Original subtitles

Once I had a pretty little girl

I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

Once I had a pretty little girl

I lose my baby, ain't that sad?

You know you can't Spend what you ain't got

You can't lose What you ain't never had

Well you know you can't Spend what you ain't got

You can't lose What you ain't never had

Yeah, it's three miles up.

Memphis 17.

- Y'all ready to have a good time? - Yeah!

Hey, we want to thank...

- Bobby Rush. - Larry.

Everyone who came out to the show tonight.

How are you?

Featuring Bobby Rush, himself. Are y'all ready for Bobby Rush?

- Yeah. Oh, yeah! - Bobby Rush!

I said are you all ready for Bobby Rush?

Yeah. Yes, sir.

If you have never seen this man before. Get ready.

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and welcome to the stage...

the one and only, Bad, Bobby...

Rush!

The superstar...

is Bad Bobby Rush!

Super Bad...

Bobby Rush.

Super... He's the best.

I ain't stuttin' ya'

Ladies and gentleman the one and only. The Grammy nominated, Bobby Rush.

- Lookin' Sharp! - Give it to 'em, Bobby!

Blues night.

I thought, I

Tit for tat

If you give away your doll I will sell some of my cap

She said Hey, Bobby Rush

What you got will never Never do

She said what good Father goose she said

There's good father

Y'all know who I am by now Let me tell you.

My name is Bobby Rush. And I been doing this 49 years.

250, 300 shows a year.

I've been off work six weeks I think, in 41 years.

That make me be either hungry...

crazy, or in love with the music.

So when you get back to California...

tell them to come to Mississippi if you want to hear.

So you get the clock.

I got it.

Did you see that?

Memphis, Tennessee. Look out.

Here we come again.

I was a field hand when I was seven.

Chop cotton. Picked cotton.

Then when I was a teenager, I was good.

All the girls, you know, said there's a tractor driver there.

Yeah, I'm a tractor driver.

Somebody knocking on my door

Junior Parker and I, in1954, 55.

We used to play a little club over her side of this little hill in midnight.

If you played it real good you get two pieces of chicken.

If you didn't play good, you got one piece.

If the man didn't like you at all you didn't get anything, to eat.

I'm so worried

Don't know where to go

We were always out together, you know.

BB, and Bobby, and Little Junior Parker, and Ike.

I came out the cotton field, too. We were all hicks.

And, loving the music.

Don't worry Daddy is gonna be there

Wow, the late great Howlin' Wolf right here in Memphis, Tennessee.

AM 1070 WDIA in about two weeks...

the cr�me de la cr�me of the Blues at the Orpheum theater.

Yes.

Downtown, Memphis Tennessee it is the Handy Awards.

24th one. They're The Best in the Blues.

Ike Turner, Rosco Gordon, Little Milton...

and probably the best Blues singer in the country today...

is up for entertainer of the year, B.B. King.

Yes.

Hey, man alright.

- Hey, how are you? - Alright.

- Pretty lady, how are you? - I'm Ok.

Is this B.B. King?

- Is this B.B. King? - He left. He went to town.

How you feeling?

Just one hug?

- Alright. Thank you. How you feeling? - Thank you.

Good, alright.

- Hello. - Would you believe my grandson...

you met him in Cleveland and gave him one of your guitar picks.

- Did I? - He treasures it.

- I'm happy to hear that. - Yes, he loves it. You gave it to him.

- I'm glad. - Yes.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- Give him my hello, will you? - I certainly will.

- How are you? - God bless you. Thank you for everything.

- Thank you. How are you today? Alright? - Fine, thank you very much.

Precious Lord

Take my hand

Lead me on

Let me stand

I guess as a plow boy, I was even at five miles per hour...

working 12 hours a day...

which is about 60 miles a day, about 6 days a week.

I was thinking 16 years of doing that...

I walked practically around the world just a following a mule.

Through the storm

Through the night

Lead me on

To the light

- Take my hand - Take my hand

- Precious Lord - Precious Lord

Lead me home

Coming to Memphis was like going to London or Paris.

A lot of it was beyond my wildest dream.

To Lord

I was like a kid in a candy store.

Hello, friends of the Colored tri-state fair of Memphis Tennessee.

Come on down this way now see what's gonna happen down...

everybody at the big show...

this is the largest show on the ground where you're going.

Sit down and enjoy yourself. I know you appreciate that.

Good Lord Come on, come on

Come on, baby

And I love you

In my heart

Baby, and cry

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen our first place winner.

Quincy Johnson who sang old Man River, Anna Lee Munger sang My Hero...

won second place and third...

B.B. King you've been playing and singing the Blues all your professional life.

What do you want to do with your music and with your singing?

Play the best that I can.

Reach as many people as I can. As many countries.

In other words...

I'd like the whole country hear B.B. King sings and plays the Blues.

If you let me love you

I'll buy you a car made of gold

I'll even give you the fountain Of youth, baby

So you will never grow old

Just if you let me love you

Ain't nothing I wouldn't do for you

I say I'd try to walk the water Baby

If you just let me love you

The one and only B.B. King!

Well, Mr. King, I bet you don't even recognize this town anymore.

I keep seeing so many things that I haven't seen.

