The Blues (2003): Season 1, Episode 2 - The Soul of a Man - full transcript
Once I had a pretty little girl
I lose my baby,ain't that sad?
Once I had a pretty little girl
I lose my baby, ain't that sad?
You know you can't spend
What you ain't got
You can't lose
What you ain't never had
Well you know you can't spend
What you ain't got
You can't lose
What you ain't never had
Won't somebody tell me
Tell me
What is the soul of a man?
I'm going to ask the question
Please, answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Tell me
What is the soul of a man
I want somebody to tell me
Please, answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
In the summer of 1977...
NASA sent a very special
vessel into space.
Voyager.
It was to explore the outer planets
of our Solar System...
and then continue its journey
into deep space...
never to return.
Voyager has been on its way now
for a quarter of a century.
And in case it would ever be intercepted
by other inhabitants of the universe...
the spacecraft is carrying on board...
a record with pictures and sounds
from Earth.
And messages in 50 languages.
"This is a present from
a small distant world...
a token of our sounds
and our science..."
Among all these sounds
from our planet...
there's also music, traveling through
space on the Voyager...
representing human spirit from
different cultures and time periods...
and believe it or not...
my voice is out there...
in space.
Yeah!
One of my songs was chosen...
to represent American music
in the 20th Century.
It's a record I cut
for Columbia in 1927...
called "Dark Was the Night".
And I'm Blind Willie Johnson.
By the year of 2003...
Voyager has gotten to the edge
of our Solar System.
For my voice to reach you, it needs
to travel for more than a half a day...
at the speed of light that is.
Time is relative and...
distance changes your perspective.
I can tell you.
I was born in Marlin,
Texas around 1900.
Not rightly sure when.
I sang on street corners and
at church gatherings...
continued to do so after
my successful recordings.
I didn't care none
about a career.
I only cared about God
and spiritual matters.
Taught myself to play the guitar...
and tuned it to open D
to suit my next life style.
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Well, Christ is my burden bearer
He's my only friend
Tell me the end of my sorrow
And tell me to lean on him
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
God is my strong protection
He's my bosom friend
It trouble rose all around me
I know who'll take me in
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
I was blinded when I was a child.
About 7 years old.
My stepmother threw
lye into my face...
to avenge a beating my father
had given her.
Yeah. Tough luck.
But why talk so much about myself?
It was hard times for everybody.
And I looked to the Bible
for answers.
What's John writing?
Ask the Revelator
The Book of the Seven Seals
"As it turned out from
the very beginning...
prohibition led straight
to violence.
Rival gangs...
contraband liquor diluted
by a nation's tears.
That can be
highly compatible combination.
Here's a young man from
back in my day.
He made his living
as a bootlegger.
Name was Nehemiah James,
from Bentonia, Mississippi.
But folks called him Skippy...
'cause he never stayed
anywhere for long.
Skip James.
One evening, his friends tried to make
Skip take part in a talent contest...
that was being held at a music store
in Downtown Jackson.
Mister H.C. Speirs had already
discovered many a bluesman.
He had seen them all,
and heard them all.
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
Skip James won the contest!
That meant a recording contract
with Paramount Records...
and a train ticket to Grafton,
Wisconsin...
where the recording
was going to take place.
John Henry's body
Went to the White House
And they buried it in the sand
Every time a locomotive rolled
"Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man"
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man"
Yonder lays
Skip James was picked up by
the producer for Paramount Records...
Mr. Art Laibley.
In those days, furniture companies
made gramophones...
and records too.
That's why the recording facility
was located...
in the attic
of an old chair factory.
Mr. Laibley was not impressed
with Skip's cheap guitar.
So he gave him a company
instrument, a "Stella".
Now, Skip had never held anything
that pretty in his hands before.
Boy, was he ready to play.
Hard times here
Everywhere you go
Times are harder
Than ever been before
You know people are drifting
From door to door
They can't find no heaven
I don't care where they go
People, if I ever get off
This killing floor
I'll never get down
This low no more
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
In Illinois
In Illinois
Illinois
In Illinois
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
The time I had in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois
The time I had in Illinois
You get there
Before I do
You get there
Before I do
Tell all my boys
I'm coming through
Coming through
Coming through
Tell all my boys
I'm coming through
Tell me baby
Still at night
Tell me baby
Still at night
Hope morning
Summer bright
Summer bright
Summer bright
Hope morning
Summer bright
Hope morning
Summer bright
Alright, Skip, wherever you are
this one's for you.
You know I'd rather be the devil
You know I'd rather be the devil
Than the woman to that man
You know I'd rather be the devil
Than be a woman to that man
You know I'm so sorry
You know I'm so sorry
That I ever fell in love
With you
Because you know
You don't treat me
Baby
Like the way you used to do
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'm a fucked up soul
I'd rather be the devil
Than be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than be that woman's man
No
I say nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
No
No, nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
Nothing, nothing, nothing
Nothing but the devil
Nothing but the devil
I said nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
Nothing but the devil
I love Cherry Ball
Better than I love myself
I'm so glad
And I'm glad
I'm glad
I don't know what to do
I don't know what to do
I don't know what to do
I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I am glad
I don't know what to do
Don't know what to do
Don't know what to do
And I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I am glad
I'm tired of weeping
Tired of moaning
Tired of groaning for you
And I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I'm glad
I'm so tired of moaning
The session went on late
into the night.
Skip recorded 18 tracks...
on that day in February 1931.
