Join the Army
1973 · Trix TRIX 3304 · Union, South Carolina
- Artist
- Henry Johnson
- Title
- Join the Army
- Release
- The Union County Flash!
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- Trix # TRIX 3304
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Union, South Carolina, USA
- Songwriter
- Henry Johnson
- Genre
- Blues · Country Blues
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation — Blues songs
One of the more obscure musicians on this list, Henry "Rufe" Johnson, born and died in Union, South Carolina (08 December 1908 - February 1974), a Piedmont Blues guitar, harmonica, piano, and banjo player - a style of Country Blues developed in Appalachian foothills region, including the Carolinas. This album, recorded in November / December 1972, during the war years, featured the song "Join the Army" (Trix Records # 3304), with Johnson on vocal and guitar, and Peg Leg Sam on harmonica.1 As the title describes, the narrator joins the army: "I went and joined the army". While gone, his partner left him: "thinking 'bout my baby... the girl hadn't been long left". He goes to visit his mother on his return from the army: "son, I didn't know I was gonna see you anymore". An intriguing line is when the narrator goes to catch the ship to go back to the USA and is advised to walk - is this a reference to racial discrimination?: "I went out to the ship... Uncle Sam he told me, boy, you'd do better walking the road". Sources1Wirz discographies↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: I was out, out one day, out and out by myself / Thinking 'bout my baby and the girl hadn't been long left / Says I went and joined the army, yes, I joined it / Didn't stay there long / Before Uncle Sam come around , said, 'boy, go back home' / Says, I went out to the ship and I didn't get on board / Because Uncle Sam he told me, 'boy, you'd do better walking the road' / And I said to myself, 'I won't try the old army no more' / And I come back home and I walked to the door / Heard my mama say, 'Hello son, I didn't know I was gonna see you anymore
Notes
Track A1. Henry Johnson guitar and vocals (Peg Leg Sam harmonica credited only on A3 and B4 per Discogs, not on Join The Army). Recorded in Union, S.C., 10 Nov 1972 (A1). Producers Pete Lowry and Henry Johnson; engineer Pete Lowry; mastered by Ray Hagerty; cover photo Jim O'Neal; design Raoul Vezina; sleeve notes Pete Lowry. Published by Baby Tate Music Co. (BMI). Matrix TRIX 3304A / TRIX 3304B (etched). A 1993 CD reissue (TRIX 3304) also exists on Discogs.
About the artist
Henry "Rufe" Johnson (1908-1974) was a Piedmont blues guitarist, pianist, harmonica and banjo player born in Bogansville near Union, South Carolina, who died in Union in 1974; discovered late by blues researchers, he also recorded with his childhood friend Peg Leg Sam. [Source: Wikipedia]