[chimes] ♪♪♪ The story begins in Lettsworth, Louisiana, where I was born 84 years ago.
♪♪♪ Growing up in Louisiana was very hard.
At that time, I didn't know it was as hard as it was.
My parents was sharecroppers.
We didn't have any machinery.
All we had was horses, mules, chickens, and pigs.
I mean, you couldn't see a future there.
Soon as you got big enough to chop wood or pick cotton, you started right there and you pick it by the pound.
Can you imagine how much you have to pick before it weigh enough for you to get paid?
I would be praying for rain, that it could get a little heavier with the water on the cotton.
We had a wooden house, with wooden windows and wooden doors.
We had to walk to school for miles.
We had to walk all the way from back way over there and go all the way up to those two -- -You walked all the way to Keller's Lane to go to school?
-Past Keller's Lane.
-Oh... -That's where I had to go.
Most of the white kids in Louisiana had school buses.
They used to pass us on the gravel road and the dust looked like a snowstorm.
When we'd see the bus coming, we used to run and try to get as further away from the dust that we can.
♪♪♪ I didn't know, at the time, but when I got my little flour sack and went out in the field... ♪♪♪ ...I was doing something my people had been doing ever since that Atlantic crossing, sent out on slave ships from Africa to America.
♪♪♪ Maybe that's where the blues began.
♪♪♪ Funny thing about the blues -- you play 'em because you got 'em.
But when you play 'em, you lose 'em.
If you hear 'em, if you let the music get into your soul, you won't lose 'em.
♪♪♪ The blues chase the blues away.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ It's your time right now baby ♪ Ohh but I got a feelin' it's gonna be my time ♪ ♪ After awhile ♪♪♪ ♪ I said it's your time right now baby ♪ ♪ Good Lord I believe it's gonna be my time ♪ ♪ After awhile ♪♪♪ ♪ You know you know if things don't change ♪ ♪ Little girl I do believe I'm gonna move on down the line ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ She stayed out last night ♪ And do you know she just walked in ♪ ♪ My little girl is gettin' ready ♪ ♪ She's going back out again ♪ I said wait one minute, baby ♪ ♪ Just before you go ♪ She didn't even look at me people ♪ ♪ She just turned and she just walked right on out the door ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Lord it's gonna be my time after awhile ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You know you ain't gonna change for me woman ♪ ♪ Little girl I do believe I'd better move on down the line ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I took a peep through my window ♪ ♪ And what do you think I seen?
♪ ♪ My baby sittin' beside another man ♪ ♪ In a long, long stretch limousine ♪ ♪ I said it's your time right now woman ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Lord I know it's gonna be my time after awhile ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You know if things don't change now woman ♪ ♪ Little girl I do believe I've gotta move on down the line ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Listen ♪ I just wanna talk to my baby ♪ ♪ And here's what I wanna say ♪ ♪ Go ahead and mistreat me woman ♪ ♪ But you know, every, every dog got his day ♪ ♪ I say, it's your time right now, woman ♪ ♪ Well, well ha ha ha ha ha ♪ I say, well, well, well, well ♪ ♪ Girl it's gonna be ♪ Lookee here ♪ Whaaaa!
Whaaaa girl!
♪ Ha ha ha ha ha ha ♪ Brrrrrbbbbbbbb!
♪ No, no, no, no, no, have mercy now ♪ ♪ Lookee here, you know it could be ♪ ♪ It just could be, it just could be ♪ ♪ It just might be ♪ It just might be my time after awhile ♪ ♪ Lookee here, lookee here, lookee here, ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [audience whistles and cheers] Finally, we got electricity and we picked enough cotton to get a phonograph.
My first record was "Boogie Chillen" by the great John Lee Hooker.
-♪ Boogie chillen -I would hear that "Boogie Chillen" on John Lee Hooker and I said, "Man, whatever that is," I said, "One day, I sure wish I could learn that."
♪♪♪ The only time I would see a guitar, it was Christmas.
My dad and them would go get Coot.
His name was Henry Smith, but that's a short name, like they give me the "Buddy."
♪♪♪ He would come in and play the Lonnie Johnson.
My dad would be moaning and they would be drinking a gallon of wine and this case of beer.
