Robert Johnson

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Fucking hell, why has it taken me this long to check him out? As I mentioned in SDJ the other day I've been listening to a load of old blues recently and I've just got round to listening to the Robert Johnson songs which I've had sitting on a shelf for ages and never really listened to. Holy mother of jesus, he is blowing my mind. He is just as good as everyone says he is and more. Guitar-wise he is some kind of monster, his lyrics are amazing, he's a much, much better singer than I remembered, his voice is astonishing and the songs, well, they just blow all the other stuff I've been listening to completely out of the water (not that all the other guys aren't great). They're Red Hot has just played, and to use that as an example, I just realise how much of an idiot I've been for putting off listening to stuff like that because of the sound quality or age or whatever, it's just such a brilliant melody and chord progression, it reminds me of Hotel Yorba by the stripes but ten times better, it's got everything. What does everyone else think of him? Over-rated or as good as everyone makes out?
These are the chords for They're Red Hot, just to pad out what is quite a small and shitty topic post, you'll need to copy and paste to notepad, it's in standard tuning:
e -|-8--7--5--3---2---1---0--0---1--1------1------------|
B -|-5--4--2--2---1---0---1--1---1--1------0------------|
G -|-5--4--2--2---2---0---0--3---2--1------0------------|
D -|-5--4--2--2---0---0---2--2---3--0------0------------|
A -|----------------------3--3-------------2------------|
E -|----------------------------------------------------|


Edit: Oh god I just listened to that attrocity of a cover of TRH by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, why can't they just fuck off?

[Neil]

Yeah, very interesting to listen to his stuff and read the stories about him. Actually, your post reminds me to go and try to download your SDJ again, I couldn't get it working last night, Megaupload is going the way of Rapidshare.

Have you heard Eric Clapton's version of They're Red Hot?  IIRC he does it in his unplugged set.  Brilliant song.

[Marty McFly]

you sure that song's in standard tuning? i think most of his stuff is in alternate slide-type tunings..

anyway. robert johnson is incredible. i don't think he would have obtained the cult status he has today if it hadn't been for all the mystique surrounding him (only two known photographs, sold his soul to the devil to be a better guitar player, poisoned by a jealous husband, etc etc), but it's really all about the music, and when it comes down to it, that music is amazing. for a bloke sitting in the corner of a hotel room with an acoustic guitar, the sounds on his recordings knock me out to this day. isn't there a quote from one of the rolling stones who thought that there were two guitarists on johnson's tracks? that says it all really.  probably my all-time favourite is 'cross road blues'..

highly, highly recommended.

on a related note, i think there's two documentaries about him on DVD.. has anybody seen either of them? worth a look?

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Yeah, very interesting to listen to his stuff and read the stories about him. Actually, your post reminds me to go and try to download your SDJ again, I couldn't get it working last night, Megaupload is going the way of Rapidshare.

Do you want me to yousendit, does ysi work for you?

Have you heard Eric Clapton's version of They're Red Hot?  IIRC he does it in his unplugged set.  Brilliant song.

I don't think I have heard that actually no, I always wanted to hear Clapton's unplugged set actually, must seek it out.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

you sure that song's in standard tuning? i think most of his stuff is in alternate slide-type tunings..

Yeah, he normally just uses open E or D (often it's a bit out because of the recording or just because he tuned up a bit of a tone too high or low), this one sounds fine in standard though if you use those chords, I've been playing along fine anyway, might not be exactly how he played it but I doubt anyone will ever know exactly how he played any of his stuff.
Edit, I think it's really simplified as well, using just those chord shapes

[Neil]

Yeah, YouSendIt would be smashing, thanks APTS!  From what I remember (and it's a few years since I read anything about Robert Johnson, so correct me if I'm wrong), the stories about him selling his soul to the devil originated from him going on some kind of a sojourn to meet and study with one of his guitar heroes.  He returned home a year later, with ridiculous skills, which prompted the locals to conclude that he'd sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads, in exchange for which the devil tuned his guitar.  And yeah, as Marty says, those stories, and his unfortunate and ugly death, have made him a Blues legen.  Not to mention the inspiration for crappy movies starring Ralph Macchio, heh!

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Gah, yousendit doesn't work for me but I've upped it to sendspace here and to filefactory here, hopefully one of them'll work.
In reference to the legend stuff, the wikipedia article (that I read the other day, inspiring me to check out his stuff again) says the following:

The most widely known legend surrounding Robert Johnson says that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 61 and U.S. Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi in exchange for prowess in playing the guitar. Actually, the location Johnson made reference to is a short distance away from that intersection. The legend was told mainly by Son House, but finds no corroboration in any of Johnson's work, despite titles like "Me and the Devil Blues" and "Hellhound on My Trail". With this said, the song "Cross Road Blues" is both widely and loosely interpreted by many as a descriptive encounter of Johnson selling his soul. The older Tommy Johnson (no relation, although it is speculated that they were cousins), by contrast, also claimed to have sold his soul to the Devil. The story goes that if one would go to the crossroads a little before midnight and begin to play the guitar, a large black man would come up to the aspiring guitarist, retune his guitar and then hand it back. At this point (so the legend goes) the guitarist had sold his soul to become a virtuoso (A similar legend even surrounded virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini a century before.)

It's a cool story anyway, I'd like to go to that crossroads.

[TOCMFIC]

Interesting. One of the series of short films BMW did actually took that legend, though if I recall, they made it James Brown, not Robert Johnson.

It was called "Beat the Devil" and was directed by Tony Scott.

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/BMW_Films/bmw_films2.htm

Always wanted to check out more blues stuff. I know I've got some Robert Johnson here somewhere. I should dig it out.

[hansen mork]

I purchased the Complete Recordings a few years ago for the bargain price of £2.99.

Are the complete recordings actually complete, or do other recordings exist?

[Marty McFly]

there's 27 different songs, some have two recordings. 41 or something in total.

that's all that's been found over the years.

[Neil]

Thanks for the track, APTS, it's good stuff!  Thanks also for the stuff about the legend.

[Orias]

Interesting. One of the series of short films BMW did actually took that legend, though if I recall, they made it James Brown, not Robert Johnson.

It was called "Beat the Devil" and was directed by Tony Scott.

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/BMW_Films/bmw_films2.htm

Always wanted to check out more blues stuff. I know I've got some Robert Johnson here somewhere. I should dig it out.

The Coen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou" also uses this story but with Tommy Johnson rather than Robert.

[Barney Sloane]

See also "RL's Dream" by Walter Mosley.

[NoSleep]

If you haven't seen it before, enjoy the complete Charlie Patton cartoon by Robert Crumb here.

The crossroads legend is included, also Robert Johnson, in this potted history of the Blues.

[Ignatius_S]

The Coen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou" also uses this story but with Tommy Johnson rather than Robert.

The story of Tommy selling his soul to the devil predates the one about Robert. Whereas Robert was reputedly never to have spoken about the deal, Tommy's tale originated from the singer himself.

[Morgan]

For all you lucky chaps with Artsworld (and that, unfortunately, does not include me), there's a programme featuring Eric Clapton rehearsing 14 RJ songs for that album he did a couple of years ago.  It's on at 10pm I think.  Rather fucked off I'll miss this.