0:00:02 > 0:00:03Take into consideration...
0:00:05 > 0:00:09..that there may be a great deal of pain that...
0:00:11 > 0:00:15..went with a walk of four miles.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20And not knowing what might happen.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25A night of sleeping with someone,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28or near someone,
0:00:28 > 0:00:33and being afraid to fully go to sleep because you might wake up dead.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Robbed.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Or arrested.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46So within all of this is the life story of survival,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48but survival is a word.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52This is a story.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Cut and take your film home.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01BLUES MUSIC
0:01:30 > 0:01:32It's all about feeling.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37You can play 1,000 notes a minute, but if it just goes straight
0:01:37 > 0:01:41across the board and there is no feeling, it doesn't mean anything.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44# I love her in the morning I love her at night
0:01:44 > 0:01:47# The very next day You know I hug her just right
0:01:47 > 0:01:49# I love my baby... #
0:01:49 > 0:01:55The blues is a feeling that has come out of suffering.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57# I love my baby
0:01:57 > 0:01:59# I don't care a thing about me... #
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Being denied. Denial. Refused.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Abused. Misused. That's what the blues is.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12A lot of the time, the younger people say,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15that's old folks' music, the blues is.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18But wait until they have a problem.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The people who follow blues music
0:02:21 > 0:02:27and are attracted to it recognise the honesty of the singer's story.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31There's no music in the world that cuts emotionally the way the blues guitar can cut.
0:02:31 > 0:02:39He invented the whole approach that modern electric blues players use.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Sincere, honest, true, for real and genuine.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Those five things.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50If you have those five things then you can play the blues.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55Otherwise, it's going to sound like a parakeet repeating something you don't understand.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59He's great in every way. Just the girth of the man is great.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05He's the only guy or musician of any sort, male or female,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08that defines a genre of music.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11He's played probably in every country where they have electricity.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14And probably a couple where they don't!
0:03:14 > 0:03:18When you see blues, you have to say BB. You know, no doubt.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22He is the master. He really is the grand master.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25BLUES MUSIC
0:03:47 > 0:03:49What makes somebody great?
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Somebody special?
0:03:52 > 0:03:53When you look at a man's life,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56can you truly say that man made a difference?
0:03:58 > 0:04:02People say folk are born that way, or were blessed by a higher force.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Others say your environment makes it so.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12In 1925, on a hot sticky Wednesday in the middle of September,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16the cries of a newborn baby rang out from a sharecropper's cabin
0:04:16 > 0:04:19over the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25A boy was born that day that was going to make a difference.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29His name was Riley B King.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45I was born, according to my dad,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49between a little place called Indianola
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and Itta Bena.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58So when I first talked about it, I said India Bena.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01And that's been going on ever since.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06MUSIC: "Somebody Done Changed The Lock On My Door" by BB King
0:05:58 > 0:06:00BLUES MUSIC
0:06:04 > 0:06:07From what he said, if I can understand him correctly,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09we are about at the turn to the road.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Dad, you did all right so far.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19He must be looking over us. Yes. He's looking over us now.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21BLUES MUSIC
0:06:29 > 0:06:30APPLAUSE
0:06:38 > 0:06:43To be here where somebody can truly say,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45B, this is where you were born,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49this is where the world first knew about you, right here,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52it's a high for me, because I feel very good.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55My mother was named Nora Ella.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58My father was named Albert Lee.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01But for a young couple that hadn't been married too long
0:07:01 > 0:07:05and their first kid coming out, they lived not too far back over here.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Some of the houses in the area where I lived
0:07:09 > 0:07:13were houses where you could look out through the boards of the house
0:07:13 > 0:07:16at different times of day and tell what time it was.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21When it rained, you had to have several buckets
0:07:21 > 0:07:24because the water would drop through the top.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27You had to set a bucket to keep it from splashing on the floor.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32My mother, I guess,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34was like most mothers.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38She wanted to make sure that all the teaching and all of the guiding
0:07:38 > 0:07:44they could do for you, and I believe my mother loved me and I loved her.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And everything she tried to teach me I tried to learn.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53So finally, my mother and my dad, when they were separated,
0:07:53 > 0:07:59my mom left and moved to Kilmichael, Mississippi.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04I noticed that my mother had big spots of blood clots in her eye.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10She died of diabetes, same as her son has, this one.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14# Nobody loves me but my mother
0:08:17 > 0:08:19# And she could be jivin' too... #
0:08:19 > 0:08:24I had been living with other people all of my life since my mom.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I had two or three great-aunts.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32One of them was the one that used to have a phonograph
0:08:32 > 0:08:34that I used to go to.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Her name was Jemima. I used to love to go to her house for that
0:08:38 > 0:08:41but didn't like to go to her house because she always kissed me.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44And she always did snuff and I didn't like snuff.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And every time she kissed me, I'd get a taste of that snuff.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52So I begged my mom, "Don't take me over there."
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Then I'd think about her phonograph and it's, "OK, take me on over!"
0:08:58 > 0:09:00I kind of fixed myself for that first kiss
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and after that, I didn't have to go through that again.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06He moved from there over to Henderson Place.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09That's when Riley started staying with him
0:09:09 > 0:09:11and enjoyed the blues being played.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15He moved over there to stay with his Uncle William and help him tend to the baby.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21My mother's brother was married to a sanctified preacher's sister.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25This preacher, after church on a Sunday afternoon,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28would visit his sister, which was my aunt.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31And he'd always lay his guitar on the bed and I would go and get it
0:09:31 > 0:09:33as soon as they turned their backs.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37So I think this is really what started me fooling with the guitar,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40not by listening to some of the other people.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50The roots, as they sometimes say,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53I think mine began in Elkhorn School.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58At that time, I had to walk about five miles a day to school.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03Formal school did not provide much education on the plantation.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07They said a big boy ought to be in the field, not in school.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10He was there trying to be positive, in my thinking.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15And I owe that to Professor Luther H Henson.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21He told me things then that I can still hear him telling me today.
0:10:21 > 0:10:22Don't smoke.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Don't drink.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29You've got one house. Your body. Your body is one house.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33He said take care of that one because you're not going to get another.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38I think he did it because he saw the need
0:10:38 > 0:10:41of the black children needing to be taught
0:10:41 > 0:10:44how to better themselves and make a better living.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47And it could be done if they would come to school
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and get a better education.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55I'll always love him.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01I was a regular hand from the time I was seven years old.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05They didn't used to have child labour laws and all of that.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10So I was doing farm work just like the adults were when I was seven.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13I started about, what we call from can to can't.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Can means when you can see. Can't when you cannot see.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19And I think about it.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24When I was travelling with the mule, following the mule ploughing
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and doing all that, you are walking about 30 miles a day.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32And you do that six days a week. So you figure it out.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36You do that six days a week and you do it for six months out of the year.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42So multiply that by 18 years. I've walked around the world.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44# Oh, Lordy
0:11:44 > 0:11:47# My trouble so hard
0:11:47 > 0:11:49# Oh, Lordy
0:11:49 > 0:11:52# My trouble so hard... #
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Out of that condition, the blues were born.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03Usually, one guy would be ploughing by himself, or maybe one guy
0:12:03 > 0:12:09would take his hoe and chop way out in front of everybody else.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And usually you would hear this guy sing.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19# I wake up in the morning... #
0:12:21 > 0:12:25That is the only time you'd get a chance to sing the blues, is out in the field,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28because your parents didn't allow that in the house.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Nothing but spiritual music.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34So if you were picking cotton, you could sing whatever you wanted to sing.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38To play that music and not invoke the name of Jesus or God,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41I guess, then who are you invoking?
0:12:43 > 0:12:44The devil.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48I don't know about all of that, but that's what they would call it.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51They said you're selling yourself to the devil.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53A lot of people in the church,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56they go through this thing that it's the devil's music.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02But the way he plays and the way he sings,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05that is a gift from God and if you are at all religious,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08you will believe that he has that gift
0:13:08 > 0:13:12and that he was touched when he was in the womb.
0:13:16 > 0:13:17# Listen
0:13:17 > 0:13:21# Somebody calling my name... #
0:13:21 > 0:13:25You were John, Jim, Jones
0:13:25 > 0:13:28and nobody all week long.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31But Sunday morning, you became brother John,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35sister Mary and Mr Jim,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37because you were somebody on a Sunday morning.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41But if it had not been for that, we would have gone out like a light.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46My mother was very religious. Very, very religious.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49She made me go to church whether I wanted to or not.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54When he joined the church, Archie was a preacher, my brother-in-law was a preacher.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56He preached his church out.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Reverend Archie Fair was the first person
0:13:59 > 0:14:01I ever heard play an electric guitar
0:14:01 > 0:14:03and that's why I wanted to be like him.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05In the church,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09this boy would get the chance to play on Archie's guitar a little.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12He was a preacher and a teacher.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17And I think that he didn't necessarily
0:14:17 > 0:14:21just meant for it to be me, but all of his students.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25And I liked him. Worshipped him.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30And I think that's how he helped me a whole lot.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33When his grandmother moved over there, William decided
0:14:33 > 0:14:37he wanted him to stay with his grandmother.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38So he put him down there with her.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42She worked for my mother.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45She would cook and clean house.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Anything she needed doing.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50They probably worked in the fields too.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55When my grandmother died, I still stayed in the little house
0:14:55 > 0:14:58that my grandmother and I had lived in before she died.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05I remember she owed something like 35 or 40 or something.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09We didn't make much money. I was making 15 a month.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12But I paid my grandmother's bill. I paid it off myself.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I felt deserted.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Nobody but me.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23# I'll survive... #
0:15:27 > 0:15:31After my daddy got me and brought me to Lexington, Mississippi,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33I started going to school there,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36which was the first big school I'd ever gone to.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39He had some half-sisters and brothers.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43He said they couldn't get along too good. That's what he told us.
0:15:43 > 0:15:49He had three girls and a boy and those were my sisters and brother.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Which I loved, but I wasn't as close to them as I think
0:15:53 > 0:15:56I would have been had I been raised with them in the beginning.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02My dad never told me he loved me. He never did. But I knew when he did.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06When he showed love to me, he called me Jack.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Now, why in the heck did he call me Jack?
0:16:09 > 0:16:13But any time he was very pleased, I had that feeling and he'd call me Jack.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Out of the clear blue sky, "Jack, what do you think about this?" Or, "What do you think about that?"
0:16:18 > 0:16:22And I'd feel so good until I'd almost cry because I knew what that meant.
0:16:22 > 0:16:29But he never, ever, ever, ever, that I know, said, "Son, I love you."
0:16:30 > 0:16:33But I tell my kids, great-grandkids and grandkids,
0:16:33 > 0:16:38I tell them all when I go home, "I love you."