♪♪♪ -♪ Tomorrow night -The rest of the kids didn't pay it no mind, but something about it made me let them other kids go play and I said, "I got to watch this."
And they all would go to sleep, half drunk, and then, the rest of the kids would be out there, playing with the toys, and I'd go get his guitar and sit there and just try to figure out what I had saw him do.
And that was my first chance to get my hands on a guitar.
And my dad, he gave that same guy, which you call Coot, Henry Smith, a couple of bucks for a guitar with two strings on it.
♪♪♪ -♪ Your lips ♪ Are so tender -And I would go to sleep with that guitar in my hand.
-♪ Your heart is beating fast ♪ -And I found myself waking up one day, sounding like the "Boogie Chillen" and I had my fingers clamped in that position.
And I said, "If I move it, I never would find that again," so I just went walking.
'Cause if you go out of Lettsworth, you got to walk two or three miles to get to the next neighbor.
So, I walked because I wanted someone to hear I had found it.
And I played until my finger was almost bleeding because I was afraid to stop.
I figured, if I stopped, I would never find that note again.
But I never did forget it.
♪♪♪ It just stuck to me there.
♪ Well, my mama don't like me ♪♪♪ ♪ To stay out all night long ♪♪♪ ♪ Yeah, my mama didn't like me ♪ To stay out all night long ♪♪♪ ♪ I didn't care what she didn't like ♪ ♪ I wanted to boogie woogie, anyhow ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ One night, I was layin' down ♪ I heard Mama and Papa talkin' ♪ ♪ Heard Papa tell my Mama ♪ Let that boy boogie woogie ♪ 'Cause it's in him ♪ And it's got to come out ♪♪♪ ♪ Well, I felt so good ♪♪♪ ♪ I went on and boogie woogied just the same ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ "Boogie Chillen."
♪♪♪ ♪ Well, I felt so good ♪♪♪ ♪ I felt like boogie woogie-ing all night long ♪♪♪ ♪ Oh I feel so good ♪♪♪ ♪ I wanna boogie ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Talk to my baby on the telephone ♪ ♪ Stop what you're doin' woman and ♪ ♪ Come on home ♪ I can't hold out ♪ I can't hold out too long ♪ I get a real good feeling talking to you on the phone ♪ ♪ Said, baby don't you worry you know my heart desire ♪ ♪ You know I love you baby ♪ I don't wanna see you cry ♪ I can't hold out ♪ I can't hold out too long ♪ A real good feeling people I'm just ♪ ♪ Talking to you on the phone ♪ Oh yeah ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Baby don't you worry ♪ You walk or fly ♪ You know I love you baby ♪ I don't wanna see you cry ♪ I can't hold out ♪ I can't hold out too long ♪ I get a real good feeling ♪ Talking to you on the telephone ♪ ♪♪♪ I came to Chicago September the 25th, 1957.
♪♪♪ -You know, a lot of these cats migrated from the South and it was kind of a more acoustic sound and they got to the city and needed to be heard.
People started becoming electrified.
That, right there, changed the course of music to this day.
-I arrived there about 11:26 that night.
For some reason, I can't never forget that.
You could walk a block and you would pass like five blues clubs with five bands in it.
And they were sounding so good.
♪♪♪ There wasn't no cover charge at no blues club when I came here.
♪♪♪ But you must buy a drink when you went in there and I didn't even drink, [ Laughing ] at the time.
So, I had to go in and buy a bottle of beer and set it on the bar just to hear them play, and I did that 'til I got broke.
♪♪♪ Chicago had Chess Records -- Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf.
I guess the Chess Brothers just had that thing.
They had all they needed.
They just figured, "I don't need nothing else, now.
I got the top four blues guys in Chicago, so don't bring me nothing else."
So, our chances of getting in there were slim to none.
♪♪♪ There was a disc jockey in Baton Rouge by the name of Diggy Doo and he was telling me I was good enough to make a record.
And he made a demo and wrote a note.
He said, "Go to Chess and tell them I sent you."
And I did.
When I walked into Chess, they saw my guitar, which was a Les Paul, and they had a session with the late Wayne Bennett.
They just took my guitar and put it right in the session.
♪ Louisiana to I took the demo to Leonard... ♪♪♪ ...but he never did listen to it.
So, I left, bummed around, and got broke.