Some traditional,
but most, he wrote himself.
They were some powerful songs.
And the session
was to become legendary.
I wonder what went through
Skip's head that night.
This had been a dream come true,
the greatest day of his life.
I wonder.
Did he know he'd marked his place
in the history of the blues?
If I send for my baby
And she don't come
If I send for my baby
And she don't come
All the doctors in Wisconsin
They won't help her none
You're talking' about your.44-40
Buddy, it'll do very well
You're talking' about your.44-40
Buddy, it'll do very well
But my.22-20
Lord, it's a burning' hell
If she gets unruly
Thinks she don't wanna do
If she gets unruly
She don't wanna do
I take my.22-20
I cut her half in two
On that second day
in February 1931...
they recorded another
8 tracks on piano.
Skip could play both instruments,
better than most could play one.
I, I, I
And I can't take my rest
I, I, I
I can't take my rest
And my.44
Laying' up and down my breast
When the recordings
finally came to an end...
there was just one issue left...
Skippy left Grafton with just 40 dollars
of expense money in his pockets...
but he sure felt like a rich man.
Skip James never saw a red cent
from his percentage.
He never even heard any
of his own recordings.
Record sales dropped
in the early thirties.
The Great Depression was on.
And on radio you could
hear music for free.
Paramount released some of Skip's songs
in limited numbers...
then they went bankrupt.
Me too,
I didn't cut records no more.
Not that it mattered to me much.
I was never after fortune
and fame no way...
but I guess the way
his records went nowhere...
hit Skip James real hard.
It dawned on him that he had
come to a crossroads.
I would rather be dead and
Six feet in my grave
When your knee bone's aching'
And your body's cold
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
From Earth to Heaven
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
From Earth to Heaven
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
Skippy walked away from the blues
and his music career.
He "skipped"
one life to start another.
His father was a Baptist minister,
and he followed in his footsteps.
Skip James started a new life,
with the Lord.
You better run
Better run, better run
- You better run
- Better run, better run
You better run
To the City of Refuge
You better run
- You better
- Run, run, run
You better run
Skip just disappeared.
The few recordings that were released
became precious collectors' items.
The name "Skip James",
a legend among blues fans.
Only the man himself had no idea.
But let me tell you
about another fella.
In the nineteen-sixties,
English kids picked up the blues...
electrified and amplified it,
and reached a whole new audience.
John Mayall's tune
"THE DEATH OF JB LENOIR"...
impressed a young film student
in Germany so much...
that he started to wonder
who this JB Lenoir was...
and dug out everything
about the man...
who became his all-time
blues idol.
Our film student
became a director...
who over the years met
lots of other folks who loved JB.
They could find no filmed
record of their hero.
Until one day, unseen footage
of JB Lenoir turned up...
shot in the early Sixties
by two art students...
one American and one Swedish.
This is how we met JB Lenoir.
We went to Bob Koester's
record store...
on Grand Avenue in Chicago...
and said
"Where are the blues going on?"
Once he said Roosevelt Sykes,
the pianist...
is having a rent paying party
on the South Side.
And at this party was this man who
appeared in a zebra stripped tuxedo.
And that was JB.
And we thought he was terrific and we
became friends almost immediately.
And the next day he called us up
and we talked on and off for very...
and we said please tell us about every
place you're going to play in Chicago...
which he did.
And it started with television.
We saw this...
show on TV that JB called us up
and said: "I'm going to be on TV".
We didn't have a TV
but we managed to see it, and...
we thought my God it has
to be done different.
Well, the show is interesting.
It was a religious show called...
"The Jubilee Hour"
or something, and...
both JB and Willie Dixon
were in it...
accompanying the gospel singers
but their names were never mentioned.
And they just played...
and you were never told
who they were, and we thought...
we got to do better than that.
So we were going to Sweden...
and we thought that we would make
a short movie...
and take it Swedish television
and show them...
something that
we wouldn't have to explain.
Well, I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad, glad, glad
Glad, glad
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I feel so good
I don't know what to do
I feel so good
I don't know what to do
I feel so good
I feel I want to play with you
I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
Give me one more shot
I believe my name through the top
I feel so good
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
Glad, glad, glad, glad
Glad
I know what's on your mind
I feel
I feel so glad
and each one was in a tuxedo form
and a tail coat.
And I asked him, you know,
where did you get them from...
and he had them made.
Nobody else had anything like that.
He was the first in town.
There was black, white,
chartreuse, zebra stripped.
And gold.
So we took the movie with us
to Sweden and...
It wasn't a big success.
Well, they said it wasn't very good
technically, but we knew that.
They said to us that we should do
something in black and white...
because Sweden's TV
didn't have color at that time.
So we said fine.
We went back to Chicago and...
the next summer we were going
to go to Sweden again...
and right before we left we made another
movie in black and white...
not much longer.
We rented a camera for two days and...
this is it.
Where were you born JB?
I was born in Mississippi.
In a little town, by the name,
we called it Tilden, Mississippi.
And I started to play down there
I was awful young. I used to plow...
and I'd go out and play my box
at night...
learn all the different types
of songs and create 'em...
- Where were you born at, Steve?
- Well, I was born in Evanston, JB.
Where did you learn
how to play a box like this?
Well, I learned from a man who was in
vaudeville. He used to play the banjo.
He taught me how to play
the banjo...
and then I switched to the guitar
when I was in high school.
I see, I see.
Why don't you and I try get
together and do a little thing here?