0:16:42 > 0:16:45In those days, it was oppression.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52And you'd be depressed by oppression because you had no rights.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Black folk had no rights. You were not black.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57You were Negroes or niggers.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03Ku Klux Klan was thought of, I believe, in that area at the time.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07I never did come face-to-face with them, but I knew a lot of people did.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12For you that don't know it, the Citizen Council, White Citizen Council,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14began in Indianola, Mississippi.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18My home.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24Our place was to work hard and obey the white man.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27One of my first days of really experiencing
0:17:27 > 0:17:30what segregation was really like.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33A mob had killed a boy. They had hung him.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36It had to do with a white lady.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40They had driven him in a car to the courthouse
0:17:40 > 0:17:44in Lexington, Mississippi, and I saw it.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And that's something I have never forgotten.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52I guess it's something like people seeing people killed in a war. You don't forget it.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57You were just a thing, not a human being. Just a work thing.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02They had a slogan. If a mule dies, buy another one.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Kill a nigger, hire another one.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And that's the way I was brought up.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08You were nobody.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11You were just about equal to a mule.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15You could not say yes or no to a white man.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20It was Mr, and you just didn't argue with them.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Whatever they paid you, you accepted that and went along.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27There was no such thing as social security.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30No such thing as retirement. You had no insurance.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34The only insurance folk had was barrel insurance when you die.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Otherwise, they would put you in a box.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43They would make a box, put you in and bury you. I was there. I know.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46It was badder than bad.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52We were all raised in bigotry, hatred and denial.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56None of us could get a drink of water from the public water fountain.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59None of us could sit in a restaurant and have a decent meal.
0:18:59 > 0:19:05None of us could. No Negro could go into a hotel and get a room.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09So he faced the same thing that all of us faced.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11The racism, bigotry and hatred.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14But let me add this. Let me say this to you about BB.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17He never let that turn him against white people.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Young Riley King started dreaming of life back in the Delta.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25The Delta was home.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29So late in 1941, 16-year-old Riley jumped on his bicycle
0:19:29 > 0:19:32and began to peddle his way home.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Back to where his heart belonged.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Me and John were sitting on the porch one evening and here he comes riding on his bike.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I said, "Who's that?" He said, "I don't know."
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He got up to look a little closer and he said, "That's Riley."
0:19:46 > 0:19:48All those other people had left here.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51There were a few people like the Fairs.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Mr John Fair and his beautiful wife, Miss Lessie Fair.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00John brought him to my father and gave him a place to stay,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02so he fixed that little cabin up for him.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04He didn't have any clothes.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08All he had was the clothes on his back and that bicycle.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I had a good boss. Mr Cartledge was one of those people that
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I wish the world had a lot more of them.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18He was one of those people that was a fair man.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21During those days in the '30s,
0:20:21 > 0:20:27a lot of times we didn't think a lot of white people were fair.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29We thought a lot of the white people at that time
0:20:29 > 0:20:33thought only of themselves.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36But he wasn't one of those people.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40The house stood about here,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44where BB lived when he lived with Flake and Thelma Cartledge
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and their son, Wayne.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I do remember that he always wanted to play the guitar.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52And a fellow, name of Denzel Tipple, had a guitar
0:20:52 > 0:20:54he wanted to sell for 15.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59And our father went down there and paid for it for him
0:20:59 > 0:21:02and BB paid my father back, you see.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05You may not know that Wayne wanted his daddy
0:21:05 > 0:21:08to buy the guitar for him and he wouldn't do it
0:21:08 > 0:21:11and BB was the one who ended up with the guitar.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And I'm still mad that I didn't get a guitar.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26When I first came to the Barrett plantation,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29I'd heard a lot about the plantation
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and heard a lot from a lot of the tenants that
0:21:33 > 0:21:37lived on the plantation about what a nice man he was to work for.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40BB drove a tractor. I taught him how to drive.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44He drove a tractor for Mr Barrett, BB did.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46There were many big plantations
0:21:46 > 0:21:48and they would have somebody they called a rider.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Usually it was a white person on a horse.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56This white person usually carried a gun and a lot of cases.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59A lot of cases and he carried a whip.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Mr Barrett was very, I don't know,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05very thoughtful, I would say.
0:22:05 > 0:22:11So what he did, he hired a black overseer named Mr Baggot.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Booker Baggot. And we worked like crazy because we wanted to keep him.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Mr Baggot was the one who taught me to drive a tractor.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25If there is any such thing as a superstar in tractors,
0:22:25 > 0:22:26I thought I was.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30Of course, I thought I was pretty cute too at the time.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35I'd wake up and I'm due at the tractor barn in about half an hour
0:22:35 > 0:22:39and I lived about a mile from the tractor barn.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42So when I'd wake up,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45having about 30 or 40 minutes to get to the tractor barn, I'd put on my
0:22:45 > 0:22:49clothes and was at the tractor barn by the time everybody else was ready.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52# Precious Lord
0:22:52 > 0:22:54# Take my hand
0:22:54 > 0:22:57# Lead me on, let me stand... #
0:22:57 > 0:23:02My early years, I sang Gospel songs with various quartets.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05And usually I was the lead singer.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And we did very well out of a group called...
0:23:10 > 0:23:12The famous St John Gospel Singers.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15The famous St John Gospel singers.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17They had a good time.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21I'd get home and turn the radio on and wait for them to come on.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23I sure did.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Then is the time I decided I wanted to get married
0:23:26 > 0:23:28and I got married to a young lady.
0:23:28 > 0:23:34To Martha King. In that year, we lived in a house together.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38We lived in a three-room shotgun house. Two doors.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40One at the front and one in the back.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Martha and BB married, but they never had no children.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48He was singing Gospel songs instead of being at home.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51He didn't stay at home much. He was running around singing a whole lot.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53The Saturday was my day.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Go to town on Saturday and have a good time.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03# Everything down to New Orleans
0:24:03 > 0:24:05# You can understand It's what I mean... #
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Some walked to town.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Some would catch a ride. One person might have a car.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16And people used to come to town then in wagons.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Everybody threw their cares to the wind.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Church Street was black folks street.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23# It was rocking
0:24:23 > 0:24:25# It was rocking... #
0:24:26 > 0:24:28People were in and out, gambling
0:24:28 > 0:24:31and doing what little dancing they were doing.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34If you didn't get on Church Street, you wouldn't be in Indianola.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39He had one corner he would play on early during Saturday afternoon
0:24:39 > 0:24:42and would put his hat out and people would throw coins in it.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Later on during that Saturday evening,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49he would move further down Church Street where the real roughnecks were
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and the people who had a real appreciation for the blues and didn't mind people knowing it.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56They threw just a little more coins in the hat than
0:24:56 > 0:25:00the earlier crowd, which probably were the churchgoing people.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02He used to play on what they used to call juke houses
0:25:02 > 0:25:06all the way down Church Street. That's where he used to be.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08I wouldn't call them nightclubs, but juke joints.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12It would be that time of year then.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22And you know the Mississippi on a Saturday night on Church Street.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26You'd remember it for ever.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34I came in in a hurry on my way to go to a church to sing that night.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38I had been ploughing, ploughing, ploughing. And then it happened.
0:25:38 > 0:25:46We got off that evening, I cut the ignition of the tractor and I jumped
0:25:46 > 0:25:50down and started running to get ready to go out and it started up again.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And when the tractor started up again,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57it went forward and all of this broke off.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Scared me half to death.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I never did stop running and that is the first time I went to Memphis.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08# And I'm walking
0:26:10 > 0:26:12# Walking and crying
0:26:13 > 0:26:15# You don't love me no more
0:26:20 > 0:26:23# I was loved by you
0:26:24 > 0:26:27# Did all I could
0:26:27 > 0:26:29# All I could, darling... #
0:26:29 > 0:26:32I had a lot of fun, because Memphis was a city.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35I would say it was like heaven.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39All on guitars, those guys could play them.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43What a feeling it was.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Beale Street had many musicians that were interested in trying
0:26:46 > 0:26:49to help you if you wanted to learn.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52And they had musicians
0:26:52 > 0:26:57that would just meet up on the street on the weekends
0:26:57 > 0:26:59and trade ideas.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03I came to Memphis and started hearing all those other guys play.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06I found out I was nothing.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Not much.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11I'm still like that today.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17MUSIC: "Aberdeen Mississippi" by Bukka White
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Once in Memphis, BB King sought and found his cousin,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33the great blues man Bukka White.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Bukka was born up around West Point, Mississippi,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42and a lot of people say he taught me to play, but that's not true.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46But he did teach me quite a bit about being a blues player.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Bukka White used to tell me that to be a blues singer, you should
0:27:50 > 0:27:55always dress like you were trying to go to the bank to borrow money.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Which means you just - well, a word musicians use -
0:27:58 > 0:28:00kind of "sharp", you know.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04And he used to play with a slide on his finger
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and I could never get that.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I've got stupid fingers. They just wouldn't work.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14So in order to get the type sound that he had
0:28:14 > 0:28:18I would trill my hand like that
0:28:18 > 0:28:22and I think over the years I've done pretty good with it.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24I still don't have it right.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28I asked BB one time how he got his guitar to sound that way
0:28:28 > 0:28:31and he said I was trying to make a sound like a steel.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34So who would have thought?
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Beale Street Amateur Night.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44I hosted the show for 11 consecutive years.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48At first, we used to have a five, three and two dollar prize.
0:28:48 > 0:28:55But then it got so that everybody who came on stage got a dollar.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I remember going on that show many times
0:28:58 > 0:29:04and thank God for Rufus Thomas, because Rufus Thomas was the MC.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07I guess I looked so bad and so pitiful and I was so broke.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Rufus Thomas, when he would see me, he'd say, "You know you were on last week."
0:29:13 > 0:29:15I'd say, "Yes." "Why are you back this week?"
0:29:15 > 0:29:18"I need to go back on again because I need that dollar."
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I stayed up there for about six to eight months and then
0:29:23 > 0:29:27I called some of my family back and I said,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30"Tell Mr Barrett I'm sorry
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and I would like to work and pay it off."
0:29:33 > 0:29:37So he got back in with Mr John Barrett and came back
0:29:37 > 0:29:40and worked by the day driving tractors.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43With wobbly legs, I came back.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49And I think it cost 500 or 600 and I paid it off, and the next time
0:29:49 > 0:29:53I left to go to Memphis to start my career, I started it correctly.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57# Oh, Lord
0:29:57 > 0:30:00# What a beautiful city
0:30:00 > 0:30:03# Oh, what a beautiful city... #
0:30:05 > 0:30:07When we left Mississippi, going to Memphis,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11we expected many things to happen, and it did.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13The late Sonny Boy...
