"Eyesight to the Blind" is a 12-bar blues originally written by Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck "Rice" Miller). It was recorded by him in 1951 as his first single release on Trumpet Records.
A blues standard, the original Sonny Boy Williamson song has been covered many times. The most successful early version was that by The Larks, originally a vocal group which had developed out of gospel group, The Selah Jubilee Singers. The group's recording of...
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"Eyesight to the Blind" is a 12-bar blues originally written by Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck "Rice" Miller). It was recorded by him in 1951 as his first single release on Trumpet Records.
A blues standard, the original Sonny Boy Williamson song has been covered many times. The most successful early version was that by The Larks, originally a vocal group which had developed out of gospel group, The Selah Jubilee Singers. The group's recording of "Eyesight to the Blind", with vocals and guitar by Allen Bunn, who later worked solo as Tarheel Slim, reached #5 on the Billboard R&B; charts in July 1951.
The song was also included in The Who's 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The song is parenthetically called "The Hawker". In the film version of Tommy, the song was performed by Eric Clapton and Arthur Brown. It is the only song in Tommy not written by a band member.
Versions of the song have also been recorded by other rock groups:
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