GUITAR SLIM
The Things That I Used to Do
A winding road took Eddie Lee Jones from a childhood working in the cotton fields of Mississippi, to local nightclubs during his teenage years where he made tip money as a dancer, to Army duty during the final year of World War II, to studio work as a guitarist, recordings of his own and finally a hit record at the age of 27. "The Things That I Used to Do" was credited to Guitar Slim (a nickname that has overshadowed the one given at birth). The song was one of many originals, as he composed nearly all his own material. A dynamic blues vocal recording with simple-but-stark lyrics ('...I knew all along, darling...that you was hid out with your other man...'), it became a long-running number one rhythm and blues hit in 1954, one of the best-selling singles of the 1950s in the R&B marketplace. It would seem Eddie was poised for greatness, but no further hits materialized. Worse yet, he died less than five years later. Yet he retains a degree of notoriety for influencing countless blues musicians and singers.
Raised by his grandmother in and around the town of Greenwood, Mississippi, where cotton was the main trade, Eddie was no stranger to working hard in the fields. At about the age of 15 he started hanging around various bars, making extra money as a dancer; his quick moves never failed to gather a crowd and before long, people began calling him "Rubber Legs" and "Limber Leg Eddie." Soon he took up the electric guitar and was a quick learner, but with World War II raging at the time of his 18th birthday in '44, he signed up for service and caught the tail end of the war. Discharged in 1946, he picked up where he'd left off, gaining a following playing clubs in Arkansas and Louisiana. Inspired by axe man Robert Nighthawk (who'd spent some time in Mississippi during Eddie's youth) and Texan Gatemouth Brown, he eventually landed in New Orleans.
Cosimo Matassa's J&M studio immediately drew him in and regular stints as a session player started in 1949. An opportunity to lay down some of his own compositions resulted in four sides produced in the spring of 1951 by New Orleans native Alvin E. Young (who cowrote all four with Eddie). Released by Imperial Records over the next year, the first disc was credited to Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones and his Playboys, with the latter labeled as Guitar Slim and his Band. All the tracks were raw but effective, "Woman Troubles" a forecast, perhaps, of things to come. A third single, "Feelin' Sad," a secular song with a gospel flavor, was recorded in Nashville that year with longtime country producer Jim Bulleit, who issued it on his J-B label as Eddie (Guitar Slim) Jones; the following year, Ray Charles covered the song on Atlantic Records, giving Guitar Slim his first real taste of royalty money.
In '53 an upstart, teenage keyboard player from New Orleans showed up at Cosimo's; Eddie took a liking to Huey Smith and gave him an obvious nickname, "Piano," as he preferred to identify musicians by their instruments (like he'd done himself). That October, Johnny Vincent (doing A&R for Specialty Records at the time) produced Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do," which featured Charles on piano. Vincent convinced Specialty owner Art Rupe, who wasn't impressed with the track, to release it, though Rupe assured him he would be fired if the record stiffed. Entering the R&B charts in January, the musical lament spent six weeks on top of the best seller lists and topped the juke box charts for a full three months. The flip, "Well, I Done Got Over It," an A-side-worthy performance, likely added to the record's eventual million-selling status. Vincent's job was secure...but he left Specialty anyway and started his own Ace Records operation in Jackson, Mississippi; Huey (Piano) Smith went with him and, with his band The Clowns, became one of the company's most popular acts.
Slim's demand increased a hundredfold. Soon he could be seen swaggering across stages, wearing colorful, expensive suits and wielding his guitar like a weapon, cranking his amps to distorted levels while wandering through the crowds (and sometimes out to the street) thanks to the use of a 300-foot extension cord. His showmanship inspired many blues greats to come, including Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and even Jimi Hendrix. And the female fans...well, many of them were excited and aroused beyond all reason. He'd become a major star, if just for the moment. Women and liquor were his to command and enjoy. And they would bring his downfall sooner than he could imagine.
"The Story of My Life," confronting a miserable existence (the opposite of his then-current situation), was the follow-up to his smash single. Other releases throughout 1954 and '55, nearly all written by Slim, frequently took a relationship-gone-wrong tone ("Later For You Baby," "You're Gonna Miss Me"), while others were simply down-and-out blues ("Sufferin' Mind"). But none caught on. In early 1956 he left Specialty for Atlantic, turning out four singles for the company's Atco imprint over the next two years. These efforts had more prominent orchestra backing and noticeably increased reverb, though his vocals and playing style were basically business-as-usual. The label put a big push on "If I Should Lose You" in the summer of '57, but the results came out the same: he just couldn't get another song onto the charts.
He would certainly have had many more chances to make records and continue to dazzle onstage...but those out-of-control excesses quickly caught up with him. Doctors issued warnings. He continued partying hard. In a weakened state, Eddie Jones contracted pneumonia and died in February 1959 at just 32 years of age. A great loss, considering how effortless his singing and playing appeared to be. Still, his influence remains. The classic strains of Guitar Slim's "Things" lives on in the spirit of blues guitar music.
