Mr. Sam Lightnin' Hopkins was the nicest neighbor you' d ever want to meet in life. When he was home & not touring he played the Blues on his porch on Hutchins St. every single day & wave at all the people passing by. I'm talkin' bout Houston, Texas.....3rd. Ward y'all. He would smoke his cigarettes & write songs, sometimes walk down the street & play for everybody in the hood. Everybody knew him....loved him for who he was. Always dressed with a straw hat on his head & sunglasses on his eyes. He would plug his guitar to his speaker & play music from sun up to sundown. I know because I grew up around the corner on Hadley & Hutchins St. When there was Thunder....We had Lightnin'! Fo Reel! Circa 1965 - 1971. 💯❤🖤💚💯💵💵💵💵💵💯🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟💯💰💰💰💰💰💯✊👊💯👊✊💯🙏💙😇
That neighborhood looks a lot like Atlantic Canadian cities - some really nice homes/condos, then standalone bungalows that look like they've been there 200yrs. Some perfect lawns, some chaotic messes. People making $50k/yr on the same street as people making $500k/yr.
Blues is a deep emotion that is played with a pick up of I dont care any blues...you can sing it now and sing to the world what hurts ...deeply...and forever....it just want leave you alone..
@@randomlyrancannabis7020 I was looking for this comment. Thx. I knew it was an open tuning, once you've played open G, D, Dm, you can tell. Skip James played cross tuning, open D minor, and its an eerie tune. It was fun, but kinda limiting too.
99 years ago Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins was born on this day.. March 15, 1912. The day blues was born.. We respect all the blues greats but Lightnin' was one of a kind..
This is what the director said about this recording: "Lightnin's apparent omniscience was a constant source of surprise for me. He was like an ancient oracle in his uncanny ability to improvise rhyming blues songs about a person or situation that revealed a truth that was perfect in its simplicity, yet infinitely complex in its layers of meaning. “You make your bed hard, baby, and calls it ease. The blues is just a funny feelin', yet some folks calls it a mighty bad disease.” This line was composed late one night while I was filming what started out to be an ordinary interview. I had asked him to tell me what the blues meant to him. He picked up his guitar and started to sing about a woman named Mary who had left him. Earlier that evening his wife had left him after a nasty argument that caused her cousin to attempt to shoot Lightnin'. While the song was being sung, the cousin was lurking outside the apartment door with a loaded pistol. Lightnin' also had a large loaded gun stuck down the front of his pants. Hardly a situation in which to delve into an academic and linear exploration of the nature of truth and the blues, but I came away feeling I knew a lot more about it than before, but I couldn’t exactly put it in words. Thus the style of the film."
At first blush the gun story seems like a harmless anecdote. Try to think of your child being one of the participants. The wife? Lightening? The cousin? Which one? Unhealthy relationships like the one described in the comments are beyond the pale. Lack of education, discrimination, poverty- the list goes on. A very sad tale indeed.
Yeah I read something Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) said about commenting on Hopkin's playing while watching him play in a small club to the effect that Hopkins didn't know when he was supposed to change chords ? To their surprise Hopkins had heard what they said and exclaimed "Lightnin changes chords when Lightnin wants to change chords !" Too funny .
The acoustics in that room are just amazing. His playing makes my hair stand on end. His delivery is just stunning. If this ain't the blues I don't know what is.
I think what I love most is its purity....no production and sound engineering....just a guy sitting on the couch letting his heart and art flow out and be recorded.
Notice how Hopkins doesn't even think, The melodies just flow from him. I am a huge fan of this man. Robert Johnson, Son house, and of course the man Hopkins himself have influenced so many of the music we hear today. Gives me goosebumps. A man of few words, but profound talent and wisdom.
How do you know he wasn't thinking? I've been playing for 60 years as of this month; and singing for 65. I make it look and sound like I'm not thinking. How? By thinking.
61 now..was hooked on Lightnin' at about 20. Ended up moving to Memphis from 85-90. Was in heaven. Memphis was cool as hell then, just hell now. No one was mad back then. Thanks B.O.
Lightnin' didn't turn me onto the blues but he quickly became one of my favorites while I was still in high school. The raw emotion he had just amazed me. I was about 16 or 17 when I found out he was playing in a small club in town. I barely had my driver's license but a school friend and I made it to the club to hear the maestro. We couldn't believe that there were only about a dozen people there to hear him. Hopkins was quite old at the time and had switched to electric guitars (for ease of playing, I assumed) but he was just fantastic! After the show, I told my friend we should try to go meet him backstage. He had some kind of body guard who tried to run interference but Lightnin' overheard me saying we just wanted to tell him how much we appreciated his music and he waved us through. He couldn't have been more kind and gracious, saying it made him so happy that young people enjoyed his music. We spent about 10-15 minutes just shootin' the sh!t with him. Never forget that night with the legend!