And, at that point, I wasn't looking to become a musician.
I wanted to go to work during the day and go out at night and listen to the greats.
♪♪♪ I was hoping to send money back down to Louisiana.
I really looked and looked and looked, but I never found a day job and I got stranded.
I've always been proud... ♪♪♪ ...even as a young man.
♪♪♪ Five or six months after I arrived, pride had me straight up starving.
♪♪♪ I was flat broke, walking the streets of the South Side with my guitar, thinking of borrowing a dime to call my dad for a ticket home.
♪♪♪ I was ready to swallow my pride.
I got stranded for three days with no food.
Finally, a stranger met me on the street after I played a Jimmy Reed song and took me to this famous blues club, 708 Club on 47th Street.
Otis Rush was playing.
And this guy knew I could play the little "Boogie Chillen," a few licks by BB King, and he said, "Hey, I got a young MF here can play BB King and Muddy Waters."
Otis Rush said, "Bring him up."
So, when I went up, I hadn't ate, this was my third day without food, man, 'cause I was busted.
And I played Guitar Slim, "Things I Used to Do," and I think it was "Sweet Little Angel" by BB King.
And I was telling people I was hungry and people would say, "Oh, man, you not hungry, not the way you can play."
And somebody called Muddy Waters.
He was living on Lake Park, which was about eight blocks away.
So, I picked up my guitar, walked outside the club, and there was this red station wagon and out steps Muddy.
And he said, "You got to play.
They done got me out of my bed to come hear you play and I heard you were hungry."
And I said, "If you Muddy Waters, I'm not hungry."
And he started laughing and made me a salami sandwich.
And he laughed and made me this great salami sandwich and made me eat it and told me, "Don't ever think about going back to Louisiana."
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ The first time I met the blues ♪ People, I was walkin' Down through the woods ♪♪♪ ♪ The first time I met the blues ♪ People, I was walkin' Down through the woods ♪♪♪ ♪ You know, the blues got After me ♪ People, you know didn't do me They didn't do me no good ♪♪♪ ♪ The blues got after me ♪ People, you know they ran me from tree to tree ♪♪♪ ♪ The blues got after me ♪ People, you know they ran me from tree to tree ♪♪♪ ♪ I began to worry And I asked him ♪ Mister Blues What you doin' to me?
♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Good morning, Mister Blues ♪ I want to know what you're Doing here so soon ♪♪♪ ♪ Hey, I said good morning Mister Blues ♪ ♪ I want to know What the hell you're doing ♪ Here so soon ♪♪♪ ♪ You know you'll be here With me every early morning ♪♪♪ ♪ And the late In the afternoon ♪ ♪♪♪ You was just playing for the love of music because I had to go to work in the daytime.
I was driving a tow truck... ♪♪♪ ...and playing the music at night.
♪♪♪ I kept my guitar in the tow truck, so, whenever the opportunity came, I said I had my guitar, in case somebody wanted me to play.
♪♪♪ -His road was just so filled with lefts and rights and backups and breakdowns and, finally get there, it takes a lot of endurance.
It takes a lot of hard knocks to create this thing.
♪♪♪ Somehow, that sound, it creeped over across the ocean.
Those guys in England, they were listening to the guitar work he was doing behind people.
Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck, those guys were listening.
♪♪♪ And, when he came over on some small tour, they all showed up.
"That's the guy.
That's the sound."
-At that time, I'd just taken a vacation from my day job and went over there, just to make sure I'd go to England and some places like that in my lifetime.
I never dreamed I would be traveling the world over with my music.
But I went to England in 1965, February 1965, and I played with a group called The Yardbirds.
Which, Eric Clapton told me, that's the first time he saw me play a Strat.
And, when I met Eric Clapton, he said he slept in a van -- him and Beck and Jimmy Page -- to see me play.
And I think I threw the guitar up in London and caught it and they told me I caught it in the same key and I don't even remember that.
[ Chuckle ] -I first saw Buddy when I was about 18 years old.
I heard he was on at the Marquee Club in London and I went to see him when he was there.
And he was young and he was in this silk suit, sharp as anything, and it was -- phew!
It was an unbelievable experience for me.
I'll never forget it.
And he played that Strat, which was unusual in itself.
