Grafton, Wisconsin a furniture company made chairs and phonograph cabinets decided to start making records too subsidiary Paramount Records Charley Patton Son House Skip James Robert Johnson only recorded in San Antonio and Dallas Texas but it was all from Mississippi Patton in Edwards (Hinds County) but lived mostly in Sunflower County House in Lyon—near Clarksdale Coahoma County Son lived in Louisiana Tallulah ‘cross from Vicksburg (Warren County) and Algiers (New Orleans), Louisiana He bounced around from Centerville, Louisiana to East Saint Louis, Illinois But he came back to Lula, Mississippi (Coahoma County) Charley Patton happened to be in Lula at the same time But Skip was from Bentonia (Yazoo County) growing up near Yazoo City Robert was from Hazlehurst (Copiah County) He grew up in Memphis After a short time in Arkansas, he was back in Mississippi in Commerce (Tunica County), Robinsonville (Tunica County), and Martinsville (Copiah County). Then he ended up in Clarksdale (Coahoma County). Then he bounced around Memphis, Tennessee Helena, Arkansas Chicago Texas New York (where Son moved [Rochester]) Canada (Canada?!?) Yeah, Canada… Kentucky Indiana Saint Louis maybe even Detroit He was a rambler. Speaking of Detroit, that’s where John Lee Hooker ended up in 1943 working for Ford Motor Company He was a janitor in a Detroit steel mill when “Boogie Chillen” became a hit in 1949. [Chorus] Don’t give up. Don’t matter where you from. Don’t matter if you’re a janitor. Don’t give up. Blues you can let out your pain. Blues is catharsis. And you let it out. And move on. Don’t give up. I’ll fill your cup. You might be a guppy now but someday you might be a sea cow (that ain’t very inspiring!) …OR a dolphin! Y’all gotta let me finish the lyric before interrupting!!! The Muppets are just socks but they became big stars and they ain’t nothing without a hand up they ass. And think of those poor puppeteers—always hidden below… Never get any credit! Don’t give up. You might be lonely now, but nuptial vows might someday revive you. Heck! …Abraham was eighty-six when he had his first child. And he went on to have another at age one-hundred. And talk about late bloomers! …Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty nine when he died. Don’t give up. All you need is a puppy. You might have a ruptured spleen, but don’t give up. Sup, dawg! Hey, i’m recording in here, man… (Oh, my bad. ‘Scuse me…) As I was saying… Think of the guy who invented Tupperware: Earl Tupper. The landscaping and nursery company he started went bankrupt during the Great Depression. Did he give up? No! He went to work for DuPont and used pieces of polyethylene slag (a waste product from oil refining) which his supervisor gave him. He purified it and molded it to create Tupperware! (Then why does it say the company started in nineteen thirty eight???) Yo, shut the fuck up! I’m trying to inspire people here, ya dig? The moral of the story is that Tupper Plastics didn’t appear in hardware and department stores until AFTER the Great Depression: nineteen forty eight . See?? Y’all was premature to doubt me… AGAIN! Just let me finish the goddamn lyrics!! Dipshits…
