Song of the Week: Sonny Boy Williamson (ii) -- Peach Tree

We had to follow up our last post on the Sonny Boy Williamson (i) composition, Good Morning School Girl with a number from Sonny Boy Williamson (ii). Here the master of the blues harp performs his original composition, Peach Tree. The number was released posthumously on The Real Folk Blues album in 1965 for Chess Records. Somehow I don't think he is really singing about a tree that bears the fruit of Peach. Hmmm, what else could he be singing about that looks and feels like a peach? Think. Think. Think.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Sonny Boy Williamson (I) - Good Morning School Girl

In a recent post about Led Zeppelin stealing music from Sonny Boy Williamson (aka, Aleck Rice Miller),  I hinted to the fact that the Sonny Boy Williamson in question stole more than just a song or two. In fact he stole an entire identity.

Aleck Rice Miller took the name Sonny Boy Williamson in 1941 while performing on The King Biscuit Time radio show out of Helena, Arkansas. Apparently at the suggestion of the show's promoter, Max Moore. The idea was to capitalize on the established name of a harmonica pioneer who hadn't been seen in that part of the world for a number of years. A bit of a ghost legend. The problem was John Lee Curtis Williamson, known by the nickname Sonny Boy, was alive and well and living up in Chicago. So it was, two Sonny Boy Williamson's, one a Tennessee native living in Chicago, and another, from Mississippi, were performing around the country at the same time. One primarily in the North. The other predominantly playing in the South. 

Today we listen to the original Sonny Boy Williamson perform his 1937 original composition for Bluebird records, Good Morning School Girl. The song became a staple in the blues world. Muddy Waters performed it, Chuck Berry performed it. The Yardbirds performed a variation on it, The Grateful Dead, John Lee Hooker, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison. Hell, you get the idea. Sonny Boy Williamson (ii) even covered it. 

Enjoy, until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Song Still Remains The Same: the unauthorized etymology of Led Zeppelin songs. Bring It On Home

Bring It On Home - Led Zeppelin

Bring It On Home - Sonny Boy Williamson

We are back (after a long hiatus) with our fourth installment of The Song Still Remains The Same: the unauthorized etymology of Led Zeppelin songs. You know, that little thing I do where I look at a song Led Zeppelin claims to have written, and then play you the original song...that they didn't write.

We started with Dazed and Confused. 
Then we looked at Whole Lotta Love.
Then we analyzed Since I've Been Lovin' You.

Today, we look at Bring It On Home.

The last song on the October 1969 release of Led Zeppelin II is a song called Bring It On Home. As you can see from the above label scan, it is a song that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have claimed to have written. The song is a laid back blues shuffle with Robert Plant's trademark billy-goat styled vocal delivery. Plant pleads with his lover:

Bbbbaaaaabbbbbwwwaaaayyyyy. Well,  Bbbbaaaaabbbbbwwwwaaaayyyyy, I'm going to bring it on home to you. I've got my ticket, I got that load. Join up, going higher, all aboard. I'm going to take my seat, railway bag. Ooh-ch'yeah. Watch this train roll down the track. I'm going bring it on home, break it on down now to you.

Ahhh, you can hear Robert Plant's native Mississippi accent as he drawl's out his pained lyrics.

Whoa. Wait. No. That's not right. Robert Plant isn't from Mississippi, he's from the UK. And Jimmy Page wasn't an itinerant sharecropper who made his way to Chicago after World War II. How did I mess this up? Oh yeah, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant didn't write the damn blues song! They stole it.

Sonny Boy Williamson (II) recorded the Willie Dixon penned song, Bring It On Home, in January of 1963 at Chess Studios in Chicago. However, the number wasn't released on Chess Records until February of 1966, shortly after Sonny Boy Williamson's death in Helena, Arkansas in 1965.

It's undeniable that it is the same song. Lawyers for Atlantic Records agreed and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 1972. Subsequent pressings of the record show Willie Dixon as the composer. Only one person seems to still believe it is a different song:

The thing with Bring It On Home, there's only a tiny bit taken from Sonny Boy Williamson's version and we threw that in as a tribute to him. People say, "Oh, Bring It On Home is stolen." Well, there's only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it. Just the end.
--Jimmy Page as interviewed by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, October, 1977. 

Well, to that, I just have to say...Huh? Just a little bit? It's the same frickin' song, Jimmy. It's not just taking the shuffle, it's not just lifting a lyric or two. It's not just that it's the same title. You even have Robert Plant even imitates Sonny Boy Williamson! It's the same thing Led Zeppelin did when Robert mimicked The Small Faces' Steve Marriott with Whole Lotta Love (aka, You Need Lovin').  You make call it an homage, Misters Plant and Page, but it's not. It's standing on the shoulders of others and pushing them down in the mud. Not OK lads.

And yes, I understand that Sonny Boy Williamson tended to steal stuff too...like another person's entire identity! But we are dealing with just one deviancy at a time here.

Listen for yourself. Let us know what you think. Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Tower Records Spotlight: The Toggery Five - I'm Gonna Jump/Bye Bye Bird

I'm Gonna Jump

Bye Bye Bird

[See comments section below for insightful comments from the song's author and singer, Frank Renshaw]

Another great double sided gem on this post. Today's Song(s) of the week are given to us from the Toggery Five, a Manchester based band named after a mod clothing shop which employed one Graham Nash of Hollies fame. He went on to do other stuff, but I'm not too sure what.

The Toggery Five were led by guitarist and vocalist, Frank Renshaw who was joined by Keith Meredith, Ken Mills, and Graham Smith. A wee-lad named Paul Young (he of the 80s blue eyed soul hits) rounded out the quintet. Today's songs are from their debut single recorded on Frank Renshaw's birthday and released in the Summer March of '65 in the United States. The songs are a Frank Renshaw original, I'm Gonna Jump, about a lovelorn and love scorned lad contemplating taking a leap off a Manchester bridge into the chilly River Irwell. The Flip-Side (we like flip-sides) was a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bye Bye Bird. A song also covered nicely by the Moody Blues at about the same time. The double sided gem was released in the Summer of '65 on Parlophone and even saw a US release on the legendary Tower Records. [Note that Renshaw's name is misspelled on the US release.] The US pressing has become quite a coveted single, and for good reason. Both songs are wickedly good. I'm Gonna Jump being the superior and, quite frankly, one of the best of the garage singles to come out that year. Despite having the very talented Paul Young in the band, Renshaw takes the lead on both of these numbers as Young had just joined the band a few weeks or months prior to the recording session. For more about the band, check out Frank Renshaw's webpage for The Toggery Five. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip-side.