-Some of my friends in England didn't know the Strat could play the blues, until they saw me in England in 1965.
-And, when I saw him play the Strat, that was it.
I was playing a Les Paul and I put it in its case and I went out and started looking for some Strats [ Laughs ] like Buddy's.
♪♪♪ -Chess Records didn't want me to turn up that volume, but the British turned it up with those big Marshall amplifiers.
In England, they said, "Bring it on."
So, the British was ready for whatever we had if it sounded good.
America wasn't ready for it.
♪♪♪ [ Projector clacks ] -If it was not for those guys, I don't think you'd be interviewing me now, man.
Those guys -- Clapton, Beck, and the Rolling Stones, and all those people like that kept mentioning my name, and that brought me up better than any record I ever made.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Well now, ooh wee, baby, woman ♪ ♪ I declare you sure look fine ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa wee, baby, honey you sure look fine ♪ ♪ Well, a girl like you ♪ Has made many a-man change his mind ♪ ♪ I said baby, when you walk, woman ♪ ♪ You know you shake up like a willow tree, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh baby, when you walk, woman ♪ ♪ You know you shake up like a willow tree ♪ ♪ Well, a girl like you, woman ♪ Would just love to make a fool of me ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Ain't it a pity ♪ Texas ain't this just a God--- cryin' shame ♪ Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that like that.
[audience laughter] ♪ Ain't this a pity ♪ People let me tell you this a darn cryin' shame ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ She wait 'til it got to below nine zero ♪ ♪ And she kicked me out for another man ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I gave her all my money ♪ Texas, I gave her all my lovin' and everything ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Yes I gave her all my money ♪ All my lovin' and everything ♪♪♪ ♪ She wait 'til it got to nine below zero ♪ ♪ Then she put me down for another man ♪ ♪♪♪ Yeah!
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -What I love is these Buddy stories where he'll just sort of... almost the verbal equivalent of showing a home movie of his life on the road with one artist or another.
And ask him to tell you the John Lee Hooker story.
It's great.
-The first time I went to Germany was in Baden-Baden, Germany, with Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, and many more.
I wanted to meet John Lee Hooker, but I didn't know he stutters, 'cause he never did stutter when he sang.
And they was downstairs eating a big breakfast and they was drinkin' whiskey like it was milk in the mornings.
I heard somebody over there stuttering, "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba," I said, "Well, I definitely don't want to meet him, 'cause I ain't gonna never understand what he's saying."
So, I just picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing "Boogie Chillen."
And here come this guy, "Ba-ba ba ba-ba-ba-ba, what you doing?"
And I almost got pissed off.
I said, "Nothing, man."
I said, "I just want to meet John Lee."
He just started laughing so tears come out his eye, and said, "Da-da-da-da da-da, I'm Johnny."
I said, "I don't want to meet no damn Johnny.
I want to meet John Lee Hooker."
And oh, boy, he just fell down on his knees and laughed.
And finally, Big Mama came up, she started to laugh.
She said, "Buddy, that's John Lee Hooker."
I said, "That's who?!
John Lee Hooker stuttering like that?"
I say, "He don't sound like that when he's singing."
'Cause I didn't never dream of, you know, how John Lee Hooker -- I was in Lettsworth, Louisiana, still picking the cotton when he came up with that "Boogie Chillen," and then when I'm saying, "Wonder what he look like."
I didn't have a picture of him or nothing, "Wonder what Muddy Waters look like."
And all of a sudden, man, I went to dreaming and woke up and I had done met 'em all.
And I'm, like, saying, "I don't care if I ever get a chance to make a record or nothing.
I done met the people who I admired the most as a musician."
-You got to understand, like... People who listen to guitar players, who play guitar, do it alone in a room for thousands of hours.
So, to have "spent my time," quote-unquote, with Buddy Guy for 10 years before I ever met him, in a room with his pictures on the wall -- 'Cause I bought all these guitar magazines, and you'd occasionally get a picture of Buddy Guy.
You could cut the pictures out, put 'em on the wall.
Bought another book because some of the pictures were on the other side of the page that I used to put on the wall, so I bought two of 'em, because that was my shrine.
And you go to school and you get beat up and you go, "That's alright.
I'm going home, I'mma play with Buddy Guy after this."
And that -- And in that way, it saves your life, you know.
