Episode 140: "Motherless Children Have a Hard Time"

Here we are at episode 140...and in this episode, I bring to you for your listening pleasure blues legend Blind Willie Johnson singing "Motherless Children Have a Hard Time". Now I like this song...there's such truth in just the title alone. Blind Willie recorded this one on December 3, 1927 in Dallas, Texas. The original title of the song "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time" was a garbled translation of someone trying to decipher Johnson's singing, which is understandable as Willie has a deep, gravely voice. It makes me think of a blues singing Buju Banton. A native Texan, Blind Willie has one heck of a legend/story. According to whoever tells this stuff, it is reputed that Johnson was blinded as a child by his stepmother in a fit of anger after she was discovered in bed with another man by Johnson's father, who then beat her. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie's father, but into the face of young Willie.

Nevertheless, Willie became a master at the slide guitar 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.

Blind Willie Johnson was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas and 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. 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. He lived like this until he contracted pneumonia two weeks later, and died.

Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930. His music has influenced a number of artists, and his songs have been remade by more than a few. This record is one of my favorites, and I hope that y'all enjoy it too. Peace.