsize and ultra-wise!

For lots more good stuff on Sonny Boy's influence on the world of rock'n'roll, check out the connections below.

More of Sonny Boy's Rock Connections:

Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers do a fine reworking of Sonny Boy Williamson's "One Way Out" on the album Eat a Peach.

The Animals: While he was in England in the early sixities, Sonny Boy Williamson once teamed up with The Animals to do a live show. A recording of this show was released as an LP, and it has gone in and out of print under various titles over the years. To find yourself a copy of the album, look for it under a title something like The Animals With Sonny Boy Williamson (or vice versa).

Eric Clapton: The soundtrack to the movie version of The Who's rock opera Tommy includes Eric Clapton's rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson's classic blues "Eyesight to the Blind".

Climax Blues Band: The Climax Blues Band's recording of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talking" is on their very first album, the self-titled The Chicago Climax Blues Band. (Some time after this album, the word "Chicago" was dropped from the group's name). You might know these guys from their 1976 hit "Couldn't Get It Right". Despite their original name, the band was from England, not Chicago. And like many other English bands from the sixties, they were heavily influenced by the blues.

Dion: Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talkin'" was recorded by Dion in the sixties. You can find it on his album Bronx Blues which is a great album of blues, rhythm & blues, and folk music. In addition to "Don't Start Me Talkin'", the album includes Dion's covers of Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" and Willie Mabon's "Seventh Son".

The Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street album includes their rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson's great "Don't Start Me Talkin'".

Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin recorded a remake of Williamson's "Bring It On Home" and released it on the album Led Zeppelin II. The great blues songwriter Willie Dixon composed the song for Williamson, but Zeppelin's album instead gives songwriting credit to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Shame! Shame! Now that sure ain't a bit of all right, fellas.

Moody Blues: The Magnificent Moodies by the Moody Blues includes their rendition of Sonny Boy's "Bye Bye Bird". The Moody Blues were a great little R&B band before they turned to the pomp-pop that began with Days of Future Passed.

Van Morrison: Van Morrison's terrific live double album It's Too Late To Stop Now includes renditions of two Sonny Boy Williamson songs: "Help Me" and "Take Your Hands Out of My Pocket" (aka "Keep Your Hand Out Of My Pocket"). It's also got Morrison singing other blues and R&B classics like Ray Charles's "I Believe To My Soul", Muddy Waters's "I Just Want To Make Love To You" and Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me" (not to be confused with "Bring It On Home" which is a different song and which, coincidentally, was recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson). The album also includes Van's performances of some of his own early rhythm & blues classics like "Gloria" and "Here Comes The Night".

New York Dolls: The New York Dolls do a nice rendition of Sonny Boy's "Don't Start Me Talkin'" on their album Too Much Too Soon. This album also includes the Dolls' terrific cover of Archie Bell's "There's Gonna Be A Showdown"--you might recognize Bell's name because his band, Archie Bell and the Drells, had an R&B dance hit with the song "Tighten Up".

Joan Osborne:A cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me" is on Joan Osborne's first album, Soul Show. She liked the song so much that she put it on another album, the multi-platinum Relish. Osborne's music is much more blues-oriented than most other popular musicians who have emerged during the nineties. She even took a songwriting workshop taught by Doc Pomus who was an excellent white blues singer before he teamed up with Mort Shuman to write R&B and rock'n'roll hits for others. Some of the many classic songs he has written include The Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me", Ray Charles's "Lonely Avenue", and The Coasters' "Youngblood".

Jimmy Page: "I'm Trying to Make London My Home", one of the last recordings Sonny Boy Williamson ever made, includes the pre-Led Zeppelin session work of Jimmy Page on guitar.

Patti Smith: Smith recorded an excellent cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes". You can hear it at the very end of the soundtrack to the Barbara Hershey movie Frogs for Snakes.

Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen took Sonny Boy Williamson's blues "Cross My Heart" and rewrote it extensively by changing the lyrics and substituting his own melody for Sonny Boy's. The song appears on Springsteen's Human Touch album with Bruce and Sonny Boy credited as co-writers.

The Who: The Who's rock opera, Tommy, includes their version of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight to the Blind" (also known as "Born Blind"). Ol' Blueskat loves the lyrics to this song; they describe a woman so enchanting that she temporarily delays the demise of a man on his deathbed. Her mere presence in the next room compells the poor soul--who is probably so far gone that the coolin' board has pret' near done cooled--to lift up his head and proclaim all of her wonderful charms. In addition to The Who's version of this song, Pete Townshend also did his own rendition of it on the album Pete Townshend's Deep End Live!

The Yardbirds: While in England in the early sixties, Sonny Boy Williamson did some live shows with The Yardbirds playing as his backup band. Recordings of these shows were released after The Yardbirds became big stars. In this music, you can hear the first recorded guitar solo of Eric Clapton on the song "Mr. Downchild".

The Youngbloods: The Youngbloods do a version of Williamson's "Pontiac Blues" on the album Good and Dusty. This band had a strong blues and jug band influence, and is best known for their sixties hit "Get Together".

Notes:

Look Ma, No Hands

Sonny Boy Williamson could play the harmonica without the use of his hands by gripping it with his mouth, and although he's long gone from this world, you can still see this incredible feat performed live by Rick Estrin of the blues group, Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Estrin is a master bluesharp player who can do a mind-blowing "look ma, no-hands" performance. And the rest of the band puts on a great show too! So keep an eye out for these guys because sooner or later they'll be coming to your local blues club.

Talkin' 'Bout "Don't Start Me Talkin'"

Sonny Boy Williamson's classic tune "Don't Start Me Talkin'" has gotten some television exposure from a couple of major stars. Bob Dylan performed his interpretation of it on the March 22, 1984 airing of the David Letterman Show. And Bill Cosby made references to both Williamson and the song as he quoted from it in an episode of the hugely successful TV series The Cosby Show. Cosby must be a bit of a blues fan because he also had B.B. King on another episode of the show, and (believe it or not) he even recorded an album in the sixties entitled Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings which included versions of a handful of Jimmy Reed blues tunes.

Sonny Boy and The Band

The Band: In director Martin Scorsese's great movie The Last Waltz, a documentary about The Band's farewell performance, their guitarist, Robbie Robertson, tells a story about what happened when he and other members of the group met up with Sonny Boy Williamson (the story is also recounted in Robert Palmer's excellent book Deep Blues). As Sonny Boy was entertaining everyone present with his harp playing and storytelling, he kept spitting into a cup. Everybody was having such a good time that nobody noticed what was going into the cup. But later they found that it was filled--not, as expected, with tobacco juice--but with Sonny Boy's own blood. He was hurtin' bad, but wouldn't let on, probably because he didn't want to spoil all the fun. There's no doubt that he conjured up a load of blues magic that night!!! It all happened at a time when The Band was still calling itself The Hawks. They had planned to go on tour as Sonny Boy's backup band; but, sadly, he died before it could all go down.

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