0:30:13 > 0:30:17The second Sonny Boy Williamson was on the radio in West Memphis, Arkansas.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21I decided I wanted to go and see him one day, and one day I did.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24When I went over to see him,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26I begged him to let me sing a song.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27So he made me audition, and I did,
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and he liked it and he put me on his show that day.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34And that night he had two jobs to play,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38one of them he didn't want, because it didn't pay much money.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41So he called the lady he was supposed to play for,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44did she hear the programme, and she said yes.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47So, he called her and he said, "Miss Anna, did you hear the boy?"
0:30:47 > 0:30:49And she said, "Yeah," and he said,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53"Well, I'm going to send him down to work for me tonight."
0:30:53 > 0:30:57So I went over there, man, and they paid me 12 - 12 American dollars.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01That's a lot of bread for a guy that'd been making, you know,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04like, 35 cents a hundred picking cotton, you know.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09She said, "If you can get a job on the radio, like Sonny Boy has,
0:31:09 > 0:31:13"I'll give you this job, and you can play six nights a week."
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And I thought about that and said,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19"God, I hope I can get me a job on the radio."
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Well, I'm just a blues singer.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Tractor driver, truck driver...
0:31:28 > 0:31:32I was a disc jockey for a while.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Why I sing the blues is because I lived it.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38You're probably wonderin', "That guy, the way you talk, was a disc jockey?"
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Trust me, I was. For about five years.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44The only way to do it is say it loud and clear,
0:31:44 > 0:31:46make sure that everyone will hear...
0:31:46 > 0:31:48It's the truth - the way it is...
0:31:48 > 0:31:50And I enjoyed it so much,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52the call letters of the radio station
0:31:52 > 0:31:54I can remember today like it was yesterday.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58This is BB King...making a statement...and a natural fact.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01WDIA.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Everybody wanted to know...why I sing the blues.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08The first all-black operated station in the Mid-South.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11In fact, I think, in the nation.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15Greetings and salutations!
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Ooh, poopy-doo, and how do you do!
0:32:17 > 0:32:22It's a good, good morning to you on an all-blue Saturday,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24here on WDIA
0:32:24 > 0:32:27with your Rufus Thomas.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32This new radio station was being opened in Memphis,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34so when the red light went off the air,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I went to the window and I knocked.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39So he came to the door and said,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41"What can I do for you, young fella?"
0:32:41 > 0:32:44I said, "I want to make a record and I want to go on the radio."
0:32:44 > 0:32:46And he laughed.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49And Mr Ferguson said, "Well, we don't make records."
0:32:49 > 0:32:53And then he had this deep-thought look on his face...
0:32:53 > 0:32:58and he said, "You know, we got this new product."
0:32:58 > 0:33:02He said, "Maybe he would be good for this new product."
0:33:02 > 0:33:04So he went and got me a bottle
0:33:04 > 0:33:07and he held it up like this and he said,
0:33:07 > 0:33:13"This is Pep-ti-kon. Do you think you could write a jingle for it?"
0:33:13 > 0:33:15I started thinking about it.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18I said, "Yes, sir. I can write a jingle."
0:33:18 > 0:33:19So it went like this.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22# Pep-ti-kon sure is good
0:33:22 > 0:33:24# Pep-ti-kon sure is good
0:33:24 > 0:33:26# Pep-ti-kon sure is good
0:33:26 > 0:33:29# You can get it anywhere in your neighbourhood. #
0:33:29 > 0:33:31He said, "You're hired!"
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Blues Boy King. Did your dad name you that?
0:33:41 > 0:33:44No, I used to be a disc jockey in Memphis,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and they called me the boy from Beale Street, the Blues Boy.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50So people, instead of saying Blues Boy,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54they just started using the word Bee-Bee, which meant Blues Boy.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57And, erm...my real name is Riley B King.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Now, most times, if someone would come up and say, "Hi, Riley!"
0:34:00 > 0:34:02I would wonder who they're talking about.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05I taught him the best I could.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Lotta times he didn't understand what I was telling him.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12But when I put him with a group... that put pressure on him
0:34:12 > 0:34:14and he HAD to learn.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20You can't work with nobody without you know.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23You see what a bass player's layin' down when you see BB's playin'?
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Bass player's right behind him.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28That's what he listens to.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Now you know.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34In fact, it's like I usually tell the band, like I have today -
0:34:34 > 0:34:39"You know a lot more than I do and you play better than I do.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41"But I'm the band leader."
0:34:41 > 0:34:43BB was just learning how to play.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45But he always could sing.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48And he finally learned how to play.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51REEL-TO-REEL TAPE MACHINE SWITCHING
0:34:53 > 0:34:56GUITAR PLAYS
0:34:57 > 0:35:01Having learned from those around him,
0:35:01 > 0:35:07the young and confident Riley King was ready to cut his first sides.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11BB King first recorded for Bullet Records in Nashville, Tennessee.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14Jim Bullet owned the company.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16I think he had four sides he did.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19He did a thing for his first wife, Martha King.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21In fact, the song was recorded Martha King.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26I thought I was really making it at that time. As a musician.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Because I was recording!
0:35:34 > 0:35:38GUITAR INTRO
0:35:47 > 0:35:51# Now, it is 3 o'clock in the morning... #
0:35:53 > 0:35:56The first session that I did with BB in Memphis
0:35:56 > 0:36:02was 3 O'Clock Blues, was his hit record that came out of there.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06It was just...put the musicians together and do it.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08I was, "How big was that amplifier
0:36:08 > 0:36:10"you had on 3 O'Clock In The Morning?"
0:36:10 > 0:36:12He said, "About like that."
0:36:12 > 0:36:16And that's when you had that real natural tone.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18Wasn't nothing fictitious about it.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20That's exactly what you played,
0:36:20 > 0:36:24and what the amplifier gave you back.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26When he recorded 3 O'Clock Blues,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30that's when things really began to happen for him.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33He said, "I'd like to have a new guitar before we went in the studio."
0:36:33 > 0:36:35I said, "I'll buy you two of them."
0:36:35 > 0:36:38I bought him two guitars, that's when he called it Lucille.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41And he says, "I'll make you two hit records." Which he did.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48I always wanted to meet Helen.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Helen? Who is Helen?
0:36:50 > 0:36:54- Helen, your guitar. You know you... - Oh, are you talking about Lucille?
0:36:54 > 0:36:56This is Lucille. It's my baby.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02That's not the guitar I saw you with last night, BB.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04LAUGHTER
0:37:06 > 0:37:09The first one that was named Lucille
0:37:09 > 0:37:13was because of a fight in a little nightclub.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15And we played there, and we had to...
0:37:15 > 0:37:17It was like that big garbage can.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Like that one. Just like it! A little odd...!
0:37:22 > 0:37:27And they would half fill the can with kerosene.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Light that fuel, and that's what we had for heat.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34So this particular night, two guys start to fighting,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37and one of them knocked the other one over on this container.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41And the fuel spilled on the floor and it was already burning,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44so as they tried to put it out, it seemed to burn more.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Everybody in the little club dancing
0:37:47 > 0:37:50started to run outside, including me.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52But when I got on the outside,
0:37:52 > 0:37:55I remembered that I had ran off and left my guitar.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58So, I started back for it and the fellas working with me
0:37:58 > 0:38:02said, "No, don't do it." But I went anyway, and I got my guitar.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05But I was almost burned to death trying to save it.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09So the next morning, we found that two men had gotten burned,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12got trapped in the building and got burned to death.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15And we also found that these two guys was fighting about a lady
0:38:15 > 0:38:18and the lady's name was Lucille.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I named my guitar Lucille to remind me not to do a thing like that again.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24And I haven't!
0:38:27 > 0:38:29# Now, darling
0:38:29 > 0:38:32# Though I love you... #
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Beale Street entrepreneur Robert Henry
0:38:35 > 0:38:39started to look after the interests of BB King.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43This resulted in a national tour of the main black theatres and clubs
0:38:43 > 0:38:46known as the chitlin' circuit.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50The road was no place for a marriage -
0:38:50 > 0:38:53the road was BB King's new home.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58And he told me, he said, "Cille." I say, "Yes?"
0:38:58 > 0:38:59He said, "Ma's done left me."
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I says, "Girl, why you leavin'?"
0:39:02 > 0:39:04And she says, "Co' he won't stay at home.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06"He playin', goin' everywhere."
0:39:06 > 0:39:12I said, "Martha, BB can't like all them women as likin' him.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15"Either he playin', or... Girl, you's crazy.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17"You should stay with your husband."
0:39:17 > 0:39:19But she didn't.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23This business is a very difficult business,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26but I couldn't live without it
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and I don't think he could live without it either.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34# Oh, done left me...
0:39:34 > 0:39:41# Baby, for someone else... #
0:39:54 > 0:39:57When Bill Harvey signed on to BB...
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Bill Harvey, I think, had about 11.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02He had 11 piece.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06And he stayed with BB for 14 years.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Every record that BB put out after Harvey got with him -
0:40:09 > 0:40:12the first one was Woke Up The Morning - was hit, hit, hit.
0:40:12 > 0:40:13A little bit later on,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16after I had been touring for a while,
0:40:16 > 0:40:21then I turned the disc jockey loose and just toured.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23And I'm still doing that.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30At the time, when BB got his first bus, there was excitement,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35because coming from a station wagon onto a big Continental Railway bus,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38was just a marvellous feat for the group.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42And it was something that none of the other groups had either.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44ENGINE STARTS
0:40:44 > 0:40:48This is the original picture of the BB King Band
0:40:48 > 0:40:50on Beale Street in 1955.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Beale and Hernando, between Hernando and Third Street.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58I think everybody knows this band as the BB King Band.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02This is the BB King Band. No matter how many bands he goes through,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05this will always be the BB King Band.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07We were bad...!
0:41:07 > 0:41:09Yeah, we were good.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13Under your seat, you would have a box of food.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Like, pork and beans, sardines and crackers and that kind of stuff.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Because a lot of times you wouldn't have time to eat
0:41:21 > 0:41:24at a restaurant or cafe, per se,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27and it was very difficult.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30A lot of the places you couldn't go in anyway.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37And I've seen the Promised Land.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40I may not get there with you,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45but I want you to know tonight that we as a people
0:41:45 > 0:41:48will get to the Promised Land.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53De-segregation of America didn't start until the '60s.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57And BB had been on the road for a good 10, 12 years before that.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00You couldn't live...
0:42:00 > 0:42:03It was just the chitlin' circuit, that's what they called it.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Negro baseball played it,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07the big black bands played it -
0:42:07 > 0:42:09chitlin' circles all over America.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13That's what they call the black community - the chitlin' circuit.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15But y'all didn't think of it as the chitlin' circuit, did you?
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Well, that didn't matter about it...
0:42:18 > 0:42:22But y'all didn't realise that it was "the chitlin' circuit".
0:42:22 > 0:42:27- Oh, no...- Everybody knew that the black section of America
0:42:27 > 0:42:29was the chitlin' circuit!
