Download Cross Road Blues

“Cross Road Blues”
Artist: Robert Johnson
Music / Lyrics by Robert Johnson
Label: Vocalion, 1936
Singer and blues guitarist extraordinaire, Robert Johnson (1911-1938) was known as the "king of
the Delta Blues." Multiple versions of Johnson’s biography make it a bit difficult to separate fact
from fiction. Born in Mississippi, his career was unremarkable at first, but after dropping out of the
scene for a while he returned as a formidable virtuoso, which led to the famous legend that he
had “sold his soul to the Devil.” Johnson’s death is still an unsolved mystery, but it appears that
he was murdered in 1938 at the age of 27, by way of a jug of poisoned whiskey given to him by
either a jealous husband or a jealous girlfriend. Johnson’s powerful, unique guitar style and his
raw, intense vocals influenced generations of musicians after him, and his songs have been
covered by everyone from African-American blues artists to English rock bands (“Cross Road
Blues” was covered in 1968 by the English group Cream, on a track entitled “Crossroads” from
their LP Disraeli Gears.)
Musical style notes
“Cross Road Blues” is a classic example of the minimal instrumentation and emotional style
associated with Delta Blues. Johnson uses just acoustic guitar, played with fingerstyle picking in
the right hand, and a combination of regular fingering and bottleneck “slide” in the left. “Slide” is a
technique in which a sawed-off glass bottleneck or metal tube is slipped over one of the left-hand
fingers in order to be able to slide over the strings from one fret to the other (“Frets” are the thin
pieces of wood that are inlaid horizontally across a guitar neck, indicating where the fingers
should press in order to create specific notes, or pitches.) The use of both the bottleneck and the
bending of strings by the left hand provides the player with the ability to slide from one group of
pitches or chord to another. This sliding or “bending” of pitch is also a hallmark of the blues vocal
style. Johnson’s singing style also demonstrates the “holler” that is strongly characteristic of Delta
blues and a number of other African-American musical idioms.
“Cross Road Blues” roughly follows the musical structure known as “twelve bar blues.” However,
like a lot of solo Delta blues artists, Johnson frequently departs from the strict twelve-bar
structure, adding extra improvisatory measures here and there. While some of Johnson’s songs
such as “Love in Vain” adhere more strictly to the 12-bar form, Crossroads vividly showcases
Johnson’s vocal intensity and slide virtuosity.
Musical “Road Map”
Timings
0:00-0:08
Comments
Introduction
0:08-0:44
Acoustic slide guitar; note one melody line that
descends by half-steps (this returns at the end).
Verse 1
0:44-1:15
Notice the “call-and-response” between the
vocals and the guitar; each line of lyric is
followed by an “answer” from the guitar
(both are Johnson).
Verse 2
1:15-1:43
Verse 3
1:43-2:15
Verse 4
Lyrics
I went to the cross road…
fell down on my knees…
Mmmm, standing at the cross road…
I tried to flag a ride…
Standing at the cross road baby,
Risin’ sun goin’ down…
You can run, you can run…
Tell my friend Willie Brown…
2:15-2:35
Verse 5
And I went to the crossroad, mama
I looked east and west…
….I didn’t have no sweet woman,
ohh well babe, in my distress.
2:35-2:41
Ending tag on acoustic guitar
Same as introduction.