Yeah, it's certainly changed over the years.

It's so nice to be on Beale Street again.

Now this is what they did to Beale Street.

They... they destroyed Beale Street, man.

Because you know it, this was a fun spot.

Beale street was a fun spot.

Clubs open all night long, every night, to 5, 6 o'clock in the morning.

And they wasn't all playing Blues like they're playing now.

They were playing a lot of jazz, you go to some jazz clubs.

But you see now they got the loud guitar.

You can't hear yourself think.

Not talk, you can't hear yourself think.

Everybody playing the loud music. Everybody.

You ain't nothing but a hound dog

Crying all the time

There was maybe one or two guys playing, not the whole army.

Plus, they didn't play that loud. No.

There were houses all out here, apartment buildings.

Look what they did put in a parking lot.

It, it looks like somebody...

got was got mad at the place say...

I'm gonna tear everything down and put some cars in here.

That's what it look like.

That's great, isn't it?

I see Bobby Bland, I don't see no Rosco Gordon.

Notes on...

They didn't give me the kind of attention I think I deserved.

If you've never seen a chicken Girl, I'm gonna tease you out

If you've never seen a chicken

Girl, I'm gonna tease you out

I'm gonna take with you

Tell you what is all about

This is a waste of time. I know they won't have any, any of me in here.

If they had this many records in Europe in a store...

they would have a whole section of Rosco Gordon, everything he did.

But see they're not too many people in here, I know.

Robert Goulet.

I'm Rosco Gordon.

- Rosco? - Gordon.

- G-o-r-d-o-n. - Blues?

Yeah.

- Ain't nothing like it. Is there? - See, they put my name on the...

All right! How about you?

See, right. Right here.

- I'm working tonight. - Really? Where you gonna be at?

Where... where am I going to be? Let's see.

Now, I...

If somebody asked me where am I working, I can say, uh?

- Yeah, just tell them Young Avenue Deli. - Young Avenue Deli.

Hello.

How you doing? What's your name brother?

- Rosco. - Nice to meet you, sir.

My pleasure.

- You play Blues? - Yeah.

Ok. Where you playing at tonight?

You don't even know the little joints you're playin'at!

Oh, I got it written down. Young Avenue Deli. Cooper and Young.

- You know where it is? - Nope.

- Where you gonna be? - Cooper Young Deli.

Where's that?

Look, I'm supposed to ask you where it is?

Play with you, it's Rosco Gordon.

Yes, come for a good one.

Hey, if you're looking for A good meal

This is the place.

Come on in for We serve the best darn meal

The best darn meal in Memphis Tennessee

Hello, baby

Had to call you

On the phone

Hello, baby

Had to call you

On the phone

Beale Street was a haven for the black man.

They come up from the Delta...

and got to Beale Street.

Don't owe nobody...

no nothing...

everything in fact it was heaven...

it was heaven to these people that came up. All black.

But I told a white fellow on Beale Street one night.

I said...

if you were black for one Saturday night...

on Beale Street...

you never would want to be white anymore.

At the palace theater we knew it was an adult show...

so we hid down in the seats...

and when the lights came on, man.

Stage show started...

and our eyes were glued to the stage big as teacups...

and the dancers and the big band playing.

You know we were just in awe, man.

I've seen the lights of old gay Broadway.

I've been down on Market Street by the Frisco Bay.

I've been over in London, strolled down that Paris Bourse.

You take my advice folks, and see Beale Street first.

When Nat got the call to come to Beale Street...

to be master of ceremonies for the amateur show...

that they were about to start...

they called him he reached back and got me.

Well, now I don't want to inflict any hardship on the audience...

but I can do a mess of singing when it comes down time for it.

Babe, I can keep time.

Alright, well I won't play for you then. I'll just play off what you call yo'...

- Ignorance? - No.

- Man, this gets good. - No, your jolly now.

Go ahead.

Amateur night on Beale Street was like magic.

You had tap dancers, comics...

I sing in an undiscriminating key.

And musicians.

B.B. King, Bobby Bland...

Johnny Hayes, Rosco Gordon...

all of 'em came form the stage of the Palace Theater.

I guess I looked so bad and so pitiful and was so broke...

Rufus Thomas when he would see me say...

"You know you were on last week." You'd say, yeah.

"Why you back this week?"

I need to go on again 'cause I need that dolla!

This particular night...

Joe Green Medfield and myself, we drink wine, you know.

Marvin Davis wine.

But this particular Wednesday night we had no wine money.

So they talked me up into going on stage to sing to get the wine money.

I went up and I sang this song called "Please, throw this old dog a bone".

Right in the middle of "please throw this dog a bone"...

the MC threw a great big bone up on the stage.

So I won first prize and the rest is history.

You told me that you love me And you told me a lie

Yes, I'll love you Until the day I die

No more dogging, dogging Fooling around with you

I gotta let you out, baby

And that's what I've got

Well now!

WDIA, Gladys and the Pips!

- What's up, brother? - We have a special guest coming.

Yes!

Coming by our studio this afternoon. An original announcer at WDIA.

Coming home!

Long way from the Mississippi cotton fields, baby.

- What's up, doc' - How are you?