Wait. Maybe I should tell
in Swedish what we've been saying.
Well, tell them in Sweden.
I played the guitar a couple of times,
which was his idea, by the way.
He said we all ought to do something
in this so we all did.
It was really collaborative.
The interaction was really
his idea, not ours.
- What's your wife's name, JB?
- Ella-Louise.
You've got kids too?
Yeah, I've got 4 kids.
My son is named Jerry Lenoir...
and I have a daughter named Roberta.
And my baby...
she's a little girl.
Her name is Emily Tina.
And my oldest daughter
is named Barbara Anne.
By the way, Barbara Anne, she can
do whole lot of brand new dancing.
That's why...
I created this song here about her, Steve,
about the brand new dance.
I got an elevator man
Deep in the heart of town
And when he's feeling right
He'll carry me round and round
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Well, don't be jealous
When I come to town
Then I'm just a country girl
Everybody tries to push me around
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
And of course
they did not want that movie either...
because of
technical shortcomings...
and we were rather annoyed
with their lack of imagination.
When they were doing
the Voodoo there was...
a terrific thunder that
was natural outside.
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
Voodoo music all over the world
Look what it's done
To the beautiful girls
Got them shake
And act real crazy
Voodoo music gonna knock you crazy
Voodoo
Voodoo
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
Voodoo music got hold of the boys
Make them sing
And laugh with joy
Makes them feel
Like they own the world
Makes them think
They can choose the girls, voodoo
Voodoo
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
I think J. B. Later songs...
by the more mature artist
and person...
tended to be more spiritual.
They were more political.
But also some kind of profound
introspection...
and looking at life
as a spiritual event.
See there is this tradition that
the people who sing gospel...
don't sing the blues, and the blues
singers are not gospel artists.
Well that's very artificial. I remember
JB had called us up one day...
and he said that he had so much fun
all day, he had been playing...
at church
with his friends all day long.
And of course his friends were not...
strictly gospel musicians and singers,
but they were...
professional musicians who were
just doing the best they could...
and having as much fun
as they could and it was Sunday.
And this was not a question
of making money.
It was a question
of creating spirit.
Now here is another one
I'm going to try to do.
The title of it is: "God's Word".
Why don't you release me
Devil
Free me for I can go home
Why don't you release me
Devil
Free me for I can go home
If you don't let me go home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
If you don't let me come home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
If you don't let me come home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
Shortly after we had returned
to the United States...
we got a call one day
from Ella-Louise Lenoir...
that JB was dead.
He was only a year older than Steve.
It was absolutely shocking...
and ended his artistic development...
just when he was getting known...
and making deep impressions
on people like Mayall...
and known and unknown youths.
The words to his songs,
the lyrics of course were...
often quite different
from other blues singers...
particularly when he got in to doing
things about the Vietnam War and...
things like that.
And he had just begun doing songs
about the civil rights movement...
which of course were
really important issues at that time...
but often ignored
in the popular music.
And he was sensitive
to women's position...
which of course came
with the '60s too.
People have remarked that he looked
like Martin Luther King which...
he did a little bit.
Maybe it was just this tremendous...
positive will power
and artistic gift. Something.
But they had a lot in common.
Both of them were, of course,
family men too...
and both of them had early
tragic deaths.
JB was in an auto accident and he wasn't
taken care of in the hospital...
in Illinois where he
should have been taken better care of.
Slow down, slow down
Let me step on board
I just wanna ride your train
Just before I go
You're about the sweetest little girl
I believe I've ever seen
And if I had you by my side
You would mean so much to me
I'm a stranger
I'm a stranger
Slow down, slow down
Please, let me step on board
Just let me ride your train
Just before I go
Slow down, slow down
Let me step on board
I wanna ride your train
One time before you go
You're about the sweetest
The sweetest man
I have ever seen
And if I had you by my side
It'd mean so much to me
I want the whole world to know
that I love you too.
I wished we had just bought
more reels of film.
They weren't that expensive.
I don't know what,
we thought they were very expensive.
We thought there was enough, see.
We thought there was enough to show...
because our purpose was just
to introduce people to him.
We didn't think we were making
a documentary in any way.
We just thought that when
people saw this they would book him...
- for tours.
- Right. They would immediately...
immediately say:
"My God, who is that?
We got to have him on our stage".
Lights going out.
The Seabergs' two films
about JB Lenoir...
were never shown anywhere...
not even on Swedish TV.
And JB could find no more gigs
in Chicago.
Strange as it seems
at the same time...
the blues became popular
in Europe...
American bluesmen
couldn't make a living at home.
But then that same summer...
when the Seabergs shot
their second film with JB...
something extraordinary happened
in Mississippi.
Okay. This is Roosevelt Sykes
and Big Mama Thornton.
Willie Dixon.
Okay, now these are the two pictures
you came to see.
Mississippi John Hurt
was rediscovered in 1963...
and brought to Newport.
So now here's an old hand
at this rediscovery.
Exactly a year later,
Newport '64...
John is wearing his performer.
Skip James has just been found
in a hospital.
So they bring him to Newport where
they put a badge on him that says...
"Kin". That's what they gave
to the wives and the children.
So he is wearing a kin badge.
Now he's rehearsing,
he is just tuning a bottleneck guitar...
and he's getting ready to go
on stage and play.
So he recorded in 1931...
vanished for 33 years...
and now here he is ready to go
on stage, just...
this is seconds before
he goes on stage.
Now he gets ready to come on stage
and I have some sense of history...
the arc of history
being made here.
