Eyesight to the Blind
Encyclopedia
"Eyesight to the Blind" is a 12-bar blues originally written and recorded in 1951 by Sonny Boy Williamson II
(Aleck "Rice" Miller), and subsequently recorded by many other musicians including The Who
as part of the rock opera
Tommy.
release on Trumpet Records
. Three versions of the song were released as 78rpm singles. The first version featured Sonny Boy Williamson II (vocals
/harp
), Willie Love
(piano
), Joe Willie Wilkins
(guitar
), Elmore James
(guitar), and Joe Dyson (drums); the second and third versions had Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Love, Henry Reed (bass
), and Joe Dyson.
In 1957, Sonny Boy Williamson re-recorded the song on Checker Records
, with Otis Spann
(piano), Robert Lockwood (guitar), Luther Tucker
(guitar), Willie Dixon
(bass) and Fred Below
(drums), under the title "Born Blind".
, the original Sonny Boy Williamson song has been covered many times. The most successful early version was that by The Larks
, originally a vocal group which had developed out of gospel group, The Selah Jubilee Singers
. The group's recording of "Eyesight to the Blind", with vocals and guitar by Allen Bunn, who later worked solo as Tarheel Slim, reached #5 on the Billboard R&B charts in July 1951.
Mose Allison
released the song on Seventh Son and is featured on Allison Wonderland Anthology
. Guitarist Mike Bloomfield
recorded the song on I'm with You Always
.
The song was also included in The Who's
1969 rock opera
album Tommy. The song is parenthetically
called "The Hawker". In the film version of Tommy
, the song was performed by Eric Clapton
and Arthur Brown
. It is the only song in Tommy not written by a band member.
Versions of the song have also been recorded by other rock artists:
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
(Aleck "Rice" Miller), and subsequently recorded by many other musicians including The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
as part of the rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
Tommy.
Sonny Boy Williamson versions
The song was recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson in 1951 as his first singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
release on Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...
. Three versions of the song were released as 78rpm singles. The first version featured Sonny Boy Williamson II (vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
/harp
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
), Willie Love
Willie Love
Willie Love was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with, and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II.-Biography:...
(piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Joe Willie Wilkins
Joe Willie Wilkins
Joe Willie Wilkins was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Whilst he influenced contemporaries such as Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Jimmy Rogers, Wilkins' bigger impact was on up and coming guitarists, including Little Milton, B.B....
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
(guitar), and Joe Dyson (drums); the second and third versions had Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Love, Henry Reed (bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
), and Joe Dyson.
In 1957, Sonny Boy Williamson re-recorded the song on Checker Records
Checker Records
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.The label...
, with Otis Spann
Otis Spann
Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....
(piano), Robert Lockwood (guitar), Luther Tucker
Luther Tucker
For the publisher see The Genesee FarmerLuther Tucker was an American blues guitarist.While soft spoken and shy, Tucker made his presence known through his unique and clearly recognizable guitar style. Tucker helped to define the music known as Chicago Blues, but played everything from blues to...
(guitar), Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
(bass) and Fred Below
Fred Below
Fred Below was a leading blues drummer, best known for his innovative work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. Nobody laid more of the Chicago blues rhythmic foundations, particularly its archetypal backbeat, than Fred Below.-Career:He was born in Chicago, and started playing drums...
(drums), under the title "Born Blind".
Other versions
A blues standardBlues standard
A blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
, the original Sonny Boy Williamson song has been covered many times. The most successful early version was that by The Larks
The Larks
The Larks were an African American vocal group, active in the early 1950s. They were not the same group as the Los Angeles-based Larks featuring Don Julian.-Original members:...
, originally a vocal group which had developed out of gospel group, The Selah Jubilee Singers
Selah Jubilee Singers
The Selah Jubilee Singers was an American gospel vocal quartet, who appeared in public as a gospel group but who also had a successful recording career as a secular group in the 1930s & 1940s.-History:...
. The group's recording of "Eyesight to the Blind", with vocals and guitar by Allen Bunn, who later worked solo as Tarheel Slim, reached #5 on the Billboard R&B charts in July 1951.
Mose Allison
Mose Allison
Mose John Allison, Jr. is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...
released the song on Seventh Son and is featured on Allison Wonderland Anthology
Allison Wonderland Anthology
Allison Wonderland Anthology is a two disc compilation album by the jazz pianist and songwriter Mose Allison, released in 1994. Rhino sequenced the selected songs , and include all of his best-known songs chronologically. It's considered an excellent introduction to Mose Allison compositions.-Disc...
. Guitarist Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
recorded the song on I'm with You Always
I'm with You Always
I'm With You Always is a live album in recorded in 1977 at McCabes Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. It was originally released as a CD on Demon Records in Europe and finally released in the US in 2008 on the Benchmark Recordings label...
.
The song was also included in The Who's
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
1969 rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
album Tommy. The song is parenthetically
Parenthesis (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, a parenthesis is an explanatory or qualifying word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage with which it doesn't necessarily have any grammatical connection...
called "The Hawker". In the film version of Tommy
Tommy (film)
Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves...
, the song was performed by Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (musician)
Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
. It is the only song in Tommy not written by a band member.
Versions of the song have also been recorded by other rock artists:
- AerosmithAerosmithAerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
- Honkin' On BoboHonkin' on BoboHonkin' on Bobo is the 14th studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on March 30, 2004 by Columbia Records. The album includes 11 covers and one original track titled "The Grind"...
(2004) - Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
- Close As You GetClose As You GetClose As You Get is a 2007 album by Northern Irish blues guitarist and singer Gary Moore. The album reunited Moore with his former Thin Lizzy colleague, drummer Brian Downey who played on all the tracks.-Track listing:...
(2007) - Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
- Crossroads 2: Live in the SeventiesCrossroads 2: Live in the SeventiesCrossroads 2: Live in the Seventies is a box set by Eric Clapton, released in 1996. Unlike the first Crossroads box set that encompasses more than three decades of Clapton's work, Crossroads 2 is a chronicle of Clapton's live shows between 1974 through 1978...
. This song is part of a 24-minute jam featuring Carlos SantanaCarlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
.