Sonny Boy Williamson II (born Alex or Aleck Miller [Ford], possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp stylist who recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s. Miller used various names before calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson, which was also the name of a popular Chicago blues singer and harmonica player. To distinguish the two, Miller has been referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson II. He first recorded with Elmore James on "Dust My Broom". He recorded with English rock musicians, including the Yardbirds, the Animals, and Jimmy Page. "Help Me" became a blues standard, and many blues and rock artists have recorded his songs. (More from Wikipedia)
As with many of the British Invasion bands, the Yardbirds initially played American R&B and blues songs rather than their own compositions. As reported in Wikipedia, during their days at the Crawdaddy Club: "They drew their repertoire from the Chicago blues of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Elmore James, including 'Smokestack Lightning', 'Good Morning Little School Girl', 'Boom Boom', 'I Wish You Would', 'Rollin' and Tumblin''' and 'I'm a Man'." In fact, Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in March 1965 as a protest when the band finally got a hit single with a song that did not come from this milieu, "For Your Love" (written by Graham Gouldman, later a member of 10cc).
(May 2014)
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The first release by the Primitives was "Help Me" b/w "Let Them Tell". Both sides of this monster single are included on the English Freakbeat, Volume 1 CD. Bruce Eder has this lavish description of the single in his Allmusic article:
"[The Primitives] could and should have been one of the top groups on the Pye label, based on their rough-and-ready debut 'Help Me', a cover of a Sonny Boy Williamson [II] number that was beautifully raw and authentic, and wonderfully intense across an astonishingly long three minutes and 39 seconds, [John E.] Soul's harmonica and [Geoff] Eaton's guitar keeping the verisimilitude right up there like a Chess Records session gone out of control, amid [Jay] Roberts' ever more intense romantic lamentations. The group-authored B-side, 'Let Them Tell', was almost as much a showcase for the harmonica and rhythm section as for Roberts' singing. Amazingly, that November 1964 release even made it out in America, as part of the very short-lived licensing agreement between Pye and Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway Records, which also issued the Kinks' first U.S. single, before Pye headed for the greener pastures of Warner-Reprise."
(May 2015)