-It's been my life, you know, it's been a blessing for me to be able to pay homage and to turn people on to where our music came from.
It didn't just, uh, fall out the trees, you know.
-The unwritten rule as set forth by our sort of musical ancestors is you owe it to the people who inspired you to make a direct line between them and the audience, who goes, "I don't know what this is, but I love it when you do it."
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Buddy, ain't it smooth ♪ And it goes down real nice ♪ Costs two hunderd dollars a bottle ♪ ♪ And that's a damn good price ♪ I'm talking 'bout cognac ♪ Liquid gold in every sip ♪♪♪ ♪ Let's play some blues ♪ while we take a little nip ♪♪♪ ♪ Now reefer make me mellow [audience laughs] ♪ and whiskey make me wild ♪ But a double shot of Remy Martin cognac ♪ ♪ Man, let's get high in style ♪ I'm talking 'bout cognac ♪ It comes on you kind of strong ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You know if the late Muddy Waters was here with me ♪ ♪ That bottle would be ten times gone ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Let me tell you about this woman ♪ ♪ When she get enough right ♪ Give me a double shot of XO ♪ And Lord, I can rocket right ♪ I'm talking 'bout cognac ♪ It goes right to my head ♪ You know it won't kill the living ♪ ♪ You know it won't even try to raise the dead ♪ ♪♪♪ The legendary Buddy Guy, y'all.
How 'bout it.
Yeah!
[audience cheering, applause] -Stevie Ray Vaughan, um, did to music what, um, Michael Jordan did for basketball.
Stevie, uh, brought blues alive at a crucial moment, so far as I'm concerned.
[ "Mary Had a Little Lamb" playing ] ♪♪♪ -Stevie, when he popped up, you know, he helped me a lot, too, 'cause he recorded a couple of songs I had wrote, like, uh, "Little Nursery Rhyme" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
-♪ Mary had a little lamb -♪ Its fleece was black as coal, yeah ♪ -And -- And one of the... one of the things that made goose pimples come on me, every time someone would ask him about it, it was almost like when the Rolling Stones came in.
They say it's new music -- they said, "No, this is Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters' music," when they was putting them on television.
And he would go back and tell you, "This is Stevie Ray Vaughan, but I'm playing a Buddy Guy song."
White America was asking, "Who's that?"
♪♪♪ -I remember Stevie talking about "Mary Had a Little Lamb" being a Buddy Guy song.
Okay, remember the name Buddy Guy.
You know, put that in the "we got to find more about this guy" list.
'Cause if Stevie liked him and Stevie was playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and that was cool, then we got to find the guy who did all that.
Because if we can find Buddy Guy, we can find more of this music.
-But he let the public know, "This is not Stevie's music.
This -- I'm playing what I learned from," and that's what we all do.
♪♪♪ -You know, it was very sad because, uh, the last time I saw him was the night he perished.
And, uh, we played together in... outside of Chicago.
-Eric Clapton came and told me they wanted me to come up and see the show and sit in with him.
And I flew with Eric and I think a couple of his members on that chopper.
Stevie had drove up there with his brother.
When we got ready to come back, all the fog had come in.
And I'm like, "Well, it's a chopper -- it's going straight up."
But they tell me they can't go straight up, say they -- they fly it like this.
So, I'm sitting there with my fists tight when we -- when we finished and finally it broke out of the fog and I could see the highway with all this traffic, you know, and I said, "Thank God we got outta there."
And they had asked me to fix a gumbo at my house like this in the morning -- Stevie, Eric, and all of 'em was coming to my house wanting me to cook.
Might have been Eric Clapton on the phone -- I said, "What he want?
He must be wanting me to buy something, get something extra.
And he come and said, "You know Stevie's dead?"
"What do you mean, Stevie's dead?"
"One of the choppers went down."
'Cause he wasn't even supposed to be on there.
A guy decided to not come back, and they ran back in and told Stevie there was a empty seat on the chopper going to Chicago, and they're gonna go to Buddy Guy's club before it close.
And then they were gonna come out here the next morning when I fix the gumbo for 'em.
-But that night, you know, was the -- obviously, the last time I heard him, when it was the best I ever heard him play.
-'Cause he was a happy kid that night, man.
