(Sonny Boy Williamson, Arc Music Corp., BMI)
Recorded August 7,1956
Sonny Boy Williamson (vocal-harmonica)
Robert Lockwood, Jr., Luther Tucker (guitar)
Willie Dixon (bass)
Fred Below (drums)
Originally Checker single 847
Under the auspices of Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy recorded his second R&B hit, the relaxed "Keep It To Yourself," at his third Chess session. Sonny Boy often recorded a pairing of one uptempo number plus a slower ballad; this particular track was coupled with "The Key To Your Door". Lockwood and Tucker trade elegant guitar licks.
...
"Baby, do me a favor, keep our business to yourself
Please, darling, do me a favor, keep our business to yourself
I don't want you to tell nobody in your family,
And don't mention it to nobody else
Don't tell your mother
Don't tell your father
Don't tell your sister
Don't mention it to your brother
Please, darling, keep our business to yourself
Don't you tell nobody,
And don't mention it to nobody else
You have a husband,
I have a wife
If you start to talkin',
That's gonna mess up our life
Please, please baby, keep our business to yourself
Don't you tell nobody,
And don't mention it to nobody else
Goodbye darlin'."
Sonny Boy was, legitimately, “The King of the Delta Blues Harmonica.” whose career spanned most of the Golden Era of delta blues began as a preacher “Reverend Blue” at age six and by the 1930s he was playing with blues legend Robert Johnson and his stepson Robert Lockwood Jr., with whom he was playing amplified blues as early as 1938 (six years before Muddy Waters owned an electric guitar).
His music and life was remembered in the life stories of more blues musicians than any other and more songs were written celebrating his music both during his life and after his death than any other blues musician on either side of the Atlantic.