For those of you that don't play - Lightnight really bridged the gap from old acoustic blues to the modern electric blues. He and Muddy were two of the most influential bluesmen of their day.
Good point about the acoustic-electric bridge. One of the many reasons this is a great performance is how delicate & sensitive his playing is. Many a famous (& boring) shredder could learn a lot from this playing. Or maybe they couldn't. It's also interesting to see how high the action is on his guitar.
@@chuckmurphy4948 had a gal called Sal and movin out boogie session?? Bootlegged on Diving Duck Records ?? Killer!! Beat Hendrix to the punch a clean 10 years in advance!!
my lead singer back in the day told me the blues was going outa style, Angry Anderson (rose tattoo)sang that line. I dont play drums nomore cause of that pair.
He has the blues. He is not overdoing the notes he is just making them tell the story. He has great technique as any expert makes it look easy. It is not how many notes you play but how you play them. Lots of musicians could learn from this no matter what style you play as he tells a story he just doesn't play notes. Love it.
I saw him play live not long before he died. He was pretty drunk, and everything he played was pure muscle memory. But the tone and the consistency were there, and a lot of natural emotion.
He was born March 15, 1912. Seeing him here, he's never gone, so incredible he is. The man is so interior that his music plugs right into one's soul. That is Lightnin'.
I've had 8 tracks of Lightnin, John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Very rough recordings that cannot be reproduced. I got them in a rack in a downtown liquor store. This was back in the late 70's. Great music. I used to love to play it while driving late at night. Some of it was haunting in it's melancholy. Soul stirring. Little Walter, Houndog Taylor, and Muddy were always high on my list of greats.
When I consider all of the music that our Afro brothers and sisters have blessed us with, I am shocked that we can't seem to acknowledge it! Blues, R&B, jazz, rock, gospel, ragtime, to name a few!
RJ Burnside? The man was unreal. His vocals were so honest. You probably know him, if not??? Poor Black Matte!!!!!, See my jumper hanging on a line! This guy will inspire!!
@@farshimelt I'm 75 yr old so I've been around a while. White culture (we) does not elevate the contributions of black culture as it should be IMO. Black culture does not seem to either. Of course, I'm just sitting out here watching the parade go by. For me, if it wasn't for the influence of black culture especially music, we would not have much music at all. When I was about 5 I remember the hit tune on the radio was "When the moon hit you eye like a big pizza pie". All the real energy has come from our black cousins. . No offense meant in either comment.
@@MaxAtLarge If we're speaking of white culture, in general, that's true, ditto for black culture. Being that I'm 81, I've got a few years on you but basically the same era. My first memories of listening to music are: Hungarian Gypsy music, Dvorak, Art Tatum & the Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. No offense taken. Nice to talk to a civilized person.
The first time I heard Lightnin' hopkins was back in when I was a teen. A record shop in Dublin had "autobiography in blues" playing on the speakers. I lingered so long in the shop that the lady behind the counter thought i was fixin' to rob the place but I was just drinking it in. This man shaped my appreciation for country blues way back before I had any reason to have the blues myself... 52 now listening to this an i still have that same excitement to hear him as i did on that faithful day..
Dublin, where? Ireland or Texas? I only ask because you said fixin’ to, which I’ve been told seems to be specific to Texas (not sure about that, but we do say it a lot around here).
my father was a receiving clerk at an uptown apartment building in the downtown chicago area. several radio talents lived in the building. they got comped demos from record companies hoping for play time on their station..or for giveaways. sometimes completely wrong format. they always asked my dad if he wanted the unwanted albums to take home to his kid. they couldn't''t have known how old i was..but i was hooked on ledbelly by 9 or 10, heard bob seegers breakout first album 2 years before it's release. some of the song were changed out.on the final album. i got the allman brothers demo album that was cut in Hialeah Florida.a bout 1 year before their official album launch. you haven't heard pure pain music until hearing gregg allmans version of morning dew - the old classic that everyone has recorded! but never like this.... i thank god for the father i had..and my 16 yr older , an honest to god go go girl.sister. in the cage with the white boots, mini skirt and all. . i was turned on to music at a very early age. it's become part of my lifes thread in my own weave. thanks to all those DJ's in the Chicago Loop
@@dreamweaver1603 :D no, Dublin Ireland. Is there a Dublin in Texas? You are right about fixin' to, it's definitely a Texas thing but has crept into my vocabulary after 40 odd years of listening to this great man... well done spotting that... but yeah, I'm from Dublin in Ireland..