0:42:29 > 0:42:33But, Earnest, hold on. You didn't refer to it as the chitlin' circuit.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Yes, they did! You get any books at that period,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40you'll know that that period was the chitlin' circuit.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42All the places where Negroes played.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46They accepted that was it, because you were playing black clubs.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49- Black clubs.- Black ballrooms.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53There wasn't no sign up, it was just verbage.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57- Chitlin' circuit?- Yes. - I don't know what that is!
0:42:59 > 0:43:01We played everywhere -
0:43:01 > 0:43:04Apollo Theatre to the honky-tonk joints.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06All over the country.
0:43:06 > 0:43:07B was always on the road.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09He's the only guy, I think...
0:43:09 > 0:43:14I think he's got a record that he played 365 days, one year,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16and I tell him all the time, I don't want that record.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18He can keep that one.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21I used to work 320 days a year -
0:43:21 > 0:43:23BB worked more gigs.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25I don't know where he gets the energy from.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30I mean, this man works more than anybody,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32because the road is his home.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38No night off, 365 days a year.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Some days, we didn't even get the chance to go to sleep.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46# I've got a sweet little angel
0:43:48 > 0:43:52# I love the way she spreads her wings... #
0:43:52 > 0:43:55He told me he wasn't going to ask my mom to get married,
0:43:55 > 0:44:00because he felt she would say no and he didn't want that.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03So he said, "We'll just have to wait until you get 18."
0:44:03 > 0:44:04So I said, "OK."
0:44:05 > 0:44:08And, uh, that's what we did.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10And he was in Detroit at the time.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Actually, I was 18 in March,
0:44:14 > 0:44:17but he wanted to put off getting married until June,
0:44:17 > 0:44:19when we were in Detroit,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23because he wanted Reverend Franklin, who was Aretha Franklin's father,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25to marry us.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27So we waited until we got to Detroit,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30got the licence and Reverend Franklin married us.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38All I know is he'd be a hard man to have a relationship with,
0:44:38 > 0:44:40because he's moving so fast.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42I mean, the dude sits down
0:44:42 > 0:44:43when he's playing,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46but he is running through the year.
0:44:46 > 0:44:47After we got married,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51we got in a car, went to Cleveland and went to work.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54We just kept going after that.
0:44:54 > 0:44:55One day led into another.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58# Tell me the reason why... #
0:45:02 > 0:45:04Yes, all right...
0:45:19 > 0:45:21In the early days, we'd love to go fishing.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25Any time he had the opportunity, he would go fishing.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27So, one day, he told me he was going fishing
0:45:27 > 0:45:30and he went out to the car and I said,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32"You're going fishing in your suit?"
0:45:32 > 0:45:34He says, "That's all I have."
0:45:34 > 0:45:36He says, "I don't have any other clothes,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38"so I have to go fishing in a suit."
0:45:38 > 0:45:39And it was a silk suit.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43So he went fishing in a silk suit.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46And it just shows you, whatever he wanted to do
0:45:46 > 0:45:48and however he felt like doing it,
0:45:48 > 0:45:49he would do it, no matter what.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53HE PLAYS BLUES RIFF
0:45:59 > 0:46:01First, I want to say, when I try to play,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04I try to play...not just for myself.
0:46:04 > 0:46:05I try to play for people.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09I want them to laugh. I want them to smile.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13The blues becomes a living thing when he's playing it.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15It's not somebody trying to play the blues.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20It becomes a palpable presence on stage.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30BB King is gone when he's playing.
0:46:30 > 0:46:31BB King's been gone
0:46:31 > 0:46:33in the world of the blues,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36just living in that ether,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38for so long
0:46:38 > 0:46:39that he belongs to it.
0:46:39 > 0:46:46I looked over, I heard this sound of, like, a 747 taking off,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48which is his voice,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51and I noticed that, as he stepped back from the microphone,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53his voice got louder,
0:46:53 > 0:46:58and...then I realised, as they say in New Orleans,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01"This is some other kind of shit."
0:47:01 > 0:47:04This is some other kind of shit - I don't know.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08There's some shamanism involved.
0:47:09 > 0:47:10I think when I was 15,
0:47:10 > 0:47:14I went and saw BB in concert, and...
0:47:15 > 0:47:17..completely changed my life.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20It's not about technique at all.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25The first thing that inspired me, that I got from BB King...
0:47:25 > 0:47:27He's concerned with telling a story.
0:47:27 > 0:47:34..was the direct...speaking to one, you know?
0:47:34 > 0:47:37He's concerned with moving people
0:47:37 > 0:47:43and I have, all of my career, with my writing and my playing,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46I have tried to maintain my focus on that.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51BB King's tone was the first sound -
0:47:51 > 0:47:55I now call it "SOCC".
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It means the "sound of collective consciousness".
0:48:06 > 0:48:08Woo!
0:48:08 > 0:48:12You can write a song and bullshit with it,
0:48:12 > 0:48:14but you can't...
0:48:14 > 0:48:18If you don't sell it, what the hell did you cut it for?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20BB knew how to sell it.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22He was great at this.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27ANNOUNCER: How about a nice, warm round of applause
0:48:27 > 0:48:30to welcome the world's greatest blues singer -
0:48:30 > 0:48:33the King Of The Blues, BB King!
0:48:33 > 0:48:36CHEERING AND SCREAMING
0:48:36 > 0:48:39When BB would come to Chicago, he played a lot of different venues.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42He played clubs, dances and places like that.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44And he also played the Regal Theatre.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Jimi Hendrix gave me my first copy of Live At The Regal.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52For me, that's just, like, the ultimate live BB King blues album.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56Recordings like Live At The Regal and Live At The Cook County Jail
0:48:56 > 0:48:58are two of my favourite live albums of all time.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01I think the fire and the passion in which he was performing
0:49:01 > 0:49:03on those two recordings is...
0:49:03 > 0:49:06I think it's hard to come close to matching that.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11Live At The Regal was like
0:49:11 > 0:49:14this pivotal musical watershed
0:49:14 > 0:49:18that took me away from the...
0:49:19 > 0:49:21The British blues temporarily,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23where I had just discovered the American blues
0:49:23 > 0:49:25for the very first time,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28after listening to Clapton and Peter Green and...
0:49:28 > 0:49:31You know, Paul Kossoff from the band Free
0:49:31 > 0:49:33and The Jeff Beck Group,
0:49:33 > 0:49:34and...you know,
0:49:34 > 0:49:36every incarnation of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38One of the things that BB has
0:49:38 > 0:49:40is a great rapport with the audience, you know.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42He did that song...
0:49:44 > 0:49:46# I bought you a brand-new Ford
0:49:46 > 0:49:48# And you wanted a Cadillac
0:49:49 > 0:49:52# I bought you a 10 dinner
0:49:53 > 0:49:55# You said, "Thanks for the snack"
0:49:57 > 0:49:59# I let you stay in my penthouse
0:49:59 > 0:50:02# And you said it was just a shack
0:50:02 > 0:50:05# I gave you seven children
0:50:05 > 0:50:07# And now you want to give 'em back
0:50:07 > 0:50:09# Now you want to give 'em back
0:50:09 > 0:50:12# Cos I've been downhearted, baby... #
0:50:14 > 0:50:17You want to hear BB King at the creme de la creme,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19like Dexter Gordon would say,
0:50:19 > 0:50:20listen to Live At The Regal
0:50:20 > 0:50:24and every note, every word, every song, everything,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28is...a perfect, flawless diamond, you know?
0:50:28 > 0:50:31And that's...where Peter Green got his tone.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33When you hear Peter Green,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36he sounds like BB King live at Regal.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41I remember hearing the big, thick notes, so...
0:50:41 > 0:50:42# Doo-doo-doo... #
0:50:42 > 0:50:43You know, he starts off,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47big, thick notes, not tangy or twangy.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51He starts off and goes through the tones of the guitar.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54We didn't know how to play for any white audiences -
0:50:54 > 0:50:58every once in a while, I'd have Eric Clapton and them...
0:50:58 > 0:51:02It was Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield,
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Michael Bloomfield...
0:51:04 > 0:51:06When they started showing up in clubs in Chicago,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09we wouldn't make enough money to buy a bottle of whiskey,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12so we'd go next door to get a bottle of wine at the liquor store,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14which was cheaper.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16And every time I saw a white face, I said,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18"Look out, man, there's a cop in the house."
0:51:18 > 0:51:22And that was these kids coming in,
0:51:22 > 0:51:23picking up on the type of blues
0:51:23 > 0:51:25that Muddy and me were always playing.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28I was 17 at a club in Beaumont called The Raven.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32I had a fake ID and got in.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37We were playing, and I saw these four white people coming in,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40and one was extra-white - Johnny Winter.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42I kept sending the band members up there
0:51:42 > 0:51:44to see if it was OK if I played,
0:51:44 > 0:51:46and he didn't know if I could play at all.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49"Can he play?" He said, "Yes."
0:51:51 > 0:51:52And he said, "Will you let him play?"
0:51:52 > 0:51:55I said, "I don't know, I'll let you know in a little while."
0:51:55 > 0:51:57We were the only white people in the club,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59and he had been having tax problems
0:51:59 > 0:52:03and he thought we were from the IRS, come to bust him for his taxes.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05So I was so shocked and surprised...
0:52:07 > 0:52:10that it wasn't about the IRS.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14It took me a little while to kind of get my feet back on the ground.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18He kept saying, "Well, we haven't arranged this.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20"I've heard all your records."
0:52:20 > 0:52:22He asked to see my union card.
0:52:24 > 0:52:25He really checked me out.
0:52:27 > 0:52:28I let him set in and he was good.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33I tell you, he was good. I tried him.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36I went through three or four different keys
0:52:36 > 0:52:39that a lot of guys are not too familiar with,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41and I was enjoying it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46But he was a genuine guy.
0:52:46 > 0:52:47He's a saint.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49He's a blues saint.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53All of us in this genre,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57all of us in any kind of roots music,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00we take what came before us.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05The people I think that influenced me most was...
0:53:05 > 0:53:07INDECIPHERABLE
0:53:07 > 0:53:11..Elmore James, I was crazy about Charlie Christian.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15And I also liked...
0:53:16 > 0:53:21one of my real favourites was Django Reinhardt.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31But I was crazy about Blind Lemon and Lonnie Johnson,
0:53:31 > 0:53:36just the sound that they had made me, I don't know, tingle inside.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42The last two or three generations are all students of BB.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Everybody from BB's generation are all students of T-Bo,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47I mean, he really was the guy.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50It was just before I went into the army, about '42, I think,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52I heard of a guy called T-Bone Walker.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56# I'm in love with a woman
0:53:59 > 0:54:01# But she's not in love with me... #
0:54:03 > 0:54:08T-Bone Walker, that was the best ever at doing what he did
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and how he did it.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13I loved him, still do.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16And I imagine today, if you listen to my playing,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19you'll hear a little bit of all of him, I'm telling my secret.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23But I think a little bit of all of those people I liked...