Every time a note would hit, he would come up to me and say, "That's some of your stuff."
He was so...
He brought so much to this music that it would take me, uh, longer than I got time to explain to you what he did.
[ Projector clacks ] ♪♪♪ -So, I was beginning to understand how these things were connected.
But that's...
I still only had Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, so now I had to go get some Buddy Guy music.
And I think around that time, uh, "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues" came out.
-I always enjoyed how he did those opening licks on that song.
So, like, yeah, when I had first popped in the CD, you know, first thing -- I got an acoustic with me -- but the first thing, you know, you hear this, you know.
♪♪♪ Then he does... then he does the whole Albert King, like, uh, been doing it.
♪♪♪ -♪ Do-do-do-do-duh-do, do-do-do-do-do-do ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -♪ Oh, you damn right I got the blues ♪ [ Crowd cheering ] ♪ From my head down, down to my shoes ♪ ♪ Damn right, damn right, damn right, damn right ♪ ♪ Damn right, damn right, I got the blues ♪ ♪ Ya know, I can't win ♪ 'Cause I don't have a, a thing to lose ♪ ♪ Lookie here Make it so funky they can smell it!
-I won a Grammy for "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues."
Which was my first one.
And... [ Chuckles ] I think I got eight or nine now.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Oh, you damn right I got the blues ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ From my head to my shoes ♪ Ow, you damn right I got the blues ♪ ♪ From my head down to my shoes ♪ ♪ You know I can't win ♪ 'cause I ain't got a dog-gone thing to lose ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I stopped by my daughter's house ♪ ♪ all I wanted to do was to use the phone ♪ ♪ Yes, I stopped by my daughter's house ♪ ♪ all I wanted to do was to use the phone ♪ ♪ You know my little grandbaby came to the door ♪ ♪ and said, "Granddaddy" ♪ "you know ain't nobody home" Jimmy, you know what I'm talking about, now.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Damn right, I got the blues ♪ I got the blues!
♪ Mmmmm... ♪ Mmm-hmmmm... Yeah.
♪ You damn right [laughs] You damn right ♪ ♪ Oh, I got the blues Lookie here.
♪♪♪ ♪ I got the blues!
[audience cheering, applause] It was the thrill of my life.
Man, I still can't sit here and believe...
I have eight or nine Grammys, and I -- I don't believe it.
And who would dream that picking cotton with a cotton sack on my shoulder, saying, "One day, I'm gonna play in the White House."
You couldn't even think of that.
That couldn't even cross your mind.
But I did.
I accept that because if it wasn't for the Muddys, the T-Bones, the Lonnie Johnsons, and all the people I learned my stuff from, I don't know if I'd have made it.
So, I owe that credit to them.
And I will take that to my grave, saying these people left me with something that I went to the White House with.
Left this road where I could travel to come through.
♪♪♪ -Today, they're naming the road that Buddy Guy grew up on -- they're naming it after him.
He did travel a long way, and he's traveled all over the world.
And he's had these awards at the Kennedy Center and the Presidential awards and Rock & Roll of Fame and Grammys and all these wonderful things.
But I really think this means a lot to him.
Because it's where he started and where his -- his family and his friends were, and so he's kinda going back home.
-Buddy's legacy is a guy who gave his entire life to the music that he loved, regardless of his level of success with it at any given time.
Success has come in and out of Buddy Guy's life, and he has never changed his approach to the music that he plays.
He was doing it when it wasn't cool, and he was doing it when it was the biggest thing that people were throwing money at to sign.
And when we live in such a world where you -- the success you're having at a thing is your indicator of whether you should keep doing it, I would advise you take a look at Buddy Guy's career, where sometimes he would go 8, 10 years without a record label.
But every single night, plugging in and playing like his life depended on it.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Have you ever been mistreated?
♪♪♪ ♪ You know what I'm talking about ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Have you ever been mistreated?
♪ You... ♪ You know just what I'm talking about ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I worked five long years for one woman ♪ ♪ She had the nerve to put me out ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I got a job at a steel mill ♪ chain steel just like a slave ♪ Five long years every Friday I go ♪ ♪ straight home with all my pay ♪ And I've been mistreated ♪ You know what I'm talking about ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ She had the nerve to put me out ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ The woman I love ♪ Johnny... She kind of big and fat ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ Yes, the woman I love ♪ Texas... ♪ She kind of big and fat.
