The Return Of Richard’s Biscuit - J. A. Mills (SOCAN)

Well------------ll
I feel
I feel so good,
I got to boogie,
‘Till the break of day

Verse 1

Gonna do a little boogie,
For a guy I knew
A mighty man
Known as Richard Newell

He did the Boogie,
and when Richard did the boogie, he didn’t do no ordinary boogie
He did the vibratin’, pulsatin’, oscillatin’, agitatin’, circulatin’, gyratin’, palpitatin’, leg breakin’ hip-shakin’ back bacon boogie ‘till the break a day

Verse 2

He tore the playhouse down,
did the boogie walk too
A little barefoot rock,
and got down on the blues

Do the Boogie
The vibratin’, pulsatin’, oscillatin’, agitatin’, circulatin’, gyratin’, palpitatin’, leg breakin’ hip-shakin’ back bacon boogie ‘till the break a day


I tell you people the first time I pulled into the driveway at East 25th street the front door opened and there stood the mighty King Biscuit Boy with a toasted fried egg sandwich in one hand and a harmonica in the other. He said come on in here Johnny and let me have a look at you. As I stepped inside his house Richard raised his arms, and started shakin’ his hands while he sang along with the stereo “You got the boogie disease son, a penicillin shot can’t help you, you might get better but you’ll never get well”. Why it was none other than the good doctor talking, the one and only Dr. Isaiah Ross singing “Boogie Disease”, “Chicago Breakdown”, Memphis Boogie”, “Polly Put The Kettle On” I was so inspired I went and got my guitar out of the truck, and we started jamming along with the good doctor’s record like this here.


Man this doctor’s boogie is hayseed deluxe, I closed my eyes and swore I saw chickens in the barnyard doing the peck and cluck, it felt so good I could of played that boogie all day, but Richard turned to me and said “Johnny there’s all kinds of boogie to hear, and plenty more boogie to play, so take two aspirins and send the doctor on his way. ”


Verse 3

Gonna boogie for the doctor
Boogie for the nurse
Gonna keep on boogiein’
‘till they roll me in a hearse

Boogie, let’s boogie awhile

Do the vibratin’, pulsatin’, oscillatin’, agitatin’, circulatin’, gyratin’, palpitatin’, leg breakin’ hip-shakin’ back bacon, bald-head rhumba boogie ‘till the break of day


Right about that time Richard put on some John Lee Hooker recordings from 1948 in Detroit City and as we listened to John Lee’s “Original Boogie”, “The Henry Swing Club”, “Boogie Chillun”, and my feet started movin’, my body started groovin’ to one man and one guitar making more boogie than a 12 piece band. I do believe I’ll play a little John Lee and try to reenact the moment for you all.

Hey it’s the House Rent Boogie ...

A nickle is a nickle, a dime is a dime
A house full of children, now one of them’s mine
You got to bundle up and go

Mama killed a chicken, thought it was a duck
Put it on the table, with it’s legs stickin’ up
You got to bundle up and go

The little red rooster and the little red hen
met at the barn about half past ten
Bundle up and go
Let’s do the boogie

About the same year John Lee recorded Boogie Chillun there was a guy named Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith that recorded the “Guitar Boogie”.. Just about every guitar player since then has been playing a version of it and here’s mine...

That’s the story of how I learned to boogie from Richard Newell known as The King Biscuit Boy from Hamilton