Lightnin' Hopkins_ His Life and Blues - Alan Govenar [134]
Lightnin’s set didn’t last very long. “I was really surprised,” Cushing says, “because we played really long sets in Chicago, and I guess, this was as close to the big time as I ever got, but if he played half an hour, I think that would have been stretching it.” The audience wanted to hear more music, and Lightnin’s conversational approach didn’t work very well because most of the people listening didn’t speak English. This was especially true when Lightnin’ did “Mr. Charlie,” which was clearly one of his concert favorites, but he did finally realize that there was a language problem and just played the songs.68
In 1981, Lightnin’ stayed mostly around Houston, playing on January 7 at the Rock House and later in the spring appearing at the Juneteenth Blues Festival on June 17. By then he was getting weaker. On July 1, he returned to the Rock House, where he was recorded for the last time, accompanied by Larry Martin on bass and Andy McCobb on drums. In his set, Lightnin’ performed several of the songs that had become his standard fare, including “Trouble in Mind,” “Mojo Hand,” “Pa and Mama Hopkins,” “Watch Yourself,” and “Baby, Please Don’t Go.”69 Within weeks, he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and went into the hospital for surgery, forcing him to cancel a fourteen-day British and European tour. Benson says his recovery went smoothly and he slowly regained his strength. On November 8 and 9, his performances at Tramps were sold out. “They had to turn people back,” Harold told a United Press International reporter.70 But when he got back to Houston, his health declined rapidly.
On Wednesday, January 27, Lightnin’ was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital for further treatment. While he was in the hospital, Antoinette, Benson, Harold, and other family members and close friends visited him frequently. His daughter Anna Mae Box came often to Houston to spend time with Lightnin’.
Box had been estranged from Lightnin’ for years. He had left her mother, Elamer Lacy, when she was only five years old. And even though Lightnin’ probably knew she lived somewhere in East Texas, and she knew he was likely in Houston, they never made any effort to find each other until Box’s eldest daughter, Bertha, heard that he was playing at the Jewish Community Center in Houston in 1973. “Bertha had a girlfriend who worked at the Jewish Community Center,” Box said, “and this girl told my daughter that my daddy was going to play there. She didn’t know that was Bertha’s grandfather. She said, ‘Lightnin’s going to play at the Jewish Community Center Friday night.’ And so Bertha told her, ‘That’s my grandfather. And I’m going to come over there to see him.’ See I didn’t know where he was or nothing. So Bertha went over there. And he called me that night. She gave him my telephone number, and he called me. Sure did.”71
After that first conversation, Box called him often: “His voice was just … He had the most beautiful voice. And I just loved to hear him say hello.” Lightnin’ was delighted to see Box, and they visited each other fairly often. “Daddy would come up here, and I’d take him fishing. He liked to fish. And he’d be all dressed up, sitting in his chair with his leg crossed. And they would harass him and say, ‘Lightnin’, you know you didn’t come to fish, not dressed up like that.’ But he’d just sit there with that hook in the water.72
“You take a person that want to relax his mind and get things off his mind, well, maybe, say, worried about something that happened. Get him a little old tree, go to the tree and get him a hook and bait and go to fishin’ he’ll forget about that…. That’s why the doctor tell lots of these old people it would be a lots of help to them to go to the creek and just fish. It don’t matter if it’s just a little minnow bitin