Swamp Dogg - Biography
One of the most elusive and obscure—while at the same time iconic and influential—singers of popular music, Swamp Dogg has persevered for over five decades as an entertainer in various capacities. Since his transformation in the late 1960s from Jerry Williams to Swamp Dogg, he has incorporated his sense of humor into his music, especially in songs like “Total Destruction to Your Mind” from his classic first album. With his strange lyrics and oft-times absurd subject matter, Swamp Dogg never gained mainstream attention via his own music. He has, however, had more than a modicum of success as a producer and songwriter, spanning the R&B, rock and country genres. He has worked with artists like Johnny Paycheck, Gene Pitney and Arthur Conley throughout his career.
Swamp Dogg’s story begins in the early ’50s, when he first cut a record called HTD Blues as Little Jerry. He continued to perform and sporadically record material throughout the remainder of the decade, evolving into an act he called Little Jerry Williams. By the early 1960s, Williams had gotten to know producers Jerry Wexler and Phil Walden, both of whom began to give him intermittent work as a songwriter and producer for Atlantic Records. This would prove to be Williams’ first foray into the world of major label music business, and Atlantic—being as diverse as it was—allowed him access to a wide variety of performers and artists. Williams had always been a devoted fan of country music, having grown up listening to it on AM radio, and he adapted the root concepts into his own music. In fact, he has even gone so far as to state that his entire stable of hard soul numbers are essentially country songs, if stripped of the horns and funky guitar licks.
Although Williams was able to remain gainfully employed throughout the ’60s, his work as a solo artist didn’t receive much attention. Growing increasingly frustrated both by the blows of an unsympathetic music industry and by the confines it required, he sought to make a change. Williams wanted to sing songs about the things people were not talking about, and he’d grown weary of the cookie-cutter image of many of that era’s soul groups. The frustration led him to adopt a new persona, Swamp Dogg. With the new moniker, he felt free enough to make the records he wanted to make—material that skirted the taboo, was often shrouding in deep subject matter and were pervaded with tongue-in-cheek (often absurd) humor. Ironically, Swamp Dogg gained a cult following only after he cast away the restrictions that come with mainstream music.
His first album as Swamp Dogg was his classic Total Destruction to Your Mind (1970 Canyon). The album flawlessly combined soul, funk, rock and tinges of country, all into a psychedelic masterpiece that befit the era. The title track featured lyrics that were then unheard of in soul music. Many of his most essential tracks came from this album, including “Redneck,” his critique of hypocritical white society; “Sal-A-Faster,” a song about interstellar moonshine; “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe,” a track about paternal uncertainty; and “Synthetic World,” a beautiful ballad concerning the commercialization of modern society. Total Destruction to Your Mind has become, unfortunately, quite difficult to find, and original copies now trade collectors’ hands at increasingly higher prices. Williams himself wrote most of the material for the album, and even co-wrote with his old friend Gary US Bonds on the songs “Dust Your Head Color Red,” “Everything You’ll Ever Need” and “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe.”
Swamp Dogg seemed to have found himself with his new persona and the next year he released the album, Rat On! (1971 Elektra), which has been voted many times over as the worst album cover of all time, even getting notice in the 2004 book The WORST album covers in the world...EVER!. The cover features a poorly super-imposed image of Swamp Dogg with his fists up in glory as he is straddling a giant white rat. Regardless of the intentionally comedic façade of the album, the musical content was nearly as strong as his solid debut effort. Once again, Swamp Dogg composed the bulk of the songs himself, with a few co-writing credits going to Bonds strewn in, as on songs like “I Kissed Your Face” and “That Ain’t My Wife.” Swamp Dogg touched on the subjects of infidelity and illegitimate children often, and his lyrics more literally delved into such subject matter instead of relying on insinuation, as was the tendency of mainstream acts. Nevertheless, Swamp Dogg had a light enough approach that he could open the doors on otherwise taboo subjects with ease. Rat On! was considered a hard-hitting soul album, with off-kilter lyrics and conspicuous country flavors.
Swamp Dogg’s reputation for hilarious album covers and album titles, such as his Cuffed, Collared and Tagged (1972 Edsel)—which featured him in full gas mask—became notorious. The album was originally supposed to have the “gassed” added to the title, but the word was removed at Edsel’s insistence. Later, I’m Not Selling Out, I’m Buying In (1981 Takoma), featured Swamp Dogg in a white tuxedo, complete with top hat and cane, dancing on a long table amidst a boardroom full of white CEOs. That album featured the song “The Love We Got Ain’t Worth Two Dead Flies,” which exemplifies his zany career arc.
Although his solo efforts have become the fodder of cultists, Swamp Dogg had a lot of success throughout his career as a songwriter and producer. Some of the hits he wrote or produced were “She’s a Heartbreaker,” sung by Gene Pitney, “She’s All I Got,” “I’m Glad You’re Back,” sung by Bonds, “Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)” by Ruby Andrews and “She’ll Never Be Your Wife,” by Irma Thomas.
Swamp Dogg has continued to perform and record for the better part of the last five decades. He collaborated on a book project with Ben Greenman in 2008 about a fictional soul singer from the ’70s, named Rock Foxx. He even recorded and wrote a song presumably to have been written and recorded by the fictional character, Foxx, in patented Swamp Dogg fashion. He also runs his own record label called Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group, or S.D.E.G. Records, which he has released albums such as The Re-Invention of Swamp Dogg (2000), If I Ever Kiss It . . . He Can Kiss It Goodbye (2003), Resurrection (2007), Give ’Em As Little As You Can (2009) and An Awful Christmas and a Lousy New Year (2009).
