SINCE YOU BEEN GONE
BIG MACEO
SONGWRITER: BIG MACEO
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
ALBUM: SINCE YOU BEEN GONE
SONGTEXT/78 RPM
LABEL: RCA VICTOR
GENRE: BLUES
YEAR: 1942
Major Merriweather(March
31, 1905 – February 23, 1953), better known as Big Maceo Merriweather, was an American
pianist and singer. He was mainly active in Chicago through the 1940s.
Born in Newnan, Georgia, he
was a self-taught pianist. In the 1920s, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, to
begin his music career. He moved to Chicago in 1941, where he made the
acquaintance of Tampa Red. Red introduced him to Lester Melrose of RCA Victor and
its subsidiary label Bluebird Records, who signed Merriweather to a recording
contract.
His first record was
"Worried Life Blues" (1941), which became a blues hit and remained
his signature piece. The song had elements derived from Sleepy John Estes'
"Someday, Baby". Other classic piano blues recordings followed, such
as "Chicago Breakdown", "Texas Stomp", and "Detroit
Jump". His piano style was developed from players like Leroy Carr and Roosevelt
Sykes and from the boogie-woogie style of Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons. He
in turn influenced other musicians, such as Little Johnny Jones and Henry Gray,
the latter of whom credited Merriweather with helping him launch his career as
a blues pianist.
His style influenced
practically every postwar blues pianist of note. His most famous song,
"Worried Life Blues", is a staple of the blues repertoire, with
artists such as Eric Clapton performing it regularly in concert. It was in the
first batch of songs inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the category
Classic Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks, alongside "Stormy
Monday", 'Sweet Home Chicago", "Dust My Broom", and "Hellhound
on My Trail".
Merriweather suffered a
stroke in 1946. He died of a heart attack on February 23, 1953, in Chicago and
was interred at the Detroit Memorial Cemetery, in Warren, Michigan.
His recordings for RCA
Victor/Bluebird were released as a double album, Chicago Breakdown, in 1975. They have since been reissued on
various labels.
In 2002, he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall
of Fame.
On May 3, 2008, the White
Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater, in Whitehall,
Michigan. The event
was organized by executive producer Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization
Killer Blues, to raise monies to honor Merriweather's unmarked grave with a
headstone. The concert was a success, and a headstone was placed in June 2008.
I lost a good woman
An I grieve both night and
day
I lost a good woman
An I grieve both night and
day
I catch the blues for my
baby
Ever since she's been gone
away
I'm so unhappy
Mama, when I used to be so
gay
I'm so unhappy
Baby, when I used to be so
gay
I catch the blues for my
baby
Ever since she been gone
away
I watches the sun
When it rises
Until it fades away
I watch the sun when it
rise
Until it fades away
I catch the blues for my
baby
Ever since she's been gone
away
'Yeah, boy'
Catch it long as I live
You will always hear me
sing
Just as long as I live
Mama, you will always hear
me sing
I catch the blues for my
baby
Ever since she's been gone
away.
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