0:54:23 > 0:54:27with my own ideas, I created the BB King twingy guitar sound.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45It's tough because usually divorces come
0:54:45 > 0:54:48because of cheating, or you fall out of love...
0:54:49 > 0:54:52or you have money problems.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55We've had all those things and we've survived them.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02But...the love always stayed and, you know, it's...
0:55:08 > 0:55:11You just have to do it.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13If you're going to be a travelling musician,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16marriage should be something you wouldn't want to do...
0:55:16 > 0:55:18until you're not travelling a lot,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22because there's very few travelling musicians that I know...
0:55:22 > 0:55:26that have been able and successful in marriage life.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29It's very difficult to have a family life
0:55:29 > 0:55:32with someone who's working on the road 365 days a year.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35And the...
0:55:37 > 0:55:41We did have somewhat of an agreement that...
0:55:41 > 0:55:44he would cut back some...
0:55:44 > 0:55:47on his work, but...
0:55:47 > 0:55:51that was very unrealistic of me to expect.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56And you get to a point that you realise it is unrealistic.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Cos the nice thing is when you are married,
0:55:59 > 0:56:04terrible thing when you're being divorced. It's awful.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07If I had to do it all over again,
0:56:07 > 0:56:12would I...at this stage?
0:56:12 > 0:56:13Yes, I would.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18# Oh, I guess it's the chains that bind me
0:56:18 > 0:56:23# I can't shake it loose These chains and things... #
0:56:27 > 0:56:29He came to me, I didn't come to him.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31He was brought to me
0:56:31 > 0:56:34because he had financial problems,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38big-time, and he couldn't do anything, you know?
0:56:38 > 0:56:40And he had to understand
0:56:40 > 0:56:44and he had to listen to the rules, and he did.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Sid helped me out, helped me to get out of trouble with the government.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52A few other things, I said, "Look, you're my CPA,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56"but you've been doing everything that my manager should do.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00"Why don't you be my manager?" In fact, I asked him,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02he didn't ask me.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05I set up a master plan
0:57:05 > 0:57:08where we would be able to expose BB
0:57:08 > 0:57:10out of the chitlin' circuit and...
0:57:10 > 0:57:12INDECIPHERABLE
0:57:12 > 0:57:14..so he can make some money.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18He wasn't making any money to speak of, you know?
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Sid absolutely was
0:57:20 > 0:57:23sort of a gateway to BB's career
0:57:23 > 0:57:28and everything after that time period was kind of, sort of...
0:57:28 > 0:57:30You know, it was already in place.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46I didn't really become aware
0:57:46 > 0:57:52of blues, in general, until...
0:57:52 > 0:57:54the English guitar players
0:57:54 > 0:57:57started talking about it.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00By the time I'd done most of my homework,
0:58:00 > 0:58:02which was during my mid-20s,
0:58:02 > 0:58:07I was very fortunate to get invited to play by John Mayall.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10I would say that Eric was most influenced
0:58:10 > 0:58:13by Freddie King's playing,
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Mick Taylor was most influenced by Albert King
0:58:17 > 0:58:22and Peter Green was most definitely a BB King devotee.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25When I first met Jimi Hendrix, he talked about BB King.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29So now he comes out and plays just a couple of notes.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31Yeah, I know what you're saying,
0:58:31 > 0:58:35what you can say with a lot of notes,
0:58:35 > 0:58:38BB King would say with a couple of notes, you know...
0:58:40 > 0:58:44The wonderful thing about the three Kings...
0:58:46 > 0:58:52..is we all learned to play from them.
0:58:52 > 0:58:53The English invasion,
0:58:53 > 0:58:56I think that really introduced a lot of Americans, including me,
0:58:56 > 0:58:59to Howlin' Wolf and Slim Harpo and Muddy Waters.
0:58:59 > 0:59:03I probably got more exposed to that kind of Chicago blues
0:59:03 > 0:59:05and BB King, you know,
0:59:05 > 0:59:09through that access of the English blues guys
0:59:09 > 0:59:11and Eric Clapton, those...
0:59:11 > 0:59:14It was a great gift the Brits gave us.
0:59:14 > 0:59:17The British blues for me was more immediate and was more exciting.
0:59:17 > 0:59:22It was louder, it tended to be Les Paul guitar, Marshall amp -
0:59:22 > 0:59:23it was more rock.
0:59:31 > 0:59:33We do it better!
0:59:33 > 0:59:35That was the thing.
0:59:35 > 0:59:37We do it better.
0:59:37 > 0:59:41But it seemed to have had that elevation,
0:59:41 > 0:59:45that difference when the white boys started to sing the blues.
0:59:45 > 0:59:50They really put it on a different kind of a scale.
0:59:50 > 0:59:52Many of these young players coming along today
0:59:52 > 0:59:55have been really turned on by the way you play the guitar.
0:59:55 > 0:59:57- People like Mike Bloomfield. - He's wonderful.
0:59:57 > 1:00:00You hear yourself coming back from those bands?
1:00:00 > 1:00:03Ah, well...
1:00:03 > 1:00:05Yes, I believe I do.
1:00:05 > 1:00:10I don't want to stick my neck out there, but...I think so.
1:00:10 > 1:00:15But I 'm grateful that some of them seem to like me.
1:00:15 > 1:00:21I'm grateful because, to me, it seemed to open a few doors for us
1:00:21 > 1:00:25that seem like they were never going to be open.
1:00:26 > 1:00:28# Oh, because I-I-I
1:00:30 > 1:00:33# I need your love so bad
1:00:35 > 1:00:38# Need your soft voice
1:00:40 > 1:00:42# To talk to me at night... #
1:00:43 > 1:00:47The first chance to play in front of a white audience, it's like...
1:00:47 > 1:00:50Who are these people, you know?
1:00:50 > 1:00:53So I sent my road manager and told him to go and tell Bill
1:00:53 > 1:00:56I was there, but I thought it was the wrong place,
1:00:56 > 1:00:58so we were going to leave.
1:00:58 > 1:01:02So Bill came back out with the road manager, came on the bus,
1:01:02 > 1:01:05and he said, "No, you're at the right place."
1:01:05 > 1:01:07I happened to be there
1:01:07 > 1:01:12and the opening night was Otis Rush and Steve Miller and BB King.
1:01:12 > 1:01:15He said, "Ladies and gentlemen...
1:01:15 > 1:01:16"now would you believe that?"
1:01:16 > 1:01:19And when he said that, you could hear a pin drop.
1:01:19 > 1:01:22He said, "I bring you the chairman of the board, BB King."
1:01:22 > 1:01:27I've never been introduced like that before or since.
1:01:27 > 1:01:28APPLAUSE
1:01:28 > 1:01:31When he mentioned my name they all stood up.
1:01:31 > 1:01:34And for about three or four tunes after that
1:01:34 > 1:01:36they would stand up after every tune.
1:01:38 > 1:01:41And I was so touched till I cried, standing up there.
1:01:41 > 1:01:44It was like watching a chandelier -
1:01:44 > 1:01:45all I could see was his tears
1:01:45 > 1:01:49and the diamond ring that he had, to wipe his tears.
1:01:51 > 1:01:55And I was still washing dishes at the time, I was living with my mum,
1:01:55 > 1:01:59and when I saw BB receive that kind of adulation,
1:01:59 > 1:02:01that kind of honour...
1:02:02 > 1:02:05I said, "This is what I want."
1:02:05 > 1:02:10I felt weird. Felt real weird, but I did it.
1:02:12 > 1:02:15And after that, I cried back up the stairwell.
1:02:15 > 1:02:19It's like when Nat King Cole broke through and they accepted him,
1:02:19 > 1:02:21so we kept doing that
1:02:21 > 1:02:23after the initial '68 period,
1:02:23 > 1:02:26working the Fillmore, working colleges,
1:02:26 > 1:02:29and then all of a sudden we were able to book BB
1:02:29 > 1:02:31into these rock'n'roll clubs
1:02:31 > 1:02:36and other venues that never had black entertainers before.
1:02:36 > 1:02:40He shifted a gear from playing in black clubs.
1:02:40 > 1:02:44All of a sudden he was playing for white audiences
1:02:44 > 1:02:47and he shifted a couple of gears right there.
1:02:49 > 1:02:52And then BB could do whatever the hell he wanted to do.
1:02:52 > 1:02:56In their early days, including mine, you didn't get paid.
1:02:56 > 1:03:00You played well and you got drunk if you drank,
1:03:00 > 1:03:03and if you played well enough you got a good looking woman.
1:03:03 > 1:03:04So this was your pay.
1:03:04 > 1:03:10Women, just screamed, "BB, BB! BB! BB."
1:03:10 > 1:03:12I used to sell BBs.
1:03:12 > 1:03:14I used to sell BBs to women.
1:03:14 > 1:03:16This is BB King's BBs.
1:03:16 > 1:03:19Oh, yeah, I've been called a womaniser.
1:03:22 > 1:03:26I've been called many things pertaining to women.
1:03:26 > 1:03:27Most of 'em are true.
1:03:27 > 1:03:29And I love women.
1:03:29 > 1:03:35I don't think that most women would want me now at my age.
1:03:36 > 1:03:38A few might, because they might think
1:03:38 > 1:03:40I've saved a dollar or two here and there.
1:03:41 > 1:03:42Well...
1:03:42 > 1:03:45maybe a couple.
1:03:53 > 1:03:55# The thrill is gone
1:03:57 > 1:03:59# The thrill has gone away
1:04:02 > 1:04:06# Oh, the thrill is gone, baby
1:04:07 > 1:04:09# The thrill has gone away... #
1:04:09 > 1:04:11'I had been there about eight months,'
1:04:11 > 1:04:13and in the interim
1:04:13 > 1:04:17I had obviously looked at the artist roster that was there
1:04:17 > 1:04:21and I'd been a BB fan since I was a kid, literally.
1:04:21 > 1:04:22And I kept Bugging them,
1:04:22 > 1:04:25"I want to produce BB King, I want to produce BB."
1:04:25 > 1:04:30"You can't do that." "Why not?" "You're white and you're too young."
1:04:30 > 1:04:33# You know you done me wrong, baby
1:04:33 > 1:04:38# And you're going to be sorry someday... #
1:04:38 > 1:04:43'I figured if I could take some different players'
1:04:43 > 1:04:45and put them around BB,
1:04:45 > 1:04:47that something good would happen.
1:04:47 > 1:04:52So I pitched him on the idea and he said he was interested,
1:04:52 > 1:04:57but he said, "I don't want to really commit to this for a full album."
