Robert Johnson's Deal

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The story of the musician who sells his soul to the devil for musical skill goes back several centuries

They use to say this about Paganini...at least that's what they said in his bio.

Had he not done himself in with alcohol, Tommy, a strained-Sterno drunk, would have recorded more and likely be far better known today.

Canned Heat Blues was a song he did (catchy tune...it's on my most played ipod list). If I am not mistaken,that's where the band Canned Heat got their name.

If you are at all into blues music, check out some of Tommy's 17 recordings.

I love the old raw blues! Boweevil Blues by Charlie Patton, Empire State Blues by Son House,Anything by Blind Blake , Blind Willie McTell,Leadbelly,Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt to name a few. The twenties and thirties was a great time for music, especially guitar. Django Reinhardt,Charlie Christian.I hate to imagine how much of it DIDN'T get recorded...


J.P.
 
Tom Hicks said:
Rosedale Missippi may well be the likely source of that lyric.It is true however although Tx isn't deep south,Robert did a lot of gigging and his ONLY recordings here.It's probably my local conceit that would like to believe in the Ft Worth connection.I play the Clapton version regularly in my rock band and I think about his connection to our area with a bit of bluesy pride.
My understanding is that are two verified photos of Robert.One was in a self-photo booth and he is smoking a cigarette,hatless.I don't have that one in front of me but I recollect him to be holding a Stella or Harmony or other mid-line American brand.The famous studio photo in Memphis,1935 shows Robert seated in suit and tie and hat with an old Gibson jumbo with binding and dot markers.I'd like to see that other photo referred to about Robert facing the corner.

"C'mon,baby don't you want to go..."


Tom
Click to expand...

Of course the song is refering to Rosedale Mississippi. :rolleyes:

Rosedale is in the Delta, right beside the river, and right in the middle of Robert Johnsons familier stomping ground.
 
Once again,the original song DOES NOT MENTION ROSEDALE OR
RIVERSIDE!
 
Just for the record Clapton lifted the verse in question from Johnsons
"traveling riverside blues" and inserted it into Creams version of "Cross-
roads".
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
Once again,the original song DOES NOT MENTION ROSEDALE OR
RIVERSIDE!
Click to expand...
Which freaky ass version of the song you been listening to..??

Traveling Riverside Blues
©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.
Recorded in Dallas, Texas on 20 June 1937.

If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
Just come on back to Friars Point, mama, and barrelhouse all night long

I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
But my Friars Point rider, now, hops all over me

I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth crowned with gold
I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth is crowned with gold
She got a mortgage on my body, now, and a lien on my soul

Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
We can still barrelhouse baby, on the riverside

Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my...
(spoken) 'til the juice rune down my leg, baby, you know what I'm talkin' about
You can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg
(spoken) That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now
But I'm goin' back to Friars Point, if I be rockin'to my head
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
Just for the record Clapton lifted the verse in question from Johnsons
"traveling riverside blues" and inserted it into Creams version of "Cross-
roads".
Click to expand...

Now we're cookin' with gas..!!!
 
Crash © said:
Which freaky ass version of the song you been listening to..??

Traveling Riverside Blues
©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.
Recorded in Dallas, Texas on 20 June 1937.

If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
Just come on back to Friars Point, mama, and barrelhouse all night long

I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
But my Friars Point rider, now, hops all over me

I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth crowned with gold
I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth is crowned with gold
She got a mortgage on my body, now, and a lien on my soul

Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
We can still barrelhouse baby, on the riverside

Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my...
(spoken) 'til the juice rune down my leg, baby, you know what I'm talkin' about
You can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg
(spoken) That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now
But I'm goin' back to Friars Point, if I be rockin'to my head
Click to expand...

Man, everytime I see lyrics posted, from these old delta blues guys.....I, yet again, realize how they were shamelessly ripped off by rock musicians.

Led Zep should pay the johnson family royalties on the lemon song IMO.
 
Crash © said:
Which freaky ass version of the song you been listening to..??

Traveling Riverside Blues
©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.
Recorded in Dallas, Texas on 20 June 1937.

If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
If your man get personal, want you to have your fun
Just come on back to Friars Point, mama, and barrelhouse all night long

I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
But my Friars Point rider, now, hops all over me

I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth crowned with gold
I ain't gon' to state no color, but her front teeth is crowned with gold
She got a mortgage on my body, now, and a lien on my soul

Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
We can still barrelhouse baby, on the riverside

Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my...
(spoken) 'til the juice rune down my leg, baby, you know what I'm talkin' about
You can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg
(spoken) That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now
But I'm goin' back to Friars Point, if I be rockin'to my head
Click to expand...
One of the above posters said that the lyric was from crossroads,I was
just pointing out that they were wrong.
Actually the lyrics that you posted in red are wrong on the last line.The
correct line is:Ummm they gonna barrellhouse all night long,cause its on
the drivers side.
 
jimistone said:
Man, everytime I see lyrics posted, from these old delta blues guys.....I, yet again, realize how they were shamelessly ripped off by rock musicians.

Led Zep should pay the johnson family royalties on the lemon song IMO.
Click to expand...
They were sued over some of the stuff they stole.
 
Man, everytime I see lyrics posted, from these old delta blues guys.....I, yet again, realize how they were shamelessly ripped off by rock musicians.

Let me say first off, I was raised on Zep and played and sang their tunes for years. What follows is something I posted on another site that got me into a flame war about originality. The poster in question was saying that " nobody's fault but mine" was a zep original. My position was that the words were borrowed and I proceeded to post the words to "IT'S nobody's fault but mine" by Blind Willie Johnson. He came back with the Greatful dead's version....do you believe that shit?? Makes me wonder who was really blind...


