Robert Johnson: The Original Rockstar

Robert Johnson: The Original Rockstar

"The thing about Robert Johnson was that he only existed on his records. He was pure legend."

- Martin Scorsese,

“Robert Johnson, to whom we all owed our existence, in some way.” - Robert Plant

“At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few listenings I realized that, on some level, I had found the master, and that following this man's example would be my life's work.”  - Eric Clapton

Robert Johnson is the most important blues musician who ever lived. I have never found anything more deeply soulful. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice." - Eric Clapton

   I'm writing this for anyone who thinks Rock and Roll started in the 1960's with the British Invasion. Now lemme tell you something about the British Invasion. The British Invasion was nothing more than a bunch of middle-class, suburban English schoolboy posers, who thought they were "bluesmen" just because they owned a Muddy Waters record. Now I don't necessarily believe that. I was just playing devils advocate, but I do believe this: If it wasn't for Robert Johnson, music today would look very different.

   His legacy these days is engulfed in myth and legend. Little is known about this mysterious bluesman, whose work went on to inspire everyone from Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards to Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and U2.

• In 1990, Spin Magazine ranked him 1st on their 35 Guitar Gods listing.
• In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 5th on their 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time listing.
• In 2010, Guitar.com ranked him 9th on Gibson.com's 50 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time.
• In 1986, he was inducted as an early influence into the inaugural opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

   He was the original rock star. He spend most of his life on the road. He loved whiskey and women. He died under mysterious circumstances at age 27. Moreover, his music influenced artists such as Muddy Waters, who in turn advanced the birth of rock'n'roll. However, most notably, in what would be the first of many accusations of Rock Music's love affair with Satan and the occult, Robert Johnson is rumored to have acquired his extraordinary guitar talents by signing a deal with the devil.

   As a guitar player, he did things nobody else was doing, such as playing his own accompanying bass line with the bottom strings of the guitar. It's now one of foundations of guitar playing but at the time its something that only would've been heard on a piano. At times it sounds like 2 or 3 guitars playing at once. When Keith Richards first heard a recording of Robert Johnson, he was surprised to learn that he was actually hearing one gutiar and not two. 

"When I first heard [him], I was hearing two guitars, and it took me a long time to realize he was actually doing it all by himself." - Keith Richards

   His style was dark, yet thoughtful and artistic. It was standard practice during the time for blues musicians to write lyrics by simply joining certain standard interchangeable, "floating lyrics," but Johnson's lyrics were, original, somber, well-crafted and filled with haunting metaphors and vivid personifications. He sang of women, drinking, traveling and the devil. His lyrics often reflect the hard times that many experienced during the Depression, and the itinerant lifestyle that many people, including Johnson himself, took up in order to survive.

  In "Hellhound on My Trail," he complains of being hounded by demonic forces:

I got to keep movin', I got to keep movin'

Blues falling down like hail…

And the day keeps reminding me

Therer's a Hellhound on my trail

  The concluding verse of "Me and Devil" expresses the fear that he will be doomed to wander as an evil spirit after his death:

You can bury my body down by the highway side

So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

   Johnson was unique in his expressiveness as a blues singer. His rendition of "Preachin' Blues" seems to convey a sense of crisis. 

The blues fell mama's child, tore me all upside down

Travel on, poor Bob, just cain't turn you 'round

The blu-u-u-u-ues is a low-down shakin' chill

You ain't never had 'em, I hope you never will 

  Then you have "Terraplane Blues," which I think perfectly showcases his talents as a musician and lyricist. 

Terraplane Blues

And I feel so lonesome
you hear me when I moan
When I feel so lonesome
you hear me when I moan
Who been drivin my terraplane
for you since I've been gone
I'd said I flashed your lights mama
your horn won't even blow
I even flash my lights mama
this horn won't even blow
Got a short in this connection
hoo-well, babe, its way down below
I'm on hist your hood momma
I'm bound to check your oil
I'm on hist your hood momma mmmm
I'm bound to check your oil
I got a woman that I'm lovin
way down in Arkansas
Now you know the coils ain't even buzzin
little generator won't get the spark
Motors in a bad condition
you gotta have these batteries charged
But I'm cryin please
please don't do me wrong
Who been drivin my terraplane now for
you-hoo since I've been gone
Mr Highwayman
please don't block the road
Puh hee hee
ple-hease don't block the road
Casue she's restrin (?) a cold one hindred
and I'm booked I gotta go
Mmm mmm
mmmm mmmm mmm
You ooo oooo oooo
you hear me weep and moan
Who been drivin my terraplane
for you since I've been gone
I'm on get deep down in this connection
keep on tanglin with your wires
I'm on get deep down in this connection
hoo-well keep on tanglin with your wires
And when I mash down your little starter

The Devil Legend (Compliments of Wikipedia)

   The crossroads at hwy 61 and hwy 49 in Clarksdale, MS is believed to be the legendary crossroads where Robert Johnson made his pact with the devil, and is definitely generally agreed upon spot where people go to pay their respects but some people citing Johnson's own lyrics, say the real crossroads is in Rosedale.

...Robert Johnson was branded with a burning desire to become a great blues musician. He was "instructed" to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. There he was met by a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The "Devil" played a few songs and then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him mastery of the instrument. This was, in effect, a deal with the Devil mirroring the legend of Faust. In exchange for his soul, Robert Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.

   The legend of the crossroads was well known in Robert Johnson's time. The mysterious circumstances surrounding his death at age 27 seemed to confirm the devil hypothesis for some.

Yeah You look like you have THE BLUES alright, pfft!

Today's So Called "Blues"

  Drinking, womanizing, Satan. A musician who lived and died on the road and wanted only to play guitar and have a good time. It doesn't get much more rock than that. These days, its hard for me to watch some millionaire with a sh*t eating grin, a crushed velvet tuxedo and a guitar that costs more than most people's cars play to 20,000 adoring fans, while singing how they have "The Blues?" pffffffft!!!

 So did Robert Johnson really sell his soul to the devil? His contemporaries would recall how a novice little little to no talent literally became a master of the guitar OVERNIGHT. He was described by others as, able to learn a song and play it perfectly note for note after only just one hearing.  They would say that the only way he could've got that good, that fast was because he sold his soul to the devil.

  The truth as I see it is this. "Overnight" was really anywhere from 6 months to some say 2 years. During this time he was constantly learning from other guitar players, finding people willing to teach him. He had a natural ear for music and the ability to learn much more quickly than others, and a burning desire to play. That was what made Robert Johnson into a guitar player. 

   Robert Johnson died age 27, that "Bermuda Triangle" for musicians. The stories surrounding his mysterious death vary and range from him being shot, to being poisoned by a jealous husband. The exact location of his grave is unknown. Other than finding people who were alive at the time, relatively little historically accurate information is available on Robert Johnson. There are only one or two legitimately accepted photographs of him and his entire musical legacy consists of 29 songs recorded in Texas about a year before his death. The recordings are raw, and there is some debate as to whether the recordings were purposely or accidentally sped up when put to record and we're not actually hearing the songs the way Johnson originally performed them.

   The mysteries surrounding his life, his recordings, and his death have made Robert Johnson into more of a folk legend than a historical figure.

   Just the fact that a guitarist all these decades later can still be blown away by these ancient, raw recordings makes me wonder what it must've been like to have been able to hear him play live back in the day. I listen to the recordings and I'm amazed, and emotionally touched, even though listening to recordings this primative is kind of like looking at the back of a tapestry.