Good, man! How ya' doin'

Always coming up here and messin' with you.

You want your old seat back?

No.

No, if you don't mind I'll sit here.

You know, I'm wondering if there anything...

- did you guys ever keep in archives... - I know...

museum of some of the old stuff from the guys way back?

- We do have some old commercials. - Really?

Yeah, somebody did some a few years ago and sent us a copy of it.

WDIA Diana Ross.

It is 4:19 for the new show David Forest.

Here at the studio this afternoon with Mr. B.B. King.

Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.

The story of you coming to Memphis, could you describe that for us?

Well, I just heard that they were opening up...

an all black operated station over here...

so I had to come from West Memphis over here...

and at that time I had enough money to get a bus...

from West Memphis to Memphis...

but didn't have no money for car fare...

so I had to walk from the station, bus station...

all the way up to the twentieth block...

and it started raining and it rained on me all the way up there.

And at that time they had a disc jockey...

he was professor Nat Williams...

but they called him Nat D at the time...

and I walked up and Nat D had his...

cans on his head, kind of like he has now...

and Mr. Ferguson came out...

and Mr. Ferguson says we got a new product...

and he's looking at Mr. Williams saying...

we got a new product we want a put on the air...

say...

you think you could make a jingle?

I'd say anything...

I'd gave him the Brooklyn bridge if he'd asked me. Anything.

Yes, sir. He said.

He said "The name of it is Pepticon".

Pepticon? Yes, Pepticon. Yes, sir.

And I started...

Pepticon, sure is good Pepticon, sure is good

Pepticon, sure is good

You can get it anywhere In your neighborhood

He said you're hired.

So that's how I got on the radio.

- Oh, man. - So, I would do ten minutes a day.

It was a day I remember, too. It was just pouring down rain...

and in the afternoon in came BB.

And he had on the typical...

Sunday outfit from Mississippi.

The black suit, white shirt, black tie, black hat.

And he was soaked right down to the skin.

And he was a bit shy, very quiet.

And he came in and Don let him stand in front of the microphone...

and let him play.

They called me down. They said come down here.

Said we have somebody we want you to listen to.

It's three o'clock in the morning

And I can't even close my eyes

It's three o'clock in the morning Baby

And I can't even close my eyes

B.B. King's music didn't interest me.

I was not impressed by it at all I didn't like it...

It made me very uneasy...

because I was sure there were elements in his music...

that my listeners, our listeners understood that I didn't.

Looked all around me

And my baby She can't be found

No black voice...

had ever been heard on the radio...

unless it was gospel singers.

Every Sunday you get gospel singers on there.

But to be an announcer on the radio.

No way.

Black man can't do that.

There's no way for a black man to do that.

He can't do it.

They were going broke. They try everything.

They tried country and western music, they tried classical music.

They decided in what could only be described as absolute desperation...

to try Negro announcers.

They had to find, of course, the personnel and...

rain them and put them on the air and...

but I would say by the summer of 1949...

WDIA is the first all black radio station in the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nat D. Williams...

inviting you to listen to a full hour broadcast.

I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I've got the goose, so what's the use?

We feeling okay tho ain't got a dollar.

Rufus is here...

so hoot and holler.

Right here on WDIA...

the voice of Memphis, Tennessee.

You know, when I heard WDIA with all of these people that I knew...

Nat D Williams taught me history in high school.

It really made me, I fell in love with Memphis, then.

I felt like I belonged.

They didn't start out to bring about social uplift for black people...

that happened.

And once the station got going...

they did wonderful things for the black community...

but that was not their original intent...

it's another classic case of the law of unintended consequences.

They found out that there was gold in them that hills...

if you want to put it like...

that and WDIA...

went from...

cool or should I say cold, to cool...

to luke warm, to warm on...

in to hot...

and when I say hot, man. I mean hot.

I'm getting up soon in the morning I believe I'll dust my broom

I'm getting up soon in the morning

I believe I'll dust my broom

Here's WDIA at the top of the delta...

booming that big fifty thousand watt voice all through delta.

They estimated that they were hitting 1.5 million black people.

So they could come to a sponsor and say look...

we hit one out of every ten African Americans living in the United States.

Just like John...

Want to walk in Jerusalem, just like John.

Say look I'm talking to you about Martha White's self-rising flour.

When the Martha White biscuit come out of the oven...

you just grab 'em up and butter 'em you...

baptize them in butter.

This is a WDIA goodwill announcement.

A Black Angus cow is lost.

Well, our friend just called us a minute ago...

he lost his false teeth.

He lost his false teeth.

Yeah, and I knew it was hard, yeah, I thought it could be done.

Hey, AC Williams.

- It's the same than before. - Ok?

- I know it was AC Williams. Who else? - What time does the show open tonight?

- What time does the show open tonight? - B.B. King Blues Club.

Tonight, I think the first show I think is about 7.

We done two tonight, we'll do two tomorrow and thanks for mentioning.

That's the B.B. King Blues Club, excuse, me, I mean...

That's alright, I'll be there.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you so much, thank you.

Thank you for coming out. Thank you for being here, appreciate it.

Like to say its good to be back home...

this is my second home. Indianola, Mississippi...

this is still the home of the blues to B.B. King.