So I want to get the first note.
The first note. The first word.
First verse. First song.
Skip James...
plucks the guitar,
puts his head back and says "l"...
"I'd rather be the Devil
than to be that woman's man".
This is the precise first note
of rediscovery.
Still wearing his kin badge.
He just...
he stepped out of 1931.
He was riveting, electrifying,
charismatic...
just stole the festival!
Stole the festival.
Skip James at Newport '64 was
what people left talking about.
That he... you didn't even have
to be a blues fan...
to comprehend the story
that a man had stepped out of 1931...
and just was amazing. He only did
3 or 4 songs and he brought magic.
You have to realize that at
Newport '64, that may have been...
the largest number of people that
he was ever going to play to...
at any one point.
Those concerts were full,
18,000... 17-18,000.
But now the people who rediscovered
Skip were really incompetent.
They had no idea
what they were doing.
So the next year for Skip
from Newport '64 to Newport '65...
was a lost opportunity.
He didn't get
a recording contract...
and the blues world buzz
that was out on him...
was wasted.
Skip's tunings were so odd...
and his vocal style
was so strange...
"Cherry Ball" and
"I'd Rather Be the Devil"...
no one had really heard him
or even heard of him.
Skip didn't sound like anybody.
I was listening to some
of his '60s stuff...
and his fingers are really flying.
In other words, he has great dexterity.
Just barely brushing the strings.
Picking really fast but very clean.
Picking fast and clean.
Considering...
I don't even know if he played from
the 30's to the 60's. I don't know.
It's very possible that he didn't own
a guitar and didn't play very much...
and when he was found in Tunica,
that he was very, very rusty...
and hadn't played very much.
That's speculation on my part.
But by the mid 1960's he was
playing extraordinarily well.
A lot of bluesmen work to faces.
They work to the front row
or they told stories.
Skip dealt in the abstract.
He played his music out over
your head into the great beyond.
At this time in his life,
Skip James was very ill.
When he was discovered,
in Tunica, Mississippi...
he was practically dragged from
the hospital to the Newport Festival.
He was battling cancer
and needed surgery urgently.
I'm so glad
I'm so glad
I'm glad, I'm glad
I'm glad
I'm so glad
I'm glad, I'm glad
Don't know
Don't know what to do
I'm so tired of weeping
Tired of moaning
Tired of groaning for you
The success of Cream's cover of
I'm So Glad paid for the hospital bills.
The operation gave Skip
3 more years to live.
And a chance to be
recorded properly.
He cut two entire albums
in those last years of his life...
and re-recorded all the tunes
he had once sung in vain.
He didn't have much to add to those
inspirational days in 1931...
except for a couple of new songs...
one of them about
his time in that hospital.
I says I was a good man
And I was a poor man
You can understand
'Cause I'm a good man
I was a poor man
You can understand
Skip sang
about his own experiences...
and his own life. He knew
there was greatness in his music...
and his songs would survive him.
He was a poor man, for sure,
but he was full of pride.
JB was from an altogether
new generation of songwriters...
of which he was the forerunner.
He realized his gift wasn't just
given to him to talk about himself.
JB sang about the bigger picture.
About how a change
was gonna come.
Vietnam, Vietnam
Everybody's crying' about Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam
Everybody's crying' about Vietnam
These Ionely days are killing me
Down in Mississippi
Oh God, if you can hear my prayer
Please help my brothers
Down in Vietnam
You always cry and cry
About Peace
But you must clean up
Your house before
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Where I was born
Down in Mississippi
Where I come from
I never will love Alabama
Alabama seems
To never have loved poor me
From the mighty mountains
of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped
Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring...
From every mountainside...
Let freedom ring.
And when that happens...
Protestants and Catholics
will be able to join hands...
and sing in the words
of the old Negro spiritual...
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last".
JB Lenoir died the tragic death
of a poor man...
on April 29th, 1967,
in Champagne, Illinois.
At the hospital, they didn't take
his injuries seriously.
And he died soon afterwards at home,
of internal bleeding.
But, man,
he was way ahead of his time!
He didn't live to witness
the fruits of his labor, though.
His last job was dishwasher...
Nehemiah "Skip"James...
died of cancer in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania...
on October 3rd, 1969,
just two years after JB.
They both left
an incredible legacy.
Their songs went
way beyond their lives...
celebrating the spirit of life...
exploring its lowest depths
and lifting us...
up to the highest heavens.
That's what the blues does.
As you can see with me.
I want somebody
To tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
I want somebody
To tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
Well I want somebody to tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
There's one kind of favor
I'll ask you
There's one kind of favor
I'll ask you
There's just one kind of favor
That I'll ask of you
You can see that my grave
Is kept clean
Long line ain't got no end
There's a long line
That's got no end
It's a long, long line that
Ain't got no end
Bad wind that never came
It's a bad wind that never came
Two white horses standing in line
There's two white horses
Standing in line
There's two white horses
Standing in line
And take me to the burying ground
Take me to the burying ground
My heart stopped beating
And my hands are cold
My heart stopped beating
And my hands are cold
My heart stopped beating
And my hands were cold, it was a
Long note, what the good book said
What the Bible told
What the Bible told
I lose my baby,ain't that sad?
Once I had a pretty little girl
I lose my baby, ain't that sad?
You know you can't spend
What you ain't got
You can't lose
What you ain't never had
Well you know you can't spend
What you ain't got
You can't lose
What you ain't never had
Won't somebody tell me
Tell me
What is the soul of a man?