1:04:57 > 1:05:01So I said, "How about we do half of it live with your band
1:05:01 > 1:05:05"and then half of it with my band in the studio?"
1:05:05 > 1:05:08And he said, "OK, we'll do it that way." So that's Live & Well.
1:05:08 > 1:05:11Very shortly after that, it was only, like, eight months later,
1:05:11 > 1:05:13we were scheduled to do another album
1:05:13 > 1:05:16and I said I would like to do it all with my band and he said,
1:05:16 > 1:05:19"Sure, let's do it all the way."
1:05:19 > 1:05:21And that was the big success
1:05:21 > 1:05:24that resulted out of the second album, was The Thrill Is Gone.
1:05:27 > 1:05:29# The thrill is gone
1:05:32 > 1:05:37# The thrill is gone away... #
1:05:37 > 1:05:40We recorded that maybe around 10 or 11 o'clock at night
1:05:40 > 1:05:43and I'm listening back to it around two in the morning, you know,
1:05:43 > 1:05:47going through everything that we'd recorded that day
1:05:47 > 1:05:49and I had the idea to put strings on it.
1:05:49 > 1:05:54And I think that's probably the best idea I've ever had in my career.
1:05:55 > 1:05:58Because I think that's what took it to the pop charts.
1:05:58 > 1:06:04John actually brought in The Thrill Is Gone and played it to all of us.
1:06:04 > 1:06:07I've got a great memory of that.
1:06:07 > 1:06:10BB had, really, a million-selling record
1:06:10 > 1:06:14and that really put BB King into a different category completely.
1:06:23 > 1:06:27MUSIC: "Little Red Rooster" The Rolling Stones
1:06:31 > 1:06:33# I am the little red rooster... #
1:06:36 > 1:06:41Sid was a big proponent of exposing BB to other audiences,
1:06:41 > 1:06:45so sometimes he took dates that were not as lucrative financially
1:06:45 > 1:06:47in order to bring him to other audiences
1:06:47 > 1:06:49that were not exposed to him.
1:06:53 > 1:07:00My manager had a talk with some of the people connected with The Stones
1:07:00 > 1:07:02and asked them,
1:07:02 > 1:07:05or presented my name to them,
1:07:05 > 1:07:08that if they needed a, you might say,
1:07:08 > 1:07:11warm-up group or something of that sort,
1:07:11 > 1:07:12then I was available.
1:07:12 > 1:07:18We never saw BB or had anything to do with BB until '69,
1:07:18 > 1:07:19when we took him on tour.
1:07:19 > 1:07:23# Hounds begin to howl... #
1:07:27 > 1:07:29He would take the band right down to a whisper
1:07:29 > 1:07:30and it was amazing.
1:07:30 > 1:07:34You'd just hear the... With the little guitar lines,
1:07:34 > 1:07:36and then he'd build and build and build
1:07:36 > 1:07:39into this massive sound with the band.
1:07:57 > 1:08:00I had never heard dynamics like it, and I've never heard them since.
1:08:00 > 1:08:01I don't think anybody else
1:08:01 > 1:08:04has ever managed to achieve that kind of thing that he did.
1:08:04 > 1:08:06In a way I think it was an interesting time
1:08:06 > 1:08:09for black blues musicians,
1:08:09 > 1:08:11because it was probably one of the few times
1:08:11 > 1:08:15they got to play in stadiums to a predominantly white audience.
1:08:15 > 1:08:20The many people that I hadn't played, you know, to,
1:08:20 > 1:08:22or hadn't heard of me,
1:08:22 > 1:08:26started to listen to me and pay attention to me from that tour.
1:08:27 > 1:08:29# Please drive him home... #
1:08:32 > 1:08:35They themselves would be the first ones to admit
1:08:35 > 1:08:38that they started out as a blues band.
1:08:38 > 1:08:42They were always very good at playing homage to the...
1:08:42 > 1:08:45To the blues artists that influenced them.
1:08:45 > 1:08:49We went to record at the legendary Chess studios,
1:08:49 > 1:08:51which is on South Michigan Avenue.
1:08:51 > 1:08:56They wanted to know how we were doing it and why we wanted to do it.
1:08:56 > 1:09:00"Why do you want to play like me?"
1:09:00 > 1:09:02It's some very good stuff.
1:09:06 > 1:09:08And one day I might get there.
1:09:08 > 1:09:10They were very, very generous to us,
1:09:10 > 1:09:13and they passed on all their tips and gave us all the help
1:09:13 > 1:09:15and they were very, very kind
1:09:15 > 1:09:17and I want to salute those guys.
1:09:17 > 1:09:21Most of them are not with us any more. Of course, one is BB King...
1:09:21 > 1:09:23CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:09:37 > 1:09:41The only tune I ever brought in that I asked BB to do,
1:09:41 > 1:09:44that was Hummingbird, the Leon Russell song.
1:09:45 > 1:09:48To get Leon to come and play with BB -
1:09:48 > 1:09:52getting people to come and play with BB was never a problem.
1:09:52 > 1:09:56I played on a song called Hummingbird,
1:09:56 > 1:09:59that Leon Russell wrote.
1:09:59 > 1:10:01He plays those little obbligatos.
1:10:01 > 1:10:05When he sings he plays a lick, he sings and plays another lick -
1:10:05 > 1:10:08turns out he does that when he talks too.
1:10:08 > 1:10:10He was talking to me
1:10:10 > 1:10:13and one time I was standing and... Ta-da-tam.
1:10:13 > 1:10:16And I listened to it a couple of times
1:10:16 > 1:10:19and I started playing the background to it.
1:10:19 > 1:10:23They're not all the same, they're not all in the same keys,
1:10:23 > 1:10:25they're not the same groove, or anything.
1:10:25 > 1:10:27And so he had finished it,
1:10:27 > 1:10:31we'd finished the song, what key, whatever it was,
1:10:31 > 1:10:35and we played the ending, and he didn't say anything.
1:10:35 > 1:10:38He started talking about something else and he'd play something else
1:10:38 > 1:10:40and I'd play that background.
1:10:40 > 1:10:42We got into about the third one
1:10:42 > 1:10:45and BB started crying. He said...
1:10:47 > 1:10:50He said "I've never had that before."
1:10:50 > 1:10:53So it was very touching to me.
1:10:53 > 1:10:55I was such a student of his
1:10:55 > 1:11:00and I knew what he meant when he said those things on the guitar,
1:11:00 > 1:11:02so it was a great compliment.
1:11:25 > 1:11:29In 1971, BB King flew the nest
1:11:29 > 1:11:32and ventured on his first overseas tour.
1:11:32 > 1:11:38This accumulated in a collaborative album called BB King In London.
1:11:39 > 1:11:41# And I love her just the same... #
1:11:41 > 1:11:45OK, we're starting again from the top,
1:11:45 > 1:11:47so you get a feel for what I'm talking about.
1:11:47 > 1:11:49The top of the last one, OK?
1:11:49 > 1:11:52# Fast-moving baby
1:11:52 > 1:11:56# I can't do nothing to slow you down
1:11:56 > 1:11:59# Your speed is supersonic, mama
1:11:59 > 1:12:04# And you're faster than sound Now, now... #
1:12:08 > 1:12:11You don't belong to the union, man.
1:12:11 > 1:12:14When BB came to London to make that album,
1:12:14 > 1:12:18BB In London, I was invited to play.
1:12:18 > 1:12:19It was just incredible.
1:12:19 > 1:12:23We were playing away and BB sort of looks at me
1:12:23 > 1:12:27and I thought, he wants to end the song.
1:12:27 > 1:12:29Ba-dam, bam bab-idy bam.
1:12:29 > 1:12:30Bam!
1:12:30 > 1:12:33And he goes, "Too good to lose."
1:12:33 > 1:12:36And we came right in again. It was like, "Oh my God!"
1:12:36 > 1:12:40It was so great, we just kicked it in again.
1:12:40 > 1:12:44And he did pay me a huge compliment in those sessions,
1:12:44 > 1:12:45because he called me,
1:12:45 > 1:12:50"You are just like a clock - tick-tock, tick-tock."
1:12:50 > 1:12:52He just had everything.
1:12:52 > 1:12:54Everything that you'd want out of a performer.
1:12:54 > 1:12:56He had the energy, the charisma.
1:12:56 > 1:12:59You know, he's handsome, he's got beautiful tone.
1:12:59 > 1:13:02Everything had a meaning. Every note...just like a punch.
1:13:04 > 1:13:06CROWD CHEERS
1:13:06 > 1:13:09In 1974, I produced a big event,
1:13:09 > 1:13:11I stepped out of my usual life
1:13:11 > 1:13:14and produced this big event in Zaire in 1974
1:13:14 > 1:13:18that surrounded the fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.
1:13:18 > 1:13:21And I brought BB over.
1:13:21 > 1:13:23BB came without a band
1:13:23 > 1:13:27and was backed by the Crusaders, who I was producing.
1:13:27 > 1:13:30So BB was knocked out with how that went.
1:13:30 > 1:13:33A few years later, I got a call from BB
1:13:33 > 1:13:38saying that he really needed to make a record and would I be interested?
1:13:38 > 1:13:42So we sat down with Joe Sample from the Crusaders,
1:13:42 > 1:13:46who was the piano player, and I put him together with a great lyricist,
1:13:46 > 1:13:49a young lyricist named Will Jennings, at the time.
1:13:49 > 1:13:51We made our first record with BB.
1:13:51 > 1:13:54The magic of recording is the danger in recording.
1:13:54 > 1:13:58When someone's played something for three years and they come up,
1:13:58 > 1:14:01they walk into a studio and play it, they know it,
1:14:01 > 1:14:03they've been through it so many times,
1:14:03 > 1:14:05but when they're engaging it for the first time,
1:14:05 > 1:14:08and if you can capture that moment,
1:14:08 > 1:14:11you've got yourself something special.
1:14:11 > 1:14:14HE HOLLERS
1:14:16 > 1:14:20HE HOLLERS
1:14:24 > 1:14:28# Oh! What do I have to do?!
1:14:28 > 1:14:31# Yeah! #
1:14:36 > 1:14:40Oh! CHEERING
1:14:40 > 1:14:42Thank you!
1:14:42 > 1:14:43# Hold on
1:14:43 > 1:14:46# I feel our love is changing
1:14:46 > 1:14:48# Hold on...#
1:14:48 > 1:14:50At the end of that first album,
1:14:50 > 1:14:52he said, "I made a mistake, I left Sid."
1:14:52 > 1:14:55"I wish I hadn't done it, it was a mistake"
1:14:55 > 1:14:57"and I don't know if Sid would ever..." And I said,
1:14:57 > 1:14:58"What are you trying to say, BB?"
1:14:58 > 1:15:01He said, "Well, I think we got a winner here
1:15:01 > 1:15:04"and I need somebody to help me navigate it, you know what I mean?"