Thank you so much.

The thrill is gone

The thrill is gone away

The thrill is gone baby

The thrill is gone away

You know you done me wrong Baby

And you'll be sorry

Someday

I'm free now

I'm free from your spell

Free, free Free now baby

I'm free from your spell

And now that it's over

All I can do

Is wish you well

Thank you so much.

Wasn't always easy.

Wasn't always easy at all.

In '55 about the first bus I ever had.

Big Red.

Gentlemen that drove it was named Cato Walker Jr.

He was a good mechanic...

he's a good bus driver and a good friend.

As a kid what we'd hear was my dad bringing his bus home.

He'd always get home five, six o'clock in the morning...

and you'd hear that bus come across the hill and it'd go...

As he geared it down cause he always backed it up into the backyard.

And he paid me one, two dollars to clean the bus out.

And I'd walk up on there and smell the men on the road...

you know, men traveling...

and I'd read all these newspapers from Seattle Washington, Houston, Texas...

Los Angeles, New York City...

and I thought it was the most fascinating lifestyle...

that a man could have in the world...

you know to be able to travel and to see all these places...

and I used to smile because daddy would tell me...

You don't want to be in the music business.

And in the back of my mind I would go...

Yeah, because you want to keep all this fun to yourself.

Highway 61. I want to be the first one to drive on it.

I have three of these buses.

I grease 'em...

work on 'em...

drive 'em...

the whole bit.

My granddaddy told me a long time ago says...

don't own a horse that you can't ride.

When mechanical things go wrong I gotta get out and fix what I gotta fix...

and you do what you gotta do to make it to the next hill.

When you speak of the Chitlin Circuit, it's great.

You make a decent living. You meet down to earth people.

Back in the day when fans, when the economy was different...

you had a lot of people living in rural areas, and in the country...

I don't think a lot of people back then had...

house notes and high rents and stuff like that, so...

people could come out basically any night of the week and have fun.

When you go out on the road. Well, you gotta have somewhere to stay.

Can't stay in the hotels because all of the hotels was white.

See I'm pretty age able.

And I can remember this stuff when I couldn't go into that hotel...

because of the color of my skin.

Have you ever been mistreated?

I got this stupid drummer I told him...

Look man I said, no name, do not go to the water fountains down here...

I said, no matter what you do you want water go to the hydrant...

and drink from the hydrant. Don't go to the water fountain.

He went to the water fountain like a stupid cop done...

come and put a foot in his mouth, I mean, kicked him.

I was kicked once too, by a cop in Memphis.

Do you know this son of a gun kicked me and lifted me up off the sidewalk.

So I had tears in my eyes, I said aren't you ashamed.

I said, You're twice as big as I am, you got a gun, you got a stick...

and you got a license to kill me. You gonna kick me?

He said, Get home.

I said you stopped me, I said I was going home.

It's hard to look happy and pretty early in the morning.

I could look pretty, but could I look pretty happy?

How many miles we away?

About 130 miles. Not long.

Let me know if you get tired, I'll take it.

Alright, I'm good.

Is all the girls... Is all the girls sleep?

They sleep.

Pitiful.

You know he isn't gonna move till the sun rise.

Yeah, I guess you're right, I guess you're right.

Yep.

- Bruce'll get up first, right? - Bruce'll get up first.

- Well, cock-eedoodoo. - Over the hill.

Daddy would tell me they would drive the bus...

down through all the black neighborhoods...

so people would know B.B. King was in town.

They'd play the show, rehearse, get on the bus and split...

they'd drive all night, get to the next town...

set up, rehearse, play the show, get on the bus and they'd split.

They lived, literally lived on the bus.

- Are you playing the blues? - Oh yeah, all the time, but I...

I play for tips, cause I'm outta money right now.

We gonna jam.

If we don't like it you gotta pay us, now.

Ya'll tip him, right, tip him right, tip him, right.

I got it, I got it...

there you go.

- Thank you. - There you go.

Stay right where you at.

Stay right where you at. It says...

You came to learn what did I do

I lost my heart in the way Cool

She's got your love

And your light

- You know how it feels - I feel it goes by

Take it away

That's the blues.

That's the blues.

That's the blues.

That's alright mama

That's alright

That's alright mama

I've been up, oh baby

You can't believe the words I say

I've been up all night

And you can't believe The words I say

You don't love me

And you just want to have your way

Well, I can't find my baby

And I can't be satisfied

Train arrived

Sixteen coaches long

I'd love to meet my baby

I'd love to meet my baby

She's trying to look so easy And so long my baby

You may have heard of jalopies You heard the noise they make

Let me introduce you To my Rocket '88

Everybody likes my Rocket '88

Gals will ride in style Moving all along

Hello, Robert. Nice to be home.

Good to see you, Mr. Sam Phillips.

How you doing?

Well, well, well, how you do?

I knew him, yes, I knew him.

- How you doing, Sam? - I'm doing great. Glad to see you.

Glad to see you. Thank God, man.

Here's my baby.

God is good ain't he?

Anybody that keeps you pretty like you for as long. God's pretty good.

Look at you. The pot ain't talk about the kettle.

How you doing, Sam?

- I couldn't be better. - Yeah?

