BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON "KEEP YOUR LAMP TRIMMED & BURNING"

	£		26
	$		34

YOU DON'T SEE THESE ON eBaY EVERY DAY!!!!

A ULTRA RARE COPY OF THIS WONDERFUL GOSPEL/BLUES 78 FROM BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON

KEEP YOUR LAMPS TRIMMED AND BURNING

b/w  LORD I JUST CAN'T KEEP FROM CRYING

"Blind" Willie Johnson (January 22, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American singer and guitarist whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals. While the lyrics of all of his songs were religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. Among musicians, he is considered one of the greatest slide or bottleneck guitarists, as well as one of the most revered figures of depression-era gospel music. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly false-bass voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice.

Blind Willie Johnson was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas (before the discovery of his death certificate, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace). When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher, and then made himself a cigar box guitar. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried soon after her death.

Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie's father, but into the face of young Willie.

It is thought that Johnson was married twice, first to a woman with the same first name, Willie B Harris, and later to a young singer named Angeline, who was the sister of blues guitarist L.C. Robinson. No marriage certificates have yet been discovered. As Angeline Johnson often sang and performed with him, the first person to attempt to research his biography, Samuel Charters, made the mistake of assuming it was Angeline who had sung on several of Johnson's records. However, later research showed that it was Johnson's first wife.

Johnson remained poor until the end of his life, preaching and singing in the streets of Beaumont, Texas to anyone who would listen. A city directory shows that in 1944, a Rev W J Johnson, undoubtedly Blind Willie, operated the House of Prayer at 1440 Forrest Street, Beaumont, Texas.[3] This is the same address listed on Blind Willie's death certificate. In 1945, his home burned to the ground. With nowhere else to go, Johnson lived in the burned ruins of his home, sleeping on a wet bed in the August/September Texas heat. He lived like this until he contracted malaria and died.

His father would often leave him on street corners to sing for money, where his powerful voice left an indelible impression on passers-by. Legend has it that he was arrested for nearly starting a riot at a New Orleans courthouse with a powerful rendition of "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down", a song about Samson and Delilah. According to Samuel Charters, however, he was simply arrested while singing for tips in front of a Custom House, by a police officer who misconstrued the title lyric and mistook it for incitement.

Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930. On some of these recordings Johnson uses a fast rhythmic picking style, while on others he plays slide guitar. According to a reputed one-time acquaintance, Blind Willie McTell (1898-1959), Johnson played with a brass ring, although other sources cite him using a knife. However, in enlargement, the only known photograph of Johnson seems to show that there is an actual bottleneck on the little finger of his left hand. While his other fingers are apparently fretting the strings, his little finger is extended straight--which also suggests there is a slide on it as well.

Some of Johnson's most famous recordings include "In My Time of Dying" (identified as "Jesus Make up My Dying Bed" on his recordings), the stirring "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine", his rendition of the famous gospel song "Let Your Light Shine On Me", as well as the raw, powerful "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground", where he sings in wordless hum and moans about the crucifixion of Jesus. This song was a "moaning" piece related to the Bentonia school of blues practiced by such "eerie voiced" artists as Skip James and Robert Johnson. On 14 of his recordings he is accompanied by Willie B Harris or an as-yet-unidentified female singer. This group of recordings includes "Church I'm Fully Saved Today", "John the Revelator", "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond", and "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning".

DISC DETAILS:-

US COLUMBIA 14425-D  10" 78rpm SHELLAC

CONDITION -  FAIR    plays reasonably clear without skips or repeats but surface scratches - especially at the beginning of each side - cause a fair amount of background noise - the labels are much duller than the pictures suggest as the gold appears to be exagurated by the ebay picture system.

 AN ULTRA RARE BLUES 78!

A LITTLE PIECE OF MUSIC HISTORY!

    DON'T MISS IT - BID NOW!!

On 31-Jan-07 at 14:38:06 GMT, seller added the following information:

POSTAGE STUFF

I LIKE TO BE AS HELPFUL AS I CAN SO DO CALL ME ON 01223 872 937  IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION OR A PROBLEM

I AM HAPPY TO OFFER A POSTAGE REBATE  FOR EVERY EXTRA 78rpm RECORD BOUGHT THAT GOES IN THE SAME POSTAL PACKET

10" 78 RPM RECORDS NEED CAREFULLY PACKING, AND I CLAIM TO HAVE THE BEST PACKAGING IN THE WORLD FOR DISPATCHING THEM!!

 THE GREG'S GREAT'S SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A SPECIALLY DESIGNED INNER BOX MADE OUT OF 1" THICK POLYSTYRENE, WHICH THEN GOES INSIDE A DOUBLE CORREGATED STIFF OUTER CARDBOARD CARTON. THE BOXES CAN TAKE UP TO 21 RECORDS,

USUALLY FOR MAILING OVERSEAS, I RECOMMEND NO MORE THAN 7 IN A BOX, OTHERWISE IT GOES OVER THE AIRMAIL SMALL PACKET MAXIMUM WEIGHT OF 2Kgs WHICH CAUSES A LARGE HIKE IN POSTAL RATES.

I PACK VERY VERY SAFELY BUT I AM NOT FAST!!

MY STANDARD DISPATCH TIME IS TEN WORKING DAYS!

I SEND OUT ON AVERAGE ABOUT 30 PARCELS A WEEK AND DISPATCH IS NORMALLY DONE ONCE A WEEK - 

IF YOU REALLY HAVE AN URGENT REQUIREMENT FOR THE RECORD - BIRTHDAY PRESENT, WEDDING, FUNERAL etc PLEASE TELL ME AND I WILL DO MY BEST TO GET IT OUT FOR YOU URGENTLY.

IF A RECORD ARRIVES CRACKED OR BROKEN DESPITE MY BEST EFFORTS WITH THIS FANTASTIC PACKAGING I WILL REFUND THE MONEY IN FULL. - JUST SEND ME A QUICK SCAN - IF IT IS A VERY RARE RECORD I MAY ASK YOU TO SEND IT BACK OTHERWISE IT WILL BE YOURS TO KEEP OR DISPOSE OF