THE BLUES, Part 2 of 2, The Legend of Robert Johnson

II. The Legend of Robert Johnson (born 1911, died 1938) Rolling Stone magazine valued Robert Johnson enough to make him (in the “Best 100 Guitarists” issue of last year or so) the 5th best guitarist ever. I disagree with his high ranking because Johnson did not live long enough (dying in the 1930s) to play electric guitar. He could not explore the nuances of electric guitar with it’s various sounds as Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townsend (of The WHO), Alex Lifeson (of Rush), and of course, Keith Richards (of the Rolling Stones) had the gift, opportunity, talent and vision to do. I would rank Mr. Johnson 12th best ; a very good singer and a masterful guitarist, it still is only speculation what Johnson could have done with an electric guitar, wa-wa pedal and the numerous guitar pedals that color the sound of the guitar that were available to the guitar legends by the end of the 1960s. One of Johnson’s famous songs is “Crossroads Blues”, and it was covered by Cream, featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar and lead vocal. After the song was made, the legend among the jealous, simple and judgmental ones was that Robert Johnson went to a crossroad/intersection, met Satan, let Satan tune his guitar and sold his soul to him. IN return, Satan supposedly granted him the gift of playing guitar masterfully and writing, recording great songs. The legend of Johnson selling his soul to learn to play guitar is said to have taken place in either an intersection of Rosedale or an intersection in Clarksdale, (both cities/towns in Mississippi). Feel the jealousy! You can almost hear the neighbors (both Black and White neighbors) wondering why Robert Johnson didn’t work at the factory or stay home on the farm like others who lived near him. “What the hell is he doing with that guitar??? Respectable people don’t go out and play in Blue in clubs and juke joints!” These neighbors during the Jim Crow 1920s and 30s likely looked down about him with even more cutting and judgmental criticism. “That fool doesn’t play guitar nearly as well as my cousin Andy, and you don’t see Andy hotfootin’ ‘round town. Andy is smart enough to work at the barber shop! And how many times did you see that boy in church? Not a once these last few months! Robert be makin’ eyes at that hoochie, Mary, and be messin’ with her after he done playin’ that fool guitar. They both have as much aim in life as a feather!!” It’s not bad to be revulsed by sins of another, in fact, that’s good. Yet, when one is so openly condemnatory, as a few or even some of Johnson’s neighbors were, it falls into the “judge other and you will be judged as well” type of action. Yet, like so many instances, rumor and sensationalism are not really what happened when Robert Johnson made “Crossroads Blues” Wikipedia tells the true story of what the song “Crossroads” is about. “While the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil is fascinating and evocative, the song itself plainly describes the very real, harrowing situation feared by Johnson and other Blacks in the Deep South in the early 20th century. Historian Leon Litwack has suggested that the song refers to the common fear felt by blacks who were discovered alone after dark. As late as 1930s in parts of the South, the well-known expression (from redneck sheriffs, KKK members and other racists) , “Nigger don’t let the sun go down on you here!!” was according to Litwack “understood and vigorously enforced”. In an era when lynchings were still common, Johnson was likely singing about the desperation of finding his way home from an unfamiliar place as quickly as possible because, as the song says, “the sun goin’ down, boy/dark goin’ catch me here”. This interpretation also makes sense of the closing line “You can run/tell my friend poor Willie Brown/that I’m standing at the crossroads' as Johnson’s appeal for help from a real-life fellow musician.”[1] So many, many times, TOO MANY TIMES, too many people are simple and stupid enough to go for the sensational (that’s why the National Enquirer sells so well, makes so much money and pisses me off!) Obviously, a Black man afraid of being lynched is much more humdrum and boring to some and not worth gossiping to the next door neighbor compared to telling same neighbor that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil, and as a result that’s why he was a sensational guitarist. After some research, there are some signs that Johnson himself may have acquiesced to the rumor as well. This is a shame, because he also wrote and sang a song like “Hellhound on My Trail” covered fear of the Devil. With a rough and tumble life with so many hazards, signs of the Devil, amid all the misfortune in his life, were prevalent. Playing the Blues, not making much money doing so, "seeing" the occasional woman, traveling and worrying over lack of money are shown in his lyrics in the song “Crossroads Blues” (just Google: lyrics & “Robert Johnson” and “song”), Robert Johnson in the mid-1930s was recognized enough that certain executives arranged to record his songs and great talent. He cast an enormous influence over rock and roll and has even been nicknamed “The Grandfather of Rock n Roll”. 30 years later, he influenced Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel and many, many artists over the years. He made the songs that united (and continue to unit) Blacks, Whites and other races alike, just as good and great Blues music does!! Then, there’s the sad, obscure death of Robert Johnson. With poor healthcare in the Jim Crow era, Johnson didn’t go to the hospital and with an unknown cause (neither Johnson nor anyone could determine or help treat Johnson in the last 3 days before his death), Johnson died a slow painful death. Dead at the age of 27 he dies at the same age as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and Brian Jones (the founder of the Rolling Stones and rhythm guitarist). As noted in Wikipedia, “There are a number of accounts and theories regarding the events preceding Johnson's death. One of these is that one evening Johnson began flirting with a woman at a dance. One version of this rumor says she was the wife of the juke joint owner who unknowingly provided Johnson with a bottle of poisoned whiskey from her husband, while another suggests she was a married woman he had been secretly seeing. Researcher Mack McCormick claims to have interviewed Johnson's alleged poisoner in the 1970s, and obtained a tacit admission of guilt from the man. When Johnson was offered an open bottle of whiskey, his friend and fellow blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson[2] knocked the bottle out of his hand, informing him that he should never drink from an offered bottle that has already been opened. Johnson allegedly said, "don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand". Soon after, he was offered another open bottle of whiskey and accepted it, and it was that bottle that was laced with strychnine. Johnson is reported to have started to feel ill into the evening after drinking from the bottle and had to be helped back to his room in the early morning hours. Over the next three days, his condition steadily worsened and witnesses reported that he died in a convulsive state of severe pain - symptoms which are consistent with strychnine poisoning. Strychnine was readily available at the time as it was a common pesticide, and although it is a very bitter-tasting substance it is extremely toxic, and a small quantity dissolved in a harsh-tasting solution such as whiskey could possibly have gone unnoticed, but (over a period of days due to the reduced dosage) still produced the symptoms and eventual death that Johnson experienced.” (emphasis added by blog author). Robert Johsnon never had the chance to witness how appreciated and valued his music was until Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones and other musicians herein illuminated his music 30 years later. ____________________________ [1] http://www.wikipedia.org/ “Robert Johnson” (musician) [2] Sonny Boy Williamson lived considerably longer, naturally had a more prolific career and was seen in person by Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant (as discussed in the book Hammer of the Gods). The book even goes as far as to say that Plant got so close that he stole Williamson’s harmonica.

Picture of Robert Johnson (below) was taken in 1935 when he was 24. The picture was one of the few authentic pictures of this legend.

Please note: for some inexplicable reason, I could not eliminate the space between the text below and Robert Johnson's picture.