Do you know how I met you, how we got together? You remember?

Remind me. I don't know. I don't remember.

I saw B. B...

and I knew him as Riley. I didn't know who B.B. Was...

and you were recording him, and he was playing in Chambers, Mississippi...

and he said, and he heard my band he said, "Man, why you not recording?"

I said, I don't know how to record, he said...

Well, I know a man in Memphis that name Sam Phillips, he said...

I'm gonna tell him to call you...

and he'll give you a call 'bout between Monday and Wednesday...

and sho' 'nough Monday morning you called me.

Back in those days records like...

like we cut was called race records.

That's right.

And they didn't play that kinda stuff on white radio stations.

That's right.

Then you got the idea...

of getting some white kids to sing the black music...

- and this started rock 'n ' roll! - That's right.

I guess the most criticism I got was...

that black people just were...

not what white people were.

And I knew everyone, I've done and they weren't...

I didn't know a race baiter or anything but they could not understand...

why I was out here fooling around with a bunch of niggers...

nah I mean that's just exactly the truth I had...

I had the finest people I was working with and they would come in and say...

Well, you must not have had a session yesterday...

says man either that or you used a lot of deodorant.

Now these were cruel things, cruel things.

But do you think I got mad at them? Hell, no.

That's what... I was playing right into their hands if I'da got mad at 'em.

I just kept doing my thing.

I was just saying we have got to develop something that's good...

and that at the same time possibly can have an ever-lasting effect...

on what humanity thinks of each other.

- Yeah, we say, you know... - Wait a minute, now listen...

That is a fact and those are the facts.

Yeah, you know I've said this in an interview before about you.

There's one thing I never felt about you.

And when I came in that door, my first time, I never felt any prejudice...

you being partial, feeling, make me feel black or make me feel afraid...

or make me feel that I had to sit over here...

or I had to come around to the back door.

Like the first time I came to the Peabody I sit in the car for three hours.

I never felt any of that in this building not once...

and if anybody says that I can say that they are a liar.

- I've never felt that in this building. - Wrong, wrong, wrong they are wrong.

That's one thing I can say about this place. It just didn't exist here.

They woulda never succeeded. It woulda never happened...

it if I'd had that attitude.

And somehow or another God blessed me...

with the ability to work day and night...

and hope that I'd be given enough time to stay in business.

Wait a minute, to prove that it absolutely would have to be...

that some white folks would have to start doing some things...

not trying to mock, not trying to copy...

or anything, but they were gonna have to do it with some feeling...

and I knew the southern white people like Elvis Presley...

aint' no black person ever been poorer than him.

- All of his stuff was black style. - Sure.

- Yeah, and so... - It was a lot of southern country.

No, no, well just then you said...

that they didn't copy the black style...

they dead on it and even today they dead on it.

Well, now what I mean to copy, what I mean was to imitate.

They took the feel because they were exposed to so many of the same things...

not to the extent that black people were...

but they didn't copy, what they did was...

- they borrowed heavily from. - Yeah, they sure did.

Now wait a minute now...

there you there you go.

- No, like its... - Hell, that ain't right.

- Whaddya mean? - Is that not a complement?

That's what it took to make what all y'all were doing...

absolutely accepted.

I understand, but what all other black people that were recording...

they couldn't get the records on the white radio stations.

You could, you did.

Do you love me, or are you falling out of love with me?

You know I love you, that ain't gonna never change.

That's right.

What do I look like, making fun of me. Do you believe that?

You know... Can you believe that?

I have to go pee.

I don't know what...

Which way the bathroom? I forget.

Well, that's alright mama That's alright with me

That's alright mama Anything you do that's alright

That's the first time I ever heard him sing in my life.

Searching Searching every way

What happened during the period when it seemed like the blues faded...

Well, they sort of put us on the back burner...

I put it that way because the new style started coming in.

You made me cry When you said, "goodbye"

Ain't that a shame?

And a lot of the young black kids wanted to hear some soul or rock'n roll.

Rock'n roll hadn't gained the name rock 'n roll then, but it was starting.

People like Little Richard, Fats Domino and people like that...

was playing then, what later was called rock'n roll.

Lucille, please, come back Where you belong

Please, come back Where you belong

I been good to you, baby Please, don't leave me alone

I remember I was in Baltimore, Maryland...

and when it was time for B.B. King to go on, the announcer said...

"Now we bring you B.B. King", and all the kids said, "booo"...

you talking about hurtin', that hurt me so much...

I felt terrible that the reason they booed because it was blues.

When they said blues, hey it was like being black twice.

But I didn't know nothing else to do, I didn't know to do other things...

I couldn't dance, I've got two left feet all my life...

when I was married my wife had to give me a drink to get me on the floor...

so I couldn't dance.

I didn't know how to do all the nice things that...

later on made entertainers, entertainers, you know...

all I knew stand up flat foot sing and play my guitar.

That's all I knew.

The places that I had been working, I couldn't work there anymore...

because well, I wouldn't draw anybody, that's why I threw the music aside...

because see I already saw the trend was changing...

and my wife says she wanted me home...

so it really wasn't a problem for me to just forget about it.

I can't do it, Billy.

I can't do that anyway, not for that kinda money.

