Alan Govenar by Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life, Blues Read Free Book Online Page A

Lightnin’ was paid $150, to “perform and make recordings … as stipulated in the regular artist’s contract,” which gave Quinn “sole and exclusive” rights. Apparently, Lightnin’s contract with Aladdin had already expired, as Aladdin never challenged Quinn and there are no records of lawsuits ever being filed. Aladdin did, however, continue to release Lightnin’s records into the early 1950s.
    After Lightnin’s last recording for Aladdin on February 25, 1948, Quinn produced as many records with him as he could. However, unbeknownst to Quinn, Lightnin’ frequently claimed to have written songs that were in fact covers, such as “Baby, Please Don’t Go” by Big Joe Williams, who recorded it twice (1935 and 1945) prior to Lightnin’s Gold Star release. 40
    Quinn never seemed to question the origins of Lightnin’s songs, but instead focused on producing the best possible recordings. According to Texas Johnny Brown, who went to a couple of sessions, “Quinn knew that studio A&R part. He didn’t have too many people working with him. Matter of fact, he did most of that set up part himself in his own place. Lightnin’ would sing a whole song with all sort of things without you ever knowing what the title of it was…. If he come up with a word that matched pretty good and it sound like he could do something with it, he’d start playing and make a song out of it. There was no reworking or rehearsing. Turn your machine on and let him go.” 41 Lightnin’ played amplified guitar for all his sessions with Quinn, except on Gold Star 634—the guitar in both “Walking Blues” and “Lightnin’ Blues,” recorded in March 1948, sounds acoustic.
    During Lightnin’s sessions for Quinn in 1949 and 1950, he recorded more than twenty sides. Of these, “Unsuccessful Blues (Can’t Be Successful)” and “Zolo Go” were standouts. “Unsuccessful Blues,” Quinn told Chris Strachwitz, was not planned as part of the session, but was made after Lightnin’ found out that his wife had already collected money from Quinn as an advance payment for recording it. So, as an afterthought, he went back into the studio and made up this song on the spot, accompanied by the jazz band that was assembling for the next session. 42
    Boy, you know, I went down to my boss man’s house
That’s where everybody’s getting paid
You know, my wife’s been down there
Takin’ up all in this world that I’ve made
You know I turned around and went back home
With my mouth all poked out
She had even nerve enough to go ask
“Lightnin’, what is all this bull corn about?”
And I told her, “Can’t be successful, no matter how I tried”
    In the curiously titled song “Zolo Go,” Lightnin’ made it clear that he was aware of the music of the growing Louisiana Creole population in Houston’s Fifth Ward. The word
zologo
was apparently Quinn’s misunderstanding of Lightnin’s pronunciation of the word
zydeco,
because in his introduction, which was omitted from the 78 rpm record but was included on the original acetate (and appears on the Arhoolie reissue of the song), Lightnin’ explained: “Let’s zydeco a little while for you folk / You know, young and old likes that.” “Zolo Go” is the only recording in which Lightnin’ mimicked the sound of the accordion, as he accompanied himself on an electric Hammond organ.
    Quinn’s recordings of Lightnin’ were remarkably well done, given the limitations of recording technology and duplication. Andy Bradley, a recording engineer and co-owner of SugarHill Studios 43 (the current incarnation of Gold Star) speculates, “With the case of Lightnin’, Quinn parked one … omni-directional microphone in front of him to capture both the guitar and his voice. Probably a foot away from his