We All Got to Go
1998 · Testament TCD 6011 · Chicago, Illinois
- Artist
- Billy Boy Arnold
- Title
- We All Got to Go
- Release
- Down Home Harp
- Year
- 1998
- Label
- Testament # TCD 6011
- Format
- CD · Compilation
- Language
- English
- Country
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Songwriter
- Sonny Boy Williamson
- Genre
- Blues · Chicago Blues · Harmonica Blues
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Blues songs
1988 various artist compilation, featuring Chicago Blues artist Billy Boy Arnold, born on 16 September 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, with the song "We All Got to Go" (Testament Records # TCD 6011), recorded in 1962 in the pre-Gulf of Tonkin period, but unreleased at the time, about going off to war: "Uncle Sam wanna use you a while". The narrator looked forward to the military uniform, "so you can be in style". It contained a reference to social-economic inequalities, and possibly, related to racist discrimination, with the narrator confronted by "a man with a crown, high class". Also of note is the narrator's excitement to fly a plane: "I got to fly one of them bomber planes" - Africa-American plane and helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War-era was rare, facing significant discrimination barriers.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Now I want you to gather around boys, we all got to go / Now you know ain't no use in your worrying, you won't see your baby no more / Now you got to wear a uniform man, you got to be in style / Now you got to wear Uncle Sam's uniform, so you can be in style / Now you got to walk straight and carry a rifle, Uncle Sam wanna use you a while / Well now here come a man, a man with a crown, high class / Well now you got to walk straight down my boy / Pick up your feet and don't let 'em drag / Ain't no use in you smiling at me man, it ain't no use in you shaking my hand / Now I ain't gonna walk with you this time / I got to fly one of them bomber planes
Notes
On the various-artists compilation; track 2. Track 2. Billy Boy Arnold vocals and harmonica, Blind John Davis piano. Written by S.B. Williamson. Recorded in Chicago (Discogs notes: Chicago sessions 1962-1967); producer/recorded by Pete Welding; liner notes Frank Scott; mastered by Bob Stone. Manufactured and marketed by HMG/HighTone. All tracks previously unissued except track 3. Barcode 0 129286011-2 2.
About the artist
William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born 16 September 1935, Chicago, Illinois) is a Chicago blues harmonica player and singer who debuted in 1952, played on Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" and recorded "I Wish You Would" for Vee-Jay. [Source: Wikipedia]