Probley little nothing, about a thousand buck or something.

You gotta be kidding.

I'll be honest with you, I might just scrap you even better than that...

but I won't... don't let me say it yet...

but if you put it on the early...

the more I can knock off. You know what I'm talking about?

Because that mean I can go someplace else...

and make my money up and throw it your way. That's the only way I can do it.

You know, I'm just trying to help you, that's all I'm trying to do.

As a Chitlin Circuit artist...

I'm hoping and praying that God'd give me the time in his life...

to cross over to the white audience.

I want to be just as big as the Buddy Guy or the B.B.

And I think, I think the opportunity just right round the corner...

it's just hard to get both side out the fence.

There's a bandstand there.

Yeah, this is you line for the front...

I think it's just a matter of people knowing who I am and what I do.

I think it will be big as bubble gum.

So you can't set him out where he's set like that because it'll kill...

- The view. - The view from other people.

This coming November I'm 66 years old...

but I'm still in my decent shape...

and I can put the hours in and have the energy...

when I hit the stage something else comes in...

the other switch, I got a little switch in my ear that I don't hit often...

and I do it like that every night at the end to get my little motor going.

Hey, all

I said, hey, all

I said, hey

You know what?

If you make a move I'll leave My woman

Caused somebody to say You my crazy, I know I can be

Let me tell you tell the truth Ain't stay there

See my nanny ain't told me where I belong, and my mama ain't told me to

They're gonna learn To let it out at night

I look at my mama Look at my hen, I been trying to smile

If it's good then my woman Gonna kill me I don't mind dying

Hello, stranger Hit it baby

Hello, stranger

Some lady come and said Bobby Rush

You ain't nothing but A hit going nowhere

Listen, listen.

I'm not hen pecked

I've been tamped right here

Look at her. Look at it.

Oh, baby

You like that, don't you? You like that, don't you?

And I may shout And the teeth may grip

But I'll go there And you go here

I'm about to do it

A hen pecked right here

Wait a minute

Are you talking to me?

Some time it talk so low I can hardly hear it

And I get real close to it

It talked to me

Listen, look at it. I got to talk to my brother.

Just me and my brother got to talk, brother to brother.

Hey, brother! Between me and you...

not only can it talk, it can sing too.

- Yes, sir. - You don't believe it?

Sing for my brother.

I've been picked quite right

My Lord, I've been picked

I've been picked quite good

How about a hand for the young here?

Oh yeah, you do

Bobby Rush!

It's fun to you, fun to people on the outside.

But this is work and people want my nose...

they want my blood, they want my sweat.

They want the best out of me...

they want to get the best out of me, they still don't want to pay...

when they pay me, they think they paid me too much.

God's this hard, but I smile because I like what I'm doing...

if I didn't love the music, I couldn't do it.

The time the van broke down quarter to two or two 'o ' clock...

I gets in the bus and woke my bus driver up and here we are...

coming home to be at service at church at a 9:15 service.

Oh, yeah.

You will stand right here Right here, Sir

If you touch me

- lf you touch me - Touch me

Touch me

When I work all the week, do all these things...

when I get to church on Sunday morning I'm so tired I can't keep my eyes open.

But now is time for a break, now I don't have to sing...

I don't have to do any of these things that I was doing last night.

Somebody else is doing it, now I'm enjoying it.

Come on with it preacher.

I'll do it now

How're you doing?

With all the things and the love

You are there!

Everybody say yeah!

Don't ever think in your mind that the people go to church don't party.

People, the same people that you see Saturday night...

the same ones you see on Sunday morning.

I talk about Jesus lift me up, and Saturday night, a baby lifts me up.

You know, I just wanna be lifted up by my baby...

and then Sunday morning I wanna be lifted up by Christ.

No different. No different at all.

No different in the dance

you just, once you dance for Satan or you dance for Christ.

One Saturday morning when I was downtown with my father...

it was probably 1950 or '51...

there was this group of musicians...

I got a woman down

one playing the upright bass, one playing the four string guitar...

and one playing the washboard.

If you don't know no rhythm

It was just so loose and funky and...

I had never heard anything like it...

and I was utterly hypnotized and enraptured by this thing you know.

My father, when the song was over, of course, my father made me leave...

so I only got to hear the one song...

but after that, other things in life just didn't seem as important.

I had to find out...

I mean obviously this music was somewhere very close to me...

but because of racial barriers I couldn't get there.

Beale street was itself an island inside a city of white folks.

I got something to tell you Keep it to yourself

I got something to tell you Keep it to yourself

Don't you tell your husband

I learned about WDIA through my parents yard man...

who would eat lunch in the kitchen and switch the radio.

His name was Alex and he took it upon himself to...

teach me the things that I needed to know...

thank God he did.

And he taught me to shoot craps and he taught me to play smut and pity pat...

and he taught me to throw a knife underhanded...

and other things that he thought were significant...

not to be a smart Alec Yankee kid.

And this is incredibly politically incorrect...

you'll have to forgive my ebonics.

But he said everything in music is made up by the cho'ds.

And I thought, well that explains it, it's a damn code...

no wonder I couldn't figure it out.

Why didn't my mother tell me it was a code?

