Uncle Sam Called Me (I Got To Go)
1964 · Testament LP 2209 · USA
- Artist
- Arthur Weston
- Title
- Uncle Sam Called Me (I Got To Go)
- Release
- Pea Vine Whistle
- Year
- 1964
- Label
- Testament # LP 2209
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Blues · Blues
Annotation — Blues songs
Blues artist, which according to Wirz's American Music may have been born on 12 January 1912 in Missouri, and died on 2 February 1996 in Belleville, Saint Clair County, Illinois (1) Recorded in 1964, the song "Uncle Sam Called Me (I Got to Go)" (Testament Records # TCD 6005) was unreleased at the time, and appeared on this archival album, about being drafted: "Uncle Sam called me to the United States army". The narrator looked at the impact on home life. First, he warned his girlfriend: "Pearly May... I don't know if I'll ever be back", and second, he described his mother, who "begin to scream...and holler, lord have mercy on my child". The narrator concluded with the devastating view of the US: "you know that Uncle Sam knew I was born to die".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Blues vocalist-guitarist of the St. Louis/East St. Louis scene, recorded in the mid-to-late 1960s by producer Pete Welding alongside Big Joe Williams; his own composition 'Uncle Sam Called Me (I Got To Go)' was recorded in East St. Louis in July 1967 and issued on the Testament CD 'Pea Vine Whistle'. Stefan Wirz's discography gives his dates as possibly 1912 (Missouri) to 1996 (Belleville, Illinois). [Source: Discogs; Stefan Wirz discography]