I'm going to ask the question
Please, answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Tell me
What is the soul of a man
I want somebody to tell me
Please, answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
In the summer of 1977...
NASA sent a very special
vessel into space.
Voyager.
It was to explore the outer planets
of our Solar System...
and then continue its journey
into deep space...
never to return.
Voyager has been on its way now
for a quarter of a century.
And in case it would ever be intercepted
by other inhabitants of the universe...
the spacecraft is carrying on board...
a record with pictures and sounds
from Earth.
And messages in 50 languages.
"This is a present from
a small distant world...
a token of our sounds
and our science..."
Among all these sounds
from our planet...
there's also music, traveling through
space on the Voyager...
representing human spirit from
different cultures and time periods...
and believe it or not...
my voice is out there...
in space.
Yeah!
One of my songs was chosen...
to represent American music
in the 20th Century.
It's a record I cut
for Columbia in 1927...
called "Dark Was the Night".
And I'm Blind Willie Johnson.
By the year of 2003...
Voyager has gotten to the edge
of our Solar System.
For my voice to reach you, it needs
to travel for more than a half a day...
at the speed of light that is.
Time is relative and...
distance changes your perspective.
I can tell you.
I was born in Marlin,
Texas around 1900.
Not rightly sure when.
I sang on street corners and
at church gatherings...
continued to do so after
my successful recordings.
I didn't care none
about a career.
I only cared about God
and spiritual matters.
Taught myself to play the guitar...
and tuned it to open D
to suit my next life style.
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Well, Christ is my burden bearer
He's my only friend
Tell me the end of my sorrow
And tell me to lean on him
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
God is my strong protection
He's my bosom friend
It trouble rose all around me
I know who'll take me in
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
Oh, trouble will soon be over
Sorrow will have an end
I was blinded when I was a child.
About 7 years old.
My stepmother threw
lye into my face...
to avenge a beating my father
had given her.
Yeah. Tough luck.
But why talk so much about myself?
It was hard times for everybody.
And I looked to the Bible
for answers.
What's John writing?
Ask the Revelator
The Book of the Seven Seals
"As it turned out from
the very beginning...
prohibition led straight
to violence.
Rival gangs...
contraband liquor diluted
by a nation's tears.
That can be
highly compatible combination.
Here's a young man from
back in my day.
He made his living
as a bootlegger.
Name was Nehemiah James,
from Bentonia, Mississippi.
But folks called him Skippy...
'cause he never stayed
anywhere for long.
Skip James.
One evening, his friends tried to make
Skip take part in a talent contest...
that was being held at a music store
in Downtown Jackson.
Mister H.C. Speirs had already
discovered many a bluesman.
He had seen them all,
and heard them all.
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
Skip James won the contest!
That meant a recording contract
with Paramount Records...
and a train ticket to Grafton,
Wisconsin...
where the recording
was going to take place.
John Henry's body
Went to the White House
And they buried it in the sand
Every time a locomotive rolled
"Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man
Lord, Lord
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man"
Yonder lays a steel-drivin' man"
Yonder lays
Skip James was picked up by
the producer for Paramount Records...
Mr. Art Laibley.
In those days, furniture companies
made gramophones...
and records too.
That's why the recording facility
was located...
in the attic
of an old chair factory.
Mr. Laibley was not impressed
with Skip's cheap guitar.
So he gave him a company
instrument, a "Stella".
Now, Skip had never held anything
that pretty in his hands before.
Boy, was he ready to play.
Hard times here
Everywhere you go
Times are harder
Than ever been before
You know people are drifting
From door to door
They can't find no heaven
I don't care where they go
People, if I ever get off
This killing floor
I'll never get down
This low no more
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
In Illinois
In Illinois
Illinois
In Illinois
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
You go to Banglin
Tell all my boys
The time I had in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois
The time I had in Illinois
You get there
Before I do
You get there
Before I do
Tell all my boys
I'm coming through
Coming through
Coming through
Tell all my boys
I'm coming through
Tell me baby
Still at night
Tell me baby
Still at night
Hope morning
Summer bright
Summer bright
Summer bright
Hope morning
Summer bright
Hope morning
Summer bright
Alright, Skip, wherever you are
this one's for you.
You know I'd rather be the devil
You know I'd rather be the devil
Than the woman to that man
You know I'd rather be the devil
Than be a woman to that man
You know I'm so sorry
You know I'm so sorry
That I ever fell in love
With you
Because you know
You don't treat me
Baby
Like the way you used to do
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than to be that woman's man
I'm a fucked up soul
I'd rather be the devil
Than be that woman's man
I'd rather be the devil
Than be that woman's man
No
I say nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
No
No, nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
Nothing, nothing, nothing
Nothing but the devil
Nothing but the devil
I said nothing but the devil
Would change my babe's mind
Nothing but the devil
I love Cherry Ball
Better than I love myself
I'm so glad
And I'm glad
I'm glad
I don't know what to do
I don't know what to do
I don't know what to do
I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I am glad
I don't know what to do
Don't know what to do
Don't know what to do
And I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I am glad
I'm tired of weeping
Tired of moaning
Tired of groaning for you
And I'm so glad
I'm glad
I am glad
I'm glad
I'm so tired of moaning
The session went on late
into the night.
Skip recorded 18 tracks...
on that day in February 1931.
Some traditional,
but most, he wrote himself.
They were some powerful songs.