Because I thought he meant like secret code...

like Captain Midnight or Morse code.

He meant chords. And he said this is how you make some cho'ds.

You take a note any note...

and you go up three and down four and that's a cho'd.

I thought, my god it's a pattern. I can do that.

And that was it, the cho'ds.

My band in high school, the Regents...

we had two hot sets of rock'n roll like typical fraternity house rock 'n' roll.

We had a 3rd set of blues, Jimmy Reeves, John Lee Hooker Muddy Waters...

and we basically played that to make the audience leave, which they would do.

In the yard, baby, You see what you ain't done

You got my love You got me on your lawn

I started to notice that especially the college crowd would stay...

when we started to play the blues...

and I 'member specifically seeing it come down from college...

to the high school crowd...

in terms of hipness, "Oh, what is this hip black stuff?"

What is this music about? Who is Muddy Waters, you know?

I bought my first B.B. King album the first day the same day...

I bought the Kingston Trio's first album...

and if you see what's happening there, it was folk music.

The blues was and is folk music.

I used to play the Filmore, when it was owned by another person...

at that time it was ninety percent black.

This time we go out to the Filmore West...

I saw all these long-haired kids and all white kids.

B.B. Said, " Mr. Walker, you need to find the right place"...

and daddy said, "Well, this is what is on the paper", he said...

"Have you looked out there?"

There were white people around the block and daddy said "Yeah"...

he said, "Well you need to find the right place, Mr. Walker".

Daddy said, so he drove off and drove around the neighborhood...

and came back, stopped at the same spot...

B.B. Said, "Mr. Walker, what's the problem?

You know you can't find where you need to go?

My road manager went inside and when he saw...

Bill Graham talked to him...

and Bill said, no this is the right place, so he came out to the bus...

and said no B this it come on out.

He talking to me like he known me all the time or knew about me.

And the best intro I think I've ever had and the shortest...

he said, Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you the chairman of the board B.B. King.

Everybody stood up, everybody, you could hear a pin...

everybody stood up.

I ain't never had this happen to me before ever in life.

They all stood up and then started to applaud.

Well, man, that got to me so much I couldn't stand it.

I stood up there and started crying.

Do you know out of my forty five minutes playing...

I had about three or four standing ovations...

and when I got ready to leave they stood up again.

And that was the beginning of playing to a different...

crowd of people...

and that night instead of having about ninety percent black...

we had about ninety five percent white...

first time ever...

and that was a feeling, I don't know how to describe, but I wish I could.

When Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis...

Detroit caught fire, Atlanta caught fire, Los Angeles caught fire.

Memphis didn't catch fire.

Some sailors broke some windows, we went under curfew...

the tanks went up and down the streets, all of that's true...

but Memphis didn't burn, there was no riot.

The uh, it's like the old song, "Mr. Crub Don't Like lt"...

and the city fathers chose this opportunity...

to tear down a black community that represented black history.

When I came back from New York and they tore Beale Street down?

My heart was broken...

you know, they had buried my heart in a shallow grave...

you know, and I was just hurt, I wrote a blues called Reconstruction Blues...

and I went down on the river and I sang to myself.

You know that...

I'd rather be anywhere else than In this home of the blues I know

I was hurt and I woulda jumped in that muddy Mississippi...

in that muddy water...

but I knew a baptismal wouldn'ta helped.

Beale Street

Ain't Beale Street no more

My street don't go

I don't have no place else To do my show

Dig a little hole Across the street

That's where me and Rufus Thomas

Used to always meet

Look at my brother there

And I see no interlude

Where I used to stay For twenty fourths in a night

I couldn't pay my rent

Beale Street

Ain't Beale Street no more

Ok, so we're set, there aren't any worries there...

Cool, we're on track, if you have any trouble let me know...

but everything should be smooth sailing from here on in.

Yeah cause I can. Red, white, and blue sequin outfit as a presenter...

is probably gonna play hell with my cameras but that's fine.

Let's just make sure he gets there around 6:15...

which is when we want B.B. To get there also.

It's WWDIA for the new show Davis brothers here...

I wanna remind you that tonight's the night.

It's The Handy Awards right over on Beale street...

so if you wanna go down and enjoy tonight, you can do that.

The Handy Awards at the Orpheum theater.

Check one two, yes.

That's the money shot, Elvis.

You know so we'll have every guy, Rosco, B.B., Milton, lke.

- Will ya look? - How ya doing?

- Hey, Rosco. - How' go'

You got the right thing on, see? That's what I shoulda wore.

Astro.

- I ain't saw you since Amsterdam. - Right!

- How you doing there, alright? - Hanging in there.

That's my younger son, baby, baby son of his.

Oh, boy.

- Back when I... - I don't know.

- A few years ago... - Hold, hold it for a minute, let...

- let me say grace so I can eat. - OK.

OK, go ahead.

We thank you lord for this food and our many blessing...

and we thank you for surrounding us with love...

and trust understanding, Amen.

- Amen. - Thank you, Rosoc.

We haven't seen Milton, and his cell phone is not turned on so...

I don't know what we got there.

That's pretty.

- I like that, that's blue. That's blues. - That's blues. That's it.

You'll be singing the blues and they be crying the blues.