[audience cheering] ♪ You can laugh if you want to, man ♪ ♪ but let me tell you... ♪ Ooh... it's kind of good like that [laughs] ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ Now one leg is in the East ♪ Texas, that other leg was in the West ♪ ♪ Yes, one leg was in the East, Mmm-hmmm ♪ ♪ That other leg was in the West ♪ Yeah.
Lookie here.
♪ You know I was right down in the middle ♪ ♪ Tryin' to do my best Johnny, you got to play me something else.
Play me something else, man.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You know I love you [audience cheering] ♪ And I would play all night if you let me, too ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ You know-- Y'all got me feeling good!
[audience cheering] ♪ Mmm-hmmm...
Played that list funky, tonight.
♪ I'm a King Bee ♪ And I can buzz around your hive ♪ ♪ I'm a King Bee ♪ And I can bu-u-u-zz around your hive ♪ ♪ You know I can buzz a little better, baby if you let me... ♪ ♪ You got to let me come inside ♪ [audience cheering] Wait a minute, now.
Wait, wait.
Hold it, hold it, hold it now.
Now wait a minute, now.
That was a song [chuckles] by a great harmonica player in Louisiana called Slim Harpo.
He wrote that I didn't write that.
[audience laughing] I'm just singing it like he wrote it.
'Cause y'all looking at me, "Now that's a dirty old man."
"The oldest man on this show gonna come up here and talk that --- " [audience cheering] You want to hear some more of that?
I can't hear you, you want to hear some more?
[audience cheering] Yeah!
♪ I'm a King Bee ♪ And I can buzz all night long ♪ Shucks.
♪ I'm a King Bee ♪ Texas, I can buzz all night long ♪ ♪ You know I can buzz much better, baby if you let-- ♪ ♪ When you're man is not at home ♪ [audience cheering] Let me play a little-- ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb"] [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [audience cheering] ♪♪♪ -And ladies and gentlemen, I've been around the world.
I thought playing in the White House was my favorite thing, but I think coming home is the best.
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪ I was born in Louisiana ♪ And at the age of 2 ♪ My mama told my papa ♪♪♪ ♪ "I think that little boy's got the blues" ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You know, I was born to play the guitar ♪ ♪ And the blues run through my vein ♪ ♪♪♪ To come back here and look at that levee, and knew some years ago, I was sitting up on top of that levee with a guitar, hoping one day somebody would say, "I hear that, lemme go see what it sound like," but that wasn't the case.
I was ran out the house 'cause I was making too much noise.
♪ Women in Chicago ♪ They love me to the bone ♪ But love for my guitar ♪ Keep me a long way From home ♪ Now I got the blues ♪ TOM: Of those greats that started this music... ♪ I've got the blues Running through my veins ♪ ...he's one of the last remaining guys.
I do think Buddy feels the weight of that.
I think he feels a responsibility to make sure the blues doesn't die.
♪ You know, I was born To play this here guitar ♪ Now let me show you How to break my string ♪ BUDDY: To keep the blues alive, the young people got to come along.
And music or whatever else you do, somebody has got to come along.
You need young people like Kingfish.
The next best that's going to be out there.
John Mayer.
All good friends of mine and you know... Gary Clark Jr. Great.
These are young people that I got my fingers crossed, that like B.B.
King and Muddy Waters said before they passed to me, "Hope they can help me keep these blues alive."
♪♪♪ ♪ I got six strings loaded ♪ On my bad machine ♪ Show me the money ♪ And I can make This thing scream ♪ ♪ I'm gonna keep on playin' ♪ Until my dying day ♪ And a polka-dot guitar Will be resting ♪ ♪ On my grave ♪ Now I got a reputation ♪ And everybody knows my name ♪♪♪ ♪ You know I was born To play this here guitar ♪ ♪ I'm going to play this thing Till it's a cryin' shame ♪ ♪♪♪ And on my last day, I will have a smile on my face if they keep it alive.
[BIRDS CHIRPING] ♪ ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You damn right I've got the blues ♪ ♪ From my head down to my shoes ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You damn right I've got the blues ♪ ♪ From my head down to my shoes ♪ ♪♪♪
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