And the session
was to become legendary.
I wonder what went through
Skip's head that night.
This had been a dream come true,
the greatest day of his life.
I wonder.
Did he know he'd marked his place
in the history of the blues?
If I send for my baby
And she don't come
If I send for my baby
And she don't come
All the doctors in Wisconsin
They won't help her none
You're talking' about your.44-40
Buddy, it'll do very well
You're talking' about your.44-40
Buddy, it'll do very well
But my.22-20
Lord, it's a burning' hell
If she gets unruly
Thinks she don't wanna do
If she gets unruly
She don't wanna do
I take my.22-20
I cut her half in two
On that second day
in February 1931...
they recorded another
8 tracks on piano.
Skip could play both instruments,
better than most could play one.
I, I, I
And I can't take my rest
I, I, I
I can't take my rest
And my.44
Laying' up and down my breast
When the recordings
finally came to an end...
there was just one issue left...
Skippy left Grafton with just 40 dollars
of expense money in his pockets...
but he sure felt like a rich man.
Skip James never saw a red cent
from his percentage.
He never even heard any
of his own recordings.
Record sales dropped
in the early thirties.
The Great Depression was on.
And on radio you could
hear music for free.
Paramount released some of Skip's songs
in limited numbers...
then they went bankrupt.
Me too,
I didn't cut records no more.
Not that it mattered to me much.
I was never after fortune
and fame no way...
but I guess the way
his records went nowhere...
hit Skip James real hard.
It dawned on him that he had
come to a crossroads.
I would rather be dead and
Six feet in my grave
When your knee bone's aching'
And your body's cold
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
From Earth to Heaven
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
All the way
From Earth to Heaven
Let Jesus lead you
All the way
Skippy walked away from the blues
and his music career.
He "skipped"
one life to start another.
His father was a Baptist minister,
and he followed in his footsteps.
Skip James started a new life,
with the Lord.
You better run
Better run, better run
- You better run
- Better run, better run
You better run
To the City of Refuge
You better run
- You better
- Run, run, run
You better run
Skip just disappeared.
The few recordings that were released
became precious collectors' items.
The name "Skip James",
a legend among blues fans.
Only the man himself had no idea.
But let me tell you
about another fella.
In the nineteen-sixties,
English kids picked up the blues...
electrified and amplified it,
and reached a whole new audience.
John Mayall's tune
"THE DEATH OF JB LENOIR"...
impressed a young film student
in Germany so much...
that he started to wonder
who this JB Lenoir was...
and dug out everything
about the man...
who became his all-time
blues idol.
Our film student
became a director...
who over the years met
lots of other folks who loved JB.
They could find no filmed
record of their hero.
Until one day, unseen footage
of JB Lenoir turned up...
shot in the early Sixties
by two art students...
one American and one Swedish.
This is how we met JB Lenoir.
We went to Bob Koester's
record store...
on Grand Avenue in Chicago...
and said
"Where are the blues going on?"
Once he said Roosevelt Sykes,
the pianist...
is having a rent paying party
on the South Side.
And at this party was this man who
appeared in a zebra stripped tuxedo.
And that was JB.
And we thought he was terrific and we
became friends almost immediately.
And the next day he called us up
and we talked on and off for very...
and we said please tell us about every
place you're going to play in Chicago...
which he did.
And it started with television.
We saw this...
show on TV that JB called us up
and said: "I'm going to be on TV".
We didn't have a TV
but we managed to see it, and...
we thought my God it has
to be done different.
Well, the show is interesting.
It was a religious show called...
"The Jubilee Hour"
or something, and...
both JB and Willie Dixon
were in it...
accompanying the gospel singers
but their names were never mentioned.
And they just played...
and you were never told
who they were, and we thought...
we got to do better than that.
So we were going to Sweden...
and we thought that we would make
a short movie...
and take it Swedish television
and show them...
something that
we wouldn't have to explain.
Well, I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad, glad, glad
Glad, glad
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I feel so good
I don't know what to do
I feel so good
I don't know what to do
I feel so good
I feel I want to play with you
I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
I feel so good
I feel like playing my box
Give me one more shot
I believe my name through the top
I feel so good
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
What's on your mind
I'm so glad I know
Glad, glad, glad, glad
Glad
I know what's on your mind
I feel
I feel so glad
and each one was in a tuxedo form
and a tail coat.
And I asked him, you know,
where did you get them from...
and he had them made.
Nobody else had anything like that.
He was the first in town.
There was black, white,
chartreuse, zebra stripped.
And gold.
So we took the movie with us
to Sweden and...
It wasn't a big success.
Well, they said it wasn't very good
technically, but we knew that.
They said to us that we should do
something in black and white...
because Sweden's TV
didn't have color at that time.
So we said fine.
We went back to Chicago and...
the next summer we were going
to go to Sweden again...
and right before we left we made another
movie in black and white...
not much longer.
We rented a camera for two days and...
this is it.
Where were you born JB?
I was born in Mississippi.
In a little town, by the name,
we called it Tilden, Mississippi.
And I started to play down there
I was awful young. I used to plow...
and I'd go out and play my box
at night...
learn all the different types
of songs and create 'em...
- Where were you born at, Steve?
- Well, I was born in Evanston, JB.
Where did you learn
how to play a box like this?
Well, I learned from a man who was in
vaudeville. He used to play the banjo.
He taught me how to play
the banjo...
and then I switched to the guitar
when I was in high school.
I see, I see.