Anyway, here's the post::

I don't have all the CD's with me now,but I may look into this if I have the time.NONE of these songs were written by Led Zeppelin

The Lemon Song/ /Led Zep
In My Time of Dying/ /Led Zep
Nobody's Fault but mine/ /Led Zep
The Rain Song/ /Led Zep
When The Levee Breaks/ /Led Zep
I Can't Quit You/ /Led Zep
You Shook Me/ /Led Zep
Gallow's Pole/ /Led Zep
Whole Lotta Love/ /Led Zep

I first bought a Willie Dixon Boxed set.Then I started buying old Blues compilation Box sets.I was shocked at how many old blues lines Robert Plant just copied word for word."I've got a bird that whistles...and a bird that sings"-"Jesus gonna make up my dyin' bed"-"Squeeze my lemon,til the juice runs down my leg"-"She shakes just like a willow tree"-"let daddy see it/put on your nightshirt and your morning gown"-"They call me the hunter"


I have a little less respect for Zep and a little more for american blues.

J.P.
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
They were sued over some of the stuff they stole.
Click to expand...
\

Willie Dixon had a lawsuit over Whole Lotta Love...I believe it was settled out of court. Btw, there is a site that takes donations for old blues players that is backed by some famous blues player...If I can find it, I'll post a link.

J.P.
 
Here's a link to ONE of the foundations dedicated to supporting old blues masters...

http://www.musicmaker.org/index.html

I thought the one I was looking for was supported by Eric Clapton or BB King, but there are so many of them springing up now, it's hard to find the one I was looking for.

J.P.
 
Hey Crash,I see you are in Memphis.I lived there for about 4 yrs.(92 to 96)
One of my guitar buddies there was named Bill Craddock,but everyone
called him Crash.
I played music with a lot of good old blues guys there.I recently had a
conversation with Butch Mudbone and he told me that Levi Williams had
passed away.I had the pleasure of sitting in with Levi a few times in
handy park.It was a real education.
I still have family there so I will be up sometime over the summer.Maybe
we could get a cold brew and check out some blues.
 
I actually live in the delta in cleveland which about 25min east of Rosedale.. I'm from Greenville...you know "Greenvilles famous for its pussy!" Thought that was pretty funny. There's still blues here and some damn fine musicians. A lot of it really sounds the same now though. A lot of those old juke joints are still around but most have closed and on any given day there will be a ton of blacks young and old sitting outside a store or front porch drinkin 40s. :D We actually went a couple of months ago to see Roberts grave in Webb, Ms I believe it was. I believe it was at Mt. Zion church or something like that but I don't know if the body's even there cause it's been moved a few times. If I get a chance i'll post some pics.
 
There's a place in Memphis called The Blues Foundation that kinda gets into that.. Most of what I've heard about 'em doing is making sure they have food and a bed when they need it and that they have a proper tombstone on their grave...
https://www.blues.org

Seems like there's another organization down on Beale that's a little more into it and they're tied to someone, but I can't remember if it's W.C Handy, Rufus Thomas, B.B. King or who just who it is..

--
Rob
 
There's a couple of places down there that have makers for Johnson... At least 3 of them.. All are recent, so who knows which if any are the real ones..

The name Bill Craddock sounds kinda familiar, but I don't know why... Thinking it might be the "Bill" I've played with at the MABA gatherings on Saturday afternoons.. Claw hammer pickin' guy that you'd be hard pressed to find a song he can't play and sing.. Not sure if he makes his living at it, but he's done more than a few solo sets down on Beale.. Tons of pretty good pickers around here though and prolly more than a few named Bill..

Handy Park is closed in now... They have regular concerts there now and expect you to pay a hefty cover to check it out.. So they built a stone wall around the place.. They recently pulled up all the old brick paving off Beale and PAVED it... Everyone of the bricks was ground up.. I'm thinking they could have pulled 'em up one by one and sold 'em for $10 each and more than paid to have new brick put down as well as putting some cash back into other projects for the area...

It's all changing though.. The FedEx Forum in the back door as well as a 4 Star Weston Hotel being put up behind Silkey's. Don't guess I spend to much time down there anyway, so I ain't got to much room to gripe about it...

--
Rob
 
Crash © said:
And before ya go saying, they just changed his name around to keep the legal folks at ease...

"Nope. Tommy Johnson (1896-1956) was a chilling blues singer in his own right, older than (and no known relation to) Robert (1911-1938). The story of the musician who sells his soul to the devil for musical skill goes back several centuries, and circulated around Tommy long before Robert came along. Had he not done himself in with alcohol, Tommy, a strained-Sterno drunk, would have recorded more and likely be far better known today. If you are at all into blues music, check out some of Tommy's 17 recordings. They will raise the hairs on your neck." -- Stolen from http://www.mutantreviewers.com/robrother.html

Ya can Google Tommy Johnson and get a ton of info..
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="tommy+Johnson",+Blues&btnG=Google+Search

--
Rob
Click to expand...


you're wrong, the fact that there was a singer called tommy johnson doesn't prove he's the guy in the film.

it clearly is robert.
 
faderbug said:
you're wrong, the fact that there was a singer called tommy johnson doesn't prove he's the guy in the film.

it clearly is robert.
Click to expand...
It really does'nt matter because the whole thing is a fiction anyway.
 
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