And no.

The Lord bust you up and you sing what you want.

- I'm telling you the truth. - I heard that.

It's my gift, man.

It got you covered like dew on the ground.

I'm telling you.

Your poor, don't know it and your feet don't show it.

- I'm hearing you. - I heard that.

Smoke it over.

Shift the mirror lookin' at you and the streets got you.

Why not? You deserve it.

- I look pretty cool here don't I, man? - That's it.

Now, it been a while since you got a bluesman to come in...

and make your clothes look this good.

- I know that. - Tell the truth.

I know that. You my number one.

When we were kids we were country kids...

and my daddy farmed. So we paid for at the end of the fall time.

- Yeah I know it. Twice a year... - Yeah, right.

- In the fall and the spring. - Fall time.

I know, I been through that. I know what's happening.

So I want to get this on fall time.

When things get great and they get super bargain.

You heard that.

In God we trust. That's what I talkin 'bout.

- I wanna wear it now and pay later. - I heard that. Well we can do that.

I be right behind you. I be carrying your guitar for you.

You cool, man. I like the way you operate.

We don't even have to sign a contract, do we?

We can just sign now. Contract is signed.

That's what my dad says, "a handshake's better than money".

- Appreciate it. - Always.

Got you covered like dew on the ground.

- Bye bye. - Thank you. Thank you very much.

No, you come right in on right here.

Right here.

Ok.

- How are you? - Oh, I'm fine.

- I've been waiting all day long... - We're glad that you're here.

For someone to pick me up, sitting at the hotel.

All right.

What key is...

Ike's theme in?

- E? - E. That's the answer.

Go back to here, yeah, stay on E...

then let it change.

You play it or you hold it.

- I'll play it. - Ok. That's good.

The intro bring him on.

We gotta... Everything's fine on all the other cameras...

it's just that their crane is about three stops darker than everything else.

We're not stopping the show. Follow our spot.

Mark knows rule one: We don't stop the live show...

I'm gonna be able to use this shot for the whole show.

Lit the whole audience for that shot.

Alright? Slowly in Camera 2.

Alright, keep going, Michael, with camera 4...

hold on the guitar player.

Go to Chicago

Chicago is doing now

Hi.

Appreciate it.

Wassup, baby? How ya doing?

There we are, here we are.

I worked for nothing, depending on who it is.

Here, one more shot.

- One more here. - Yes, he did.

It's three o'clock in the morning

And I can't even close my eyes

It's three o'clock in the morning Baby

And I can't even close my eyes

I can't find my baby

I can't even be satisfied

Reminiscing I think...

of the days that Rosco Gordon...

Ike Turner, Little Milton was a little young, but he knows about it...

when it rained...

the streets would be wet and then...

the paste poured in your shoes...

you could count every rock you stepped on.

Quite a few years ago...

I thank God that we're all still around.

But I want to tell you this is the way I felt at that time...

Nobody love me but my mother

And she could be jamming too

Nobody love me but my mother

And she could be jamming too

You people no more Make fun

Of what you do

Yeah

All night long

All night long

All night long

You love me no more

You gotta shoot it now

Hey baby

Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones.

I don't remember what key it was in...

oh boy, let me go over and tell the guys.

Look here guys, I really appreciate it if ya'...

Oh, man you were wonderful. Thank you, thank you.

Really a pleasure man, thank you.

It was an honor to play with you.

So much love

So many plans

So many dreams

So little time I miss your kisses

Ever more

Now you're gone

Now you're gone

When I think about how bad it could be...

I'm so thankful for what it is.

I gotta a blues seat...

blues child, blues car...

if I was young enough to go to army...

I would wanta have a blues army to go to...

and fight a bluewar.

Cause I'm the blues.

One more time around I'll see you sucker, soon

Two howlin and a hat

Two singing and the blues

To let in the canady Let me know tonight

Everybody tell me That's how a young girl like

Gotta dye my hair

So the girls can't see my grey

I got some money in my pocket

And I am willing to pay

Go to the journeys, no And they can't give me the rain

You don't know me But I'm the real hoochie man

I'm not the mother But ain't no saint

I'm the hoochie, mama

I tell you, I'm the real hoochie man

Hoochie man

In front of dynamite Turn around my girl

You now let me know how you feel

Cause I'm your papa Don't you lose

Let loose

I said brisket, brisket Gimme the hump

You're to the tough You're going round and round

What my gal found

The whole good feeling How you feel

Cause I'm your papa Don't move

Let loose

Put it up

Put it up

Put it up

Come on. Come right back.

Hiss it up

Everybody.

Put it up

Ladies and gentleman, please. Put your hand together.

Super, super. Bobby Rush.

How many more years

Have I got to let you dog me around

How many more years

Have I got to let you dog me around

I'd soon rather be dead

Sleeping six feet in the ground

I'm gonna fall on my knees

I'm gonna raise up my right hand

I'm gonna fall on my knees

I'm gonna raise up my right hand

Say I'd feel much better darling

If you'd just only understand

I'm going upstairs

I'm gonna bring back down my clothes

I'm going upstairs

I'm gonna bring back down my clothes

Do them all

If anybody ask about me

Just tell'em I walked out on