Why don't you and I try get
together and do a little thing here?
Wait. Maybe I should tell
in Swedish what we've been saying.
Well, tell them in Sweden.
I played the guitar a couple of times,
which was his idea, by the way.
He said we all ought to do something
in this so we all did.
It was really collaborative.
The interaction was really
his idea, not ours.
- What's your wife's name, JB?
- Ella-Louise.
You've got kids too?
Yeah, I've got 4 kids.
My son is named Jerry Lenoir...
and I have a daughter named Roberta.
And my baby...
she's a little girl.
Her name is Emily Tina.
And my oldest daughter
is named Barbara Anne.
By the way, Barbara Anne, she can
do whole lot of brand new dancing.
That's why...
I created this song here about her, Steve,
about the brand new dance.
I got an elevator man
Deep in the heart of town
And when he's feeling right
He'll carry me round and round
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Well, don't be jealous
When I come to town
Then I'm just a country girl
Everybody tries to push me around
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
Round and round
Up and down
And of course
they did not want that movie either...
because of
technical shortcomings...
and we were rather annoyed
with their lack of imagination.
When they were doing
the Voodoo there was...
a terrific thunder that
was natural outside.
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
Voodoo music all over the world
Look what it's done
To the beautiful girls
Got them shake
And act real crazy
Voodoo music gonna knock you crazy
Voodoo
Voodoo
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
Voodoo music got hold of the boys
Make them sing
And laugh with joy
Makes them feel
Like they own the world
Makes them think
They can choose the girls, voodoo
Voodoo
Voodoo music got
The whole world on the go
I think J. B. Later songs...
by the more mature artist
and person...
tended to be more spiritual.
They were more political.
But also some kind of profound
introspection...
and looking at life
as a spiritual event.
See there is this tradition that
the people who sing gospel...
don't sing the blues, and the blues
singers are not gospel artists.
Well that's very artificial. I remember
JB had called us up one day...
and he said that he had so much fun
all day, he had been playing...
at church
with his friends all day long.
And of course his friends were not...
strictly gospel musicians and singers,
but they were...
professional musicians who were
just doing the best they could...
and having as much fun
as they could and it was Sunday.
And this was not a question
of making money.
It was a question
of creating spirit.
Now here is another one
I'm going to try to do.
The title of it is: "God's Word".
Why don't you release me
Devil
Free me for I can go home
Why don't you release me
Devil
Free me for I can go home
If you don't let me go home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
If you don't let me come home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
If you don't let me come home
My dad will come and make you
Leave me alone
Shortly after we had returned
to the United States...
we got a call one day
from Ella-Louise Lenoir...
that JB was dead.
He was only a year older than Steve.
It was absolutely shocking...
and ended his artistic development...
just when he was getting known...
and making deep impressions
on people like Mayall...
and known and unknown youths.
The words to his songs,
the lyrics of course were...
often quite different
from other blues singers...
particularly when he got in to doing
things about the Vietnam War and...
things like that.
And he had just begun doing songs
about the civil rights movement...
which of course were
really important issues at that time...
but often ignored
in the popular music.
And he was sensitive
to women's position...
which of course came
with the '60s too.
People have remarked that he looked
like Martin Luther King which...
he did a little bit.
Maybe it was just this tremendous...
positive will power
and artistic gift. Something.
But they had a lot in common.
Both of them were, of course,
family men too...
and both of them had early
tragic deaths.
JB was in an auto accident and he wasn't
taken care of in the hospital...
in Illinois where he
should have been taken better care of.
Slow down, slow down
Let me step on board
I just wanna ride your train
Just before I go
You're about the sweetest little girl
I believe I've ever seen
And if I had you by my side
You would mean so much to me
I'm a stranger
I'm a stranger
Slow down, slow down
Please, let me step on board
Just let me ride your train
Just before I go
Slow down, slow down
Let me step on board
I wanna ride your train
One time before you go
You're about the sweetest
The sweetest man
I have ever seen
And if I had you by my side
It'd mean so much to me
I want the whole world to know
that I love you too.
I wished we had just bought
more reels of film.
They weren't that expensive.
I don't know what,
we thought they were very expensive.
We thought there was enough, see.
We thought there was enough to show...
because our purpose was just
to introduce people to him.
We didn't think we were making
a documentary in any way.
We just thought that when
people saw this they would book him...
- for tours.
- Right. They would immediately...
immediately say:
"My God, who is that?
We got to have him on our stage".
Lights going out.
The Seabergs' two films
about JB Lenoir...
were never shown anywhere...
not even on Swedish TV.
And JB could find no more gigs
in Chicago.
Strange as it seems
at the same time...
the blues became popular
in Europe...
American bluesmen
couldn't make a living at home.
But then that same summer...
when the Seabergs shot
their second film with JB...
something extraordinary happened
in Mississippi.
Okay. This is Roosevelt Sykes
and Big Mama Thornton.
Willie Dixon.
Okay, now these are the two pictures
you came to see.
Mississippi John Hurt
was rediscovered in 1963...
and brought to Newport.
So now here's an old hand
at this rediscovery.
Exactly a year later,
Newport '64...
John is wearing his performer.
Skip James has just been found
in a hospital.
So they bring him to Newport where
they put a badge on him that says...
"Kin". That's what they gave
to the wives and the children.
So he is wearing a kin badge.
Now he's rehearsing,
he is just tuning a bottleneck guitar...
and he's getting ready to go
on stage and play.
