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Rambling thoughts on blues music
Topic Started: Mar 19 2009, 09:58 AM (112 Views)
Gibson
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As far as I'm concerned I am a blues player on the guitar, there is no other style that suits me the best, and there is no other style I have worked harder on musically then The Blues. Everything from Robert Johnson to Jimi hendrix, Delta Blues to Rock and Roll. For 5 long years I have put countless hours studying all the different styles and I think I am a very acceptable blues player.
But this is not the reason I am writing this journal I am trying to touch onto point that I don't understand nearly as well and those are the lyrics.
In my opinion I think Robert Johnson had some of the best style of lyrics, and most people don't know but he is the founding father of rock and roll. People such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Led zeppelin, the list goes on but these people have all copied Mr Johnsons Music.

It's a sad thing really that most people don't know this little known fact. The man even has a reputation of selling his soul to the devil to play guitar which is shown in the Movie Crossroads about a young guitar player finding Willie Brown and taking him down to the crossroads to learn a hidden song that Robert Johnson never released.

These lyrics have always amazed me I want to post them and if somone says it isn't legal I will take them down.

This is possibly his most famouse song that was covered by Eric Clapton in his early band Cream

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please

Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by

Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down

You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin', Lord, baby I'm sinkin' down

I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well, babe, in my distress

- Robert Johnson


Those lyrics are so simple yet they are so powerful, honestly I don't understand it one bit. They were the building blocks to rock and roll yet they are so simple. I've been working countless hours trying to write a Blues song and I think my attempts are failing. Why? I'm not honestly sure. Maybe I haven't had enough experience on the road to understand the true feeling, maybe I'm just not a good writer, or maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. Well whatever the reason I hope to find out someday and maybe make my name somewhere. The style is dying and names such as Robert Johnson and Lightning Hopkins are known less and less with each passing generation. It's depressing I know this but there's not much anybody can do about it, It's a dying style and nobody really wants to hear some black guitar player wail as hes playing with a blues bottle guitar slide.

Honestly I love it but I've never been one with popular music I think I was born a couple generations to late.....

Well there is my thoughts and I appreciate anybody who took their time to read that.

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BlenderCat
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I believe the whole "selling his soul to the devil" myth was started by fellow blues musician Son House. He was older than Johnson, and Johnson used to come around to shows when Son House was playing and try to play the guitar. Son House has said that Robert was never really any good and that people used to laugh at this kid trying to play the guitar like the older musicians. But a period of time went by and he didn't see Robert for a while. He came back to one of the shows and reportedly stunned many of the older musicians including Son House who were much older and had been playing the guitar for much longer. Whether Son House really believed Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the devil to get that good, or whether he just started the rumor because he was envious of Johnson's guitar skills isn't clear. A more likely explanation is that he just went home and practiced. Whatever the explanation is for his musical talent, he was undoubtedly a very accomplished guitar player. He had a very unique style of playing, using nonstandard tunings, some of which have only been figured out recently. Many of his pieces are still extremely challenging to play. It's his voice however that gets me. For those of you who haven't heard him sing, it's really impossible to describe. It's very eerie sounding. Terrifying almost. His falsetto is enough to send shivers through your bones. He certainly is a very mysterious character too. He used to sit in a corner of the room with his face to the walls when he recorded. One theory is that he did this to ensure that no one would be able to see what his fingers were doing because he was afraid of people stealing his style. Another theory is that he used the reverberation of the strings bouncing back from the walls to give him a better sound. His death is also a mystery. The most accepted explanation is that a jealous boyfriend spiked one of his drinks at a show.

Edited by BlenderCat, Mar 25 2009, 08:07 PM.
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Gibson
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Wow I did not know that about him sitting in the corner of the rooms thats pretty crazy.. The newest theory of his death is that he died from complications to syphilis. Theres alot of evidence to support this but nobody turly knows. I had no clue about son house either I can see where the rumour got started. Thanks for the reply.
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