John C, yes there is a Dublin, Texas. We have Dublin, Italy, Rome, Paris, London, Florence, and Athens. We probably have more towns with international city names that I’m unaware of. We also have some weird ones like Mars, Earth, Dimebox, and my personal favorite, Cut and Shoot.
@@dreamweaver1603 You certainly have a Paris, Texas, Ry Cooder told us all about that and there seems to be a longstanding tradition of European placenames in Texas towns. Not a bad thing at all and sometime I hope to visit the Lone Star state...
Pure Lightnin'! The blues is about the truth. It is about the reality of life. It is about things you cannot deny. Those 74 dislikes are people who do not want to face the realities of life.
Tell us more. Where was it? Was it a big place? Where were you sitting? Oh and to the person who posted this you really need to say who this is - yes we of course know, but just posting with no info is not right to Lightnin'
It was at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Tx. It was a fairly large venue and had formerly been a National Guard Armory. For much of the time I was close to the stage, but I'm sure I spent a good deal of time staggering back and forth to the bar.
@@lunalea1250 Robert Mirabal. Talking about excellent choice. Are you Native American? Actually I was born in Surinam South American country near the Caribbean. I have native South American ancestors. At the of 8 in 1965 I move to Holland Amsterdam, where is still live. I have always felt a connection with south and North American natives in my heart.
What you don't want to know how everything you thought you knew about slavery and hitler was wrong, reactions to reactions of someone eating cake, video blogs about some dumbass parents and their baby, and liberals failing at life? Can't imagine what else you would use youtube for. Top ten best youtube videos video?
I learned a lot watching him play. Thank god for youtube, because I never would have been able to work it out just by listening to it. I love that monothump bass sound he does.
The sad fact is that every human being (we are all blues-wo/men) should feel this innately. If they don't recognize it I start a wonderin' what other species they come from.
You can not get this sound without pain in your life. If you never really struggled coming up, you could play the exact same notes but the soul would be absent. When you play the blues you bend every note with your emotions. It just comes out. You cant really sit down and write it like you could rock music. Lightnin' is one of my biggest influences and a master blues player.
There was only one Lightin', God Bless his soul ! Sadly missed and never forgotten !When I was young and learning guitar this is what I strived for , almost 60 years ago ! Still playing this style , still feeling the Blues , Still playing every day !
@@dadashaSpeak for yourself. Yes, the blues makes my blues go away because we as souls we are relating. In the song "I will play the Blues for You." it explains it. It's skin deep. And it feels oh so good.
Saw this on my first few life changing psycadelic experiences. Changed my life forever. The video that played next was by buddy guy - the first time I met the blues. My the blues be with ya
I saw him at the Esquire Show Bar in Montreal around 1970. The first set he had a drummer and bass player. He couldn't play with them so they stopped. And he played solo the rest of the night. He did 3 sets, I think. One of the best shows I ever saw.
He and so many of these bluesmen walked it like they preached it. Packed enough life into those days than we do years. Has to come from a place of unrelenting hunger.
It’s so good to see a man in command of his craft and perfectly at ease with demonstrating its execution, imagine the thousands of hours behind those skills.
ever heard of ROBERT JOHNSON , all of these Blues artist has ROBERT JOHNSON wrote all over them from head to toe and they all know it and you should too , Keith Richards knows it as well
Cause it was too contrived n not really that great of a performance period. I think a lot of you guys get so caught up in the nostalgia of it, you lose your perspective on what's really good and what's just a quip of decent/mediocre at best.
@@michaelwhitehouse5659 Wow, .....and you are? The all-knowing One :) I preferred his opinion over your um .... judgment from on high - heard plus he's a petty mean blues man himself. Hahaha you wanker!!
Directly from your warm pulsing heart to my heart, wonderful! You have been with me since my youth. A million thanks for your generosity you live forever. Please don’t go!
It's meant to be felt and dragged from the deepest part of your soul and your heart it's the most personal soul baring music ever that's why it stays with you and speaks to you
Most men and women, every generation knows the blues. Hopkins too. Old misery and wisdom recorded for generations to come. Hopkins is my brother.Thnx for this one bro.