So he recorded in 1931...
vanished for 33 years...
and now here he is ready to go
on stage, just...
this is seconds before
he goes on stage.
Now he gets ready to come on stage
and I have some sense of history...
the arc of history
being made here.
So I want to get the first note.
The first note. The first word.
First verse. First song.
Skip James...
plucks the guitar,
puts his head back and says "l"...
"I'd rather be the Devil
than to be that woman's man".
This is the precise first note
of rediscovery.
Still wearing his kin badge.
He just...
he stepped out of 1931.
He was riveting, electrifying,
charismatic...
just stole the festival!
Stole the festival.
Skip James at Newport '64 was
what people left talking about.
That he... you didn't even have
to be a blues fan...
to comprehend the story
that a man had stepped out of 1931...
and just was amazing. He only did
3 or 4 songs and he brought magic.
You have to realize that at
Newport '64, that may have been...
the largest number of people that
he was ever going to play to...
at any one point.
Those concerts were full,
18,000... 17-18,000.
But now the people who rediscovered
Skip were really incompetent.
They had no idea
what they were doing.
So the next year for Skip
from Newport '64 to Newport '65...
was a lost opportunity.
He didn't get
a recording contract...
and the blues world buzz
that was out on him...
was wasted.
Skip's tunings were so odd...
and his vocal style
was so strange...
"Cherry Ball" and
"I'd Rather Be the Devil"...
no one had really heard him
or even heard of him.
Skip didn't sound like anybody.
I was listening to some
of his '60s stuff...
and his fingers are really flying.
In other words, he has great dexterity.
Just barely brushing the strings.
Picking really fast but very clean.
Picking fast and clean.
Considering...
I don't even know if he played from
the 30's to the 60's. I don't know.
It's very possible that he didn't own
a guitar and didn't play very much...
and when he was found in Tunica,
that he was very, very rusty...
and hadn't played very much.
That's speculation on my part.
But by the mid 1960's he was
playing extraordinarily well.
A lot of bluesmen work to faces.
They work to the front row
or they told stories.
Skip dealt in the abstract.
He played his music out over
your head into the great beyond.
At this time in his life,
Skip James was very ill.
When he was discovered,
in Tunica, Mississippi...
he was practically dragged from
the hospital to the Newport Festival.
He was battling cancer
and needed surgery urgently.
I'm so glad
I'm so glad
I'm glad, I'm glad
I'm glad
I'm so glad
I'm glad, I'm glad
Don't know
Don't know what to do
I'm so tired of weeping
Tired of moaning
Tired of groaning for you
The success of Cream's cover of
I'm So Glad paid for the hospital bills.
The operation gave Skip
3 more years to live.
And a chance to be
recorded properly.
He cut two entire albums
in those last years of his life...
and re-recorded all the tunes
he had once sung in vain.
He didn't have much to add to those
inspirational days in 1931...
except for a couple of new songs...
one of them about
his time in that hospital.
I says I was a good man
And I was a poor man
You can understand
'Cause I'm a good man
I was a poor man
You can understand
Skip sang
about his own experiences...
and his own life. He knew
there was greatness in his music...
and his songs would survive him.
He was a poor man, for sure,
but he was full of pride.
JB was from an altogether
new generation of songwriters...
of which he was the forerunner.
He realized his gift wasn't just
given to him to talk about himself.
JB sang about the bigger picture.
About how a change
was gonna come.
Vietnam, Vietnam
Everybody's crying' about Vietnam
Vietnam, Vietnam
Everybody's crying' about Vietnam
These Ionely days are killing me
Down in Mississippi
Oh God, if you can hear my prayer
Please help my brothers
Down in Vietnam
You always cry and cry
About Peace
But you must clean up
Your house before
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Down in Mississippi
Where I was born
Down in Mississippi
Where I come from
I never will love Alabama
Alabama seems
To never have loved poor me
From the mighty mountains
of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped
Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring...
From every mountainside...
Let freedom ring.
And when that happens...
Protestants and Catholics
will be able to join hands...
and sing in the words
of the old Negro spiritual...
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last".
JB Lenoir died the tragic death
of a poor man...
on April 29th, 1967,
in Champagne, Illinois.
At the hospital, they didn't take
his injuries seriously.
And he died soon afterwards at home,
of internal bleeding.
But, man,
he was way ahead of his time!
He didn't live to witness
the fruits of his labor, though.
His last job was dishwasher...
Nehemiah "Skip"James...
died of cancer in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania...
on October 3rd, 1969,
just two years after JB.
They both left
an incredible legacy.
Their songs went
way beyond their lives...
celebrating the spirit of life...
exploring its lowest depths
and lifting us...
up to the highest heavens.
That's what the blues does.
As you can see with me.
I want somebody
To tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
I want somebody
To tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
Well I want somebody to tell me
Answer if you can
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?
There's one kind of favor
I'll ask you
There's one kind of favor
I'll ask you
There's just one kind of favor
That I'll ask of you
You can see that my grave
Is kept clean
Long line ain't got no end
There's a long line
That's got no end
It's a long, long line that
Ain't got no end
Bad wind that never came
It's a bad wind that never came
Two white horses standing in line
There's two white horses
Standing in line
There's two white horses
Standing in line
And take me to the burying ground
Take me to the burying ground
My heart stopped beating
And my hands are cold
My heart stopped beating
And my hands are cold
My heart stopped beating
And my hands were cold, it was a
Long note, what the good book said
What the Bible told
What the Bible told