1:15:04 > 1:15:07So I said, "Well, why don't I make a call to Sid?
1:15:07 > 1:15:08"You want me to do that?"
1:15:08 > 1:15:12And I said, "Sid, I think we got a hit album with BB,
1:15:12 > 1:15:15"he wants you to come back."
1:15:15 > 1:15:18He said, "Did he say that?" I said, "Not in that many words,
1:15:18 > 1:15:19"but I think you should come out, man."
1:15:19 > 1:15:22And he says, "I'll take the red-eye."
1:15:22 > 1:15:24So the next day...
1:15:24 > 1:15:26he showed up at studio
1:15:26 > 1:15:29and they were there till the day Sid died.
1:15:29 > 1:15:34# I'm nothing without you here. #
1:15:34 > 1:15:39There was a time when he was doing 300-plus days a year.
1:15:39 > 1:15:43And I'm talking about back in the late-'70s
1:15:43 > 1:15:47and all through the '80s and the first part of '90s.
1:15:47 > 1:15:52Many people tend to slow down in their 60s. Not BB King.
1:15:52 > 1:15:56His next collaboration with a young band from Ireland
1:15:56 > 1:16:01was about to propel BB to a whole new audience.
1:16:01 > 1:16:03Well, you tour with the Rolling Stones
1:16:03 > 1:16:05and then you go with the popular group of now,
1:16:05 > 1:16:07and that's with Bono and U2.
1:16:07 > 1:16:10- Huh? - BB LAUGHS
1:16:10 > 1:16:11My number one.
1:16:11 > 1:16:13CHEERING
1:16:19 > 1:16:21CHEERING
1:16:22 > 1:16:26Keith Richards played blues records to us...
1:16:26 > 1:16:32and I began this kind of journey to discover who were the greats.
1:16:32 > 1:16:38And, you know, BB King is not just, you know...great,
1:16:38 > 1:16:41he's like... Great!
1:16:41 > 1:16:43CHEERING
1:16:43 > 1:16:46Believe it or not, BB King came to Dublin, Ireland,
1:16:46 > 1:16:49and he was playing in this club in Dublin, Ireland,
1:16:49 > 1:16:51and we wrote this song for him.
1:16:51 > 1:16:54It's called When Love Comes To Town.
1:16:54 > 1:16:56I went and listened to the tape
1:16:56 > 1:17:00and I was able to... kind of get some of it together.
1:17:00 > 1:17:02- I hope you like the song - I love the song.
1:17:02 > 1:17:07I think the lyric is really... A real heavy lyric.
1:17:07 > 1:17:11You're mighty young to write such heavy lyrics. BONO LAUGHS
1:17:11 > 1:17:14# Hey, yeah, yeah!
1:17:14 > 1:17:18# Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah!
1:17:18 > 1:17:22# I was a sailor I was lost at sea... #
1:17:22 > 1:17:26I gave it my absolute...you know,
1:17:26 > 1:17:30everything I had in that howl
1:17:30 > 1:17:32at the start of the song.
1:17:32 > 1:17:36And then BB King opened up his mouth
1:17:36 > 1:17:37and I felt like a girl.
1:17:37 > 1:17:40# I stand accused of the things I've said
1:17:40 > 1:17:45BOTH: # When love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
1:17:45 > 1:17:48# When Love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame
1:17:48 > 1:17:52# Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
1:17:52 > 1:17:56# But I did what I did before love came to town. #
1:17:59 > 1:18:02We had learnt, we'd absorbed,
1:18:02 > 1:18:08but the more we try to be...like BB
1:18:08 > 1:18:11the less convincing we were.
1:18:11 > 1:18:12I'm no good with chords,
1:18:12 > 1:18:17- so what we do is get somebody else to play chords.- Sure.
1:18:17 > 1:18:21- Well, Adrian can do that. There's not much chords in the song.- Yeah.
1:18:21 > 1:18:23- I think there's only two. - I'm horrible with chords.
1:18:30 > 1:18:33When we were working on When Love Comes To Town,
1:18:33 > 1:18:35we were sitting around...
1:18:35 > 1:18:38and we were showing him the chords.
1:18:38 > 1:18:41And he said, "Gentlemen...
1:18:41 > 1:18:43"Gentlemen...
1:18:43 > 1:18:46"I don't do chords.
1:18:47 > 1:18:49"I do this."
1:18:49 > 1:18:51I don't know what to do there.
1:18:51 > 1:18:54- I'm just trying...- Yeah.
1:18:54 > 1:18:56- That'll do. - BONO LAUGHS
1:18:58 > 1:19:01But there was this great sense of camaraderie in his band
1:19:01 > 1:19:06and it was a joy, just a joy to share a stage with BB King.
1:19:06 > 1:19:11That rich, brassy sound they had behind him with the horn section
1:19:11 > 1:19:13and... And then his...
1:19:13 > 1:19:15His grace, you know.
1:19:15 > 1:19:19He's... He's a lesson in grace.
1:19:20 > 1:19:22Thank you. Good night!
1:19:25 > 1:19:27- LAUGHTER - All right.
1:19:27 > 1:19:30Let's all go for it.
1:19:30 > 1:19:32A lot of emotion right there.
1:19:32 > 1:19:34That's all right, young man.
1:19:34 > 1:19:35That's all right.
1:19:35 > 1:19:39The debt is very much in his direction.
1:19:46 > 1:19:50The character of any great musician is usually identifiable
1:19:50 > 1:19:54by the individuality of their vibrato.
1:19:58 > 1:20:00Most players are recognisable
1:20:00 > 1:20:03by that particular facet of their playing,
1:20:03 > 1:20:07and that's how I would know BB's playing.
1:20:07 > 1:20:10I can tell BB from one note,
1:20:10 > 1:20:13- you know, most of us can, I think. - I'd say that's true, yeah.
1:20:13 > 1:20:17Yeah, I mean, his sound is completely unique to him.
1:20:17 > 1:20:20If you can just play one note and somebody else can say,
1:20:20 > 1:20:22"I recognise who that is."
1:20:22 > 1:20:24From one note you know that's him and Lucille.
1:20:24 > 1:20:28He can take one note and make it so sexy.
1:20:28 > 1:20:30One note, you know, is all it takes.
1:20:30 > 1:20:34- The note with the vibrato. - One note.- One note.- One note.
1:20:38 > 1:20:40That note is not in the amplifier
1:20:40 > 1:20:42and it's not even at his fingers,
1:20:42 > 1:20:44it's coming from the centre of his heart.
1:20:44 > 1:20:48You know, I can hear BB King with the sound off on the TV,
1:20:48 > 1:20:50just by looking at his face.
1:21:02 > 1:21:04CHEERING
1:21:07 > 1:21:11I remember Eric Clapton was on CNN
1:21:11 > 1:21:14and they asked him who he had never played with,
1:21:14 > 1:21:18and BB evidently was watching it, because I was,
1:21:18 > 1:21:19and he said, "BB King."
1:21:19 > 1:21:22The first time I met him, I sat and played with him.
1:21:22 > 1:21:25There are pictures of me and him sitting on amplifiers, you know,
1:21:25 > 1:21:28it's a long time ago, '66, '67,
1:21:28 > 1:21:32and that was it for me. One of my dreams come true.
1:21:32 > 1:21:36MUSIC: "Riding With The King" by BB King and Eric Clapton
1:21:40 > 1:21:43# I dreamed I had a good job
1:21:43 > 1:21:45# And I got well paid
1:21:46 > 1:21:51# I blew it all at the penny arcade... #
1:21:52 > 1:21:56The CD he did with me called Riding With The King -
1:21:56 > 1:21:58he named it, I didn't.
1:21:58 > 1:22:03He had the ideas, most of the ideas for it.
1:22:03 > 1:22:04HE had them, I didn't.
1:22:04 > 1:22:06And it was my CD,
1:22:06 > 1:22:09but I had told him when we started,
1:22:09 > 1:22:11because his ideas I respect.
1:22:11 > 1:22:15"Next year, don't do anything during that period and we'll do it."
1:22:15 > 1:22:17And he stuck to it, you know,
1:22:17 > 1:22:20it was a commitment we both kept.
1:22:20 > 1:22:23When I'm going in the studio to do what I do,
1:22:23 > 1:22:26I don't need you, Eric,
1:22:26 > 1:22:30- nobody else, to show me what- I- want to do,
1:22:30 > 1:22:32but I listen to ideas.
1:22:32 > 1:22:34And I listened to a lot of his ideas,
1:22:34 > 1:22:37and he had a lot of good ones for Riding With The King.
1:22:37 > 1:22:40So I thought, well, the best thing to do is,
1:22:40 > 1:22:43we'll just go into the room with a couple of acoustic guitars
1:22:43 > 1:22:45and see what comes out.
1:22:45 > 1:22:50"Whatever you think is good, we'll try it." And we did.
1:22:50 > 1:22:53And they were good.
1:22:53 > 1:22:54Everything.
1:22:54 > 1:22:57Except trying to make me play acoustic guitar,
1:22:57 > 1:22:58I didn't like that.
1:22:58 > 1:23:00HE LAUGHS
1:23:00 > 1:23:03I had been cut all to pieces
1:23:03 > 1:23:06by a guy called Alexis Korner.
1:23:07 > 1:23:12Alexis Korner said, "B, I got two Martin guitars, acoustic guitars,
1:23:12 > 1:23:18"and I got an idea for something I call Alexis Boogie. So let's try it."
1:23:18 > 1:23:24But, boy, when we started the recording, he just cut me to pieces.
1:23:24 > 1:23:31I said, "A-ha! I will never play another one as long as you're alive!
1:23:31 > 1:23:34'And I didn't!
1:23:34 > 1:23:36'I promised I wouldn't do it again'
1:23:36 > 1:23:38but Alexis is dead now, so I'll try.
1:23:38 > 1:23:40And he did the same thing,
1:23:40 > 1:23:43cut me to pieces, so I won't do it again.
1:23:45 > 1:23:47Is he kidding?
1:23:47 > 1:23:51From day one with BB, from that day at the Cafe Au Go Go until now,
1:23:51 > 1:23:55we just sit down and play and have a few laughs along the way.
1:23:55 > 1:23:56It's very relaxed.
1:23:58 > 1:24:01These youngsters are playing so good,
1:24:01 > 1:24:06I hear them and say to myself, "Oh, God, I might as well quit now."
1:24:06 > 1:24:10And another mind says, "How you going to eat?"
1:24:10 > 1:24:12So that's one of the reasons I haven't quit.
1:24:14 > 1:24:17I think that he's going to keep on doing what he's been doing.
1:24:17 > 1:24:22At the moment, we work three weeks on and three weeks off.
1:24:22 > 1:24:26And BB used the expression, "That's going to be carved in stone."
