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Decoration Day
On or about June 1, 1948, blues-harp-great Sonny Boy Williamson [The First] was killed after a gig. His death was marked a great loss by Chicago's blues community, as he was beloved; it also was marked as the end of an era for Chicago Blues, as Sonny Boy was a link to the large established record labels, and a blues of the '40s that bordered more on jazz than on the downhome one-string Dudlow sounds which would begin to take over the Chicago Blues sound under the auspices of the Chess Bros and Muddy Waters. One of Sonny Boy's great numbers was Decoration Day, which told the story of loss of a loved one on that day now known as Memorial Day.
People I had a sweet little girl
Nice loving kind to me in every way ..
But Bertha Lee died and left me
I get the blues about on every Decoration Day.
The song and Sonny Boy come to mind, as the Indianapolis engines begin to rev, every Decoration Day. Read from Sunnyland - Epic of Blues Piano. |
Sonny Boy 1914-1948
Philosophers Draw on the Film 'Matrix' -NYTimes,
May 24, 2003, [reg req]
Inside earth today -NYTimes, May 20, 2003
Deep numbers -NYTimes, May 20, 2003
Ted Joans lives, -May 16, 2003, Voice
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