1:24:27 > 1:24:30CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:24:30 > 1:24:32Yeah!
1:24:32 > 1:24:34CROWD: BB! BB! BB!
1:24:40 > 1:24:42When you mention the name BB King,
1:24:42 > 1:24:46everybody can identify with his hometown
1:24:46 > 1:24:48and many of them began to know that
1:24:48 > 1:24:51that hometown is Indianola, Mississippi.
1:25:03 > 1:25:05The Medgar Evers Homecoming
1:25:05 > 1:25:08was originally started by BB King.
1:25:09 > 1:25:12Every year I go down there for what we call Homecoming.
1:25:17 > 1:25:20BB came up and stayed at Mississippi,
1:25:20 > 1:25:23there was sweltering heat and racism and bigotry.
1:25:23 > 1:25:26And anyone who had the nerve and the fortitude
1:25:26 > 1:25:29to go out and fight to change that, BB supported,
1:25:29 > 1:25:31and Medgar was the one who chose to do that in Mississippi
1:25:31 > 1:25:34and the first to lead us into that.
1:25:34 > 1:25:38In 2008, Indianola showed its gratitude
1:25:38 > 1:25:40and opened the BB King Museum.
1:25:40 > 1:25:46Every year tens of thousands of people visit from all over the world
1:25:46 > 1:25:48to this little town in Mississippi
1:25:48 > 1:25:52to share in one of the greatest journeys ever told.
1:25:58 > 1:26:00All right, put your hands over her head, please.
1:26:00 > 1:26:02CHEERING
1:26:02 > 1:26:04OK, one more time.
1:26:08 > 1:26:12You know, the only person who doesn't think BB is great
1:26:12 > 1:26:14is probably BB.
1:26:14 > 1:26:18People call me King Of The Blues, I've heard it many, many times.
1:26:18 > 1:26:21Do you think I think that? No, I do not.
1:26:21 > 1:26:24I think there's a lot of people can do exactly what I do,
1:26:24 > 1:26:26and a lot of them can do it better.
1:26:26 > 1:26:27They're just not me.
1:26:29 > 1:26:32# Did you ever hear a church bell tone?
1:26:35 > 1:26:38# Ever hear a church bell tone?
1:26:38 > 1:26:43# Did you ever hear a church bell tone?
1:26:43 > 1:26:48# Then you know that old B is dead and gone... #
1:26:48 > 1:26:50He never forgets old friends.
1:26:50 > 1:26:54If he's aware of a situation with one, or an old band member,
1:26:54 > 1:26:58he considers them all family, current and past.
1:26:58 > 1:27:00He cares about people.
1:27:00 > 1:27:02He loves people.
1:27:02 > 1:27:06And I think he's the most easy-going person I ever seen.
1:27:06 > 1:27:12He wanted to share his talent and his soul with the world,
1:27:12 > 1:27:13and that's what he did.
1:27:15 > 1:27:17He's a one of a kind.
1:27:18 > 1:27:20I mean, he's just like...
1:27:20 > 1:27:22you know. Unbelievable.
1:27:22 > 1:27:24There's only one BB.
1:27:24 > 1:27:26Friedrich Nietzsche..
1:27:26 > 1:27:33Nietzsche, said for true greatness to take place,
1:27:33 > 1:27:37there requires a long obedience
1:27:37 > 1:27:39in the same direction.
1:27:39 > 1:27:42I can't tell anybody what I want to hear,
1:27:42 > 1:27:43but I have a...
1:27:45 > 1:27:49I hear it myself, but I can't play it.
1:27:49 > 1:27:52I'd don't know how to really get it myself.
1:27:52 > 1:27:55I think sometimes the sound that I hear
1:27:55 > 1:27:59has never been the sound that I want to hear,
1:27:59 > 1:28:01if that makes sense.
1:28:01 > 1:28:03It is a little sound that I hear,
1:28:03 > 1:28:06but I can't tell anybody about it.
1:28:06 > 1:28:11When I hear what I would like to hear, if ever,
1:28:11 > 1:28:12I think I'd have to stop,
1:28:12 > 1:28:16because it probably won't sound as good as I'm thinking it will!
1:28:16 > 1:28:20I think that as a lesson in living
1:28:20 > 1:28:23you can look at BB and also learn what it's like to be a man
1:28:23 > 1:28:26and get through all those difficult times he had
1:28:26 > 1:28:29and come through with the heart that he still has.
1:28:29 > 1:28:31It's no mean accomplishment.
1:28:31 > 1:28:34I don't think I've done the best that I could have done.
1:28:34 > 1:28:37I thought I had.
1:28:37 > 1:28:42I thought that I did everything the best I could,
1:28:42 > 1:28:45but when I look back I see there's some slacks.
1:28:45 > 1:28:47You can do better.
1:28:47 > 1:28:49I have never told him,
1:28:49 > 1:28:52but I sometimes call him father of us all
1:28:52 > 1:28:55because that's the way I see him.
1:28:55 > 1:28:57It is very difficult to find words to say.
1:29:02 > 1:29:04Excuse me.
1:29:04 > 1:29:07He sang the blues and did a great job of it
1:29:07 > 1:29:09and rose to a great height,
1:29:09 > 1:29:14where even invited by kings and potentates from where he was.
1:29:15 > 1:29:18I have never met a king before,
1:29:18 > 1:29:20so I'm a bit nervous
1:29:20 > 1:29:23but also grateful.
1:29:23 > 1:29:25So grateful. Thank you.
1:29:28 > 1:29:33I said, "Holy Father, I know you're always doing things for others
1:29:33 > 1:29:37"so I wanted to do something for you, sir," I said.
1:29:37 > 1:29:40I'd like to offer my guitar to you.
1:29:40 > 1:29:42He took it himself.
1:29:42 > 1:29:46He stepped in and took it from the guy and he smiled again.
1:29:46 > 1:29:51Then he said, "Happy holidays to you and your family, BB."
1:29:51 > 1:29:54Oh, my God. He said BB!
1:29:56 > 1:30:00# Through the night
1:30:00 > 1:30:04# Lead me, oh, Lord
1:30:04 > 1:30:07# To the light
1:30:07 > 1:30:11# Take my hand... #
1:30:11 > 1:30:15Some nights, when you want to go out and just take a walk,
1:30:15 > 1:30:18clear your head, or jump into a car just to take a drive,
1:30:18 > 1:30:21you can't do it - Secret Service won't let you,
1:30:21 > 1:30:22and that's frustrating.
1:30:22 > 1:30:24But then there are other nights
1:30:24 > 1:30:29where BB King and Mick Jagger come over to your house
1:30:29 > 1:30:30to play for a concert!
1:30:32 > 1:30:35# Come on!
1:30:35 > 1:30:38# Baby, don't you want to go?
1:30:40 > 1:30:43# Ain't no place
1:30:43 > 1:30:45# Sweet home, Chicago! #
1:30:47 > 1:30:48And now it is my honour,
1:30:48 > 1:30:52as Governor of the State of Mississippi
1:30:52 > 1:30:54to proclaim February 15th 2005
1:30:54 > 1:30:58as BB King Day for the entire State of Mississippi,
1:30:58 > 1:31:04and I urge all citizens to join me and the legislature
1:31:04 > 1:31:07in celebrating and honouring this great Mississippian.
1:31:07 > 1:31:11APPLAUSE
1:31:17 > 1:31:20Only God knows how I feel.
1:31:20 > 1:31:22I'm so happy, thank you.
1:31:22 > 1:31:25APPLAUSE
1:31:32 > 1:31:36The only thing about the blues, when BB's gone, the world goes on.
1:31:36 > 1:31:38It's not going to stop cos BB King leaves,
1:31:38 > 1:31:40but it will never be the same.
1:31:40 > 1:31:42But I'm here to tell you
1:31:42 > 1:31:44BB is leaving a legend that's going to be hard to be beaten.
1:31:44 > 1:31:47We just got a BB King in our life.
1:31:50 > 1:31:52And there ain't nothing else like it.
1:31:52 > 1:31:55When I start to sound as bad
1:31:55 > 1:31:59as I think I will when I get to a certain age...
1:31:59 > 1:32:01I hope that, you know,
1:32:01 > 1:32:05that little bell will ring in my head saying it's time to stop.
1:32:05 > 1:32:07But other than that,
1:32:07 > 1:32:11I wait until the great one upstairs take me away.
1:32:12 > 1:32:14I don't feel bad.
1:32:14 > 1:32:17I feel pretty good at 85, so...
1:32:17 > 1:32:19here I am.
1:32:19 > 1:32:21That's the best I can answer.
1:32:22 > 1:32:25Today, at the Homecoming,
1:32:25 > 1:32:28I saw a little boy in the choir
1:32:28 > 1:32:33that reminded me so much of little Riley King, me - you know, moi.
1:32:35 > 1:32:39And I almost cried thinking that here he is today,
1:32:39 > 1:32:43he didn't have to go through what I went through.
1:32:43 > 1:32:45What is it that I could have told him,
1:32:45 > 1:32:48or could tell you, that would the make life better
1:32:48 > 1:32:52for that little guy that looked like a little Riley King?
1:32:53 > 1:32:58Then I smile and think... the sky's the limit.
1:32:59 > 1:33:04What do you want to do with your music and with your singing?
1:33:04 > 1:33:07Play the best that I can,
1:33:07 > 1:33:09reach as many people as I can,
1:33:09 > 1:33:11in as many countries.
1:33:11 > 1:33:13I would like the whole world
1:33:13 > 1:33:16to be able to hear BB King sing and play the blues.
1:33:17 > 1:33:22# I swear by stars above
1:33:23 > 1:33:31# I'll keep my word, my love! #
1:33:47 > 1:33:51# Lord, I wonder, yes, I wonder
1:33:51 > 1:33:55# Do my baby think of me?
1:33:59 > 1:34:03# Oh, I wonder, Lord, I wonder
1:34:03 > 1:34:07# Do my baby think of me?
1:34:11 > 1:34:15# Now I wonder, Lord, I wonder
1:34:15 > 1:34:18# Will my babe come back to me?
1:34:23 > 1:34:26# Yes, she been gone so long
1:34:28 > 1:34:31# Just can't stand it no more
1:34:36 > 1:34:39# Whoa, she been gone so long
1:34:40 > 1:34:43# Just can't stand it no more
1:34:49 > 1:34:53# Now I ain't got nobody
1:34:53 > 1:34:56# Have no place to go
1:35:37 > 1:35:41# Yeah, I think when she left me
1:35:41 > 1:35:44# Yeah, she went to somebody else
1:35:49 > 1:35:53# Oh, I think when she left me
1:35:53 > 1:35:57# Yeah, she went to somebody else
1:36:01 > 1:36:05# Now if she don't come back to me soon
1:36:05 > 1:36:09# Think I'm gonna leave myself. #