1. An American… Read Full Bio ↴There are several artists by the name Robert Johnson:
1. An American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (1911-1938) amongst the most famous of Delta blues musicians; ranked fifth in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time; considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll"
2. An English lutenist and composer of the late Tudorian and early Jacobean eras (c.1580-c.1634)
3. A 1970s Memphis-based American guitarist
4. A former drummer for KC and the Sunshine Band
1. Robert Johnson (Robert Leroy Johnson, Hazlehurst, Mississippi, May 8, 1911- Greenwood, Mississippi, August 16, 1938) was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter, among the most famous of Delta blues musicians.
His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend.
The first songs to appear were Terraplane Blues and Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Terraplane Blues became a moderate regional hit, selling 5,000 copies.
Other songs Johnson recorded were Come On In My Kitchen, Kind Hearted Woman Blues, I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, and Cross Road Blues.
Come on in My Kitchen included the lines:
"The woman I love took from my best friend / Some joker got lucky, stole her back again / You better come on in my kitchen, it's going to be rainin' outdoors."
In Crossroad Blues, another of his songs, he sang:
"I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees / I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees / I asked the Lord above, have mercy, save poor Bob if you please / Uumb, standing at the crossroads I tried to flag a ride / Standing at the crossroads I tried to flag a ride / Ain't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by."
Stones In My Passway and Me And The Devil are both about betrayal, a recurrent theme in country blues. Hell Hound On My Trail utilises another common theme: fear of the Devil. Other themes in Johnson's music include impotence (Dead Shrimp Blues and Phonograph Blues) and infidelity (Terraplane Blues, If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day and Love in Vain).
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 Faustian 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.
His death remains a matter of controversy. Some accounts state that he was given poisoned whiskey at a dance by the husband of a woman he had been secretly seeing. Others claim that it was just The Devil collecting his debt after the old legend of Robert Johnson dealing with the devil.
However, the latest, and unfortunately less dramatic and more plausible theory (published by David Connell in the British Medical Journal) is that Robert Johnson suffered from Marfan's Syndrome. Marfan's is a genetic disorder characterized by disproportionately long limbs, long thin fingers, a tall stature — all of which can be seen in the two photos that exist of Robert Johnson. Marfan's Syndrome is a cause of heart defects, and a complication such as an aortic dissection could lead to Robert Johnson's excruciatingly painful death.
Eleven 78s were released on the Vocalion label during his lifetime, with a twelfth issued posthumously. All songs are copyrighted to Robert Johnson, and his estate.
The Complete Recordings: A double-disc box set was released on August 28, 1990, containing almost everything Robert Johnson ever recorded, with all 29 recordings, and 12 alternate takes. (There is one further alternate, of
Traveling Riverside Blues which was released on Sony's King of the Delta Blues Singers CD and also as an extra in early printings of the paperback edition of Elijah Wald's "Escaping the Delta."
Grammy Awards:
1990 — Best Historical Album The Complete Recordings (Sony/Columbia) Legacy Winner
Grammy Hall of Fame:
1998 — Cross Road Blues (Single) (1936, Vocalion)
National Recording Registry:
The Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson (1936-1937) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2003.
The board selects songs in an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included four songs by Robert Johnson in the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll:
Sweet Home Chicago (1936),
Cross Road Blues (1936),
Hellhound on My Trail (1937),
Love in Vain (1937)
The Blues Foundation Awards:
Robert Johnson: Blues Music Awards
1991 Vintage or Reissue Album The Complete Recordings Winner
Honors and inductions
On September 17, 1994 the U.S. Post Office issues a Robert Johnson 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.
2006 — Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner accepted by son Claud Johnson
2000 — Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame Inducted
1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducted Early Influences
1980 — Blues Hall of Fame Inducted
He was also ranked fifth in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll", his vocal phrasing, original songs, and guitar style have influenced a broad range of musicians, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton.
2. Robert Johnson (c.1580-c.1634) was an English lutenist and composer of the late Tudorian and early Jacobean eras. He was the son of John Johnson.
3. Memphis-based Robert Johnson has been recording since the early '70s. Some early appearances were on recordings by the Hot Dogs, a band that featured Jack Holder and Greg Reding, later to cross the Mississippi River and become members of the raunchy hard-rocking Black Oak Arkansas.
By the late '70s, Johnson had recorded a single with the Bell Heirs and had established a somewhat regular playing relationship with a rhythm section featuring bassist Dave Cochran and drummer Blair Cunningham. The Infinity label released the premier Johnson effort as a leader, an album entitled Close Personal Friend, yet a collection entitled The Memphis Demos, which came out the following year, is considered to be a much better representation of his work, not the first time a musician's more casual performances beat out a supposedly more serious album project.
4) Robert Johnson was a former drummer for KC and the Sunshine Band
Sweet Home Chicago
Robert Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I'm heavy loaded, baby
I'm booked, I gotta go
Cryin' baby
Honey don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin' round with your friend-boy, you gonna get your
Business all in a trick
But I'm cryin' baby
Honey don't you wanna go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy, she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But I'm cryin' hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
To the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I'm goin' to California
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday, cryin'
Hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
The lyrics to Robert Johnson's song "Sweet Home Chicago" depict a man who is trying to convince his partner to leave California and return with him to his hometown of Chicago. The repetition of the plea "oh baby, don't you want to go?" emphasizes the man's desperation to leave California and return home. The singer also talks about being "heavy loaded" and "booked," which suggests that he might be down on luck and needing to start anew in Chicago.
The lines "two and two is four, four and two is six" and "six and two is eight, eight and two is ten" may reference the blues tradition of counting as a way to create a rhythmic structure within a song. Additionally, the line "friend-boy, she trick you one time, she sure gonna do it again" implies that the singer may have been wronged by someone in California and may be seeking redemption or justice in Chicago.
Overall, "Sweet Home Chicago" expresses a longing for home and a desire for stability that is often sought through returning to one's roots.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Robert Johnson invites his lover to go with him.
Back to the land of California
He reminds his lover about their past adventures in California.
To my sweet home Chicago
He tells his lover about another place he loves, his hometown of Chicago.
Now one and one is two
Robert Johnson starts singing about math equations, representing the simplicity of life.
Two and two is four
He continues to use math equations to describe his need to leave town.
I'm heavy loaded, baby
Robert Johnson reveals that he is weighed down by responsibilities and obligations.
I'm booked, I gotta go
He states that he has already promised someone he would be there and now must leave.
Cryin' baby
Robert Johnson's lover is crying because she doesn't want him to leave.
Now two and two is four
He repeats the math equation to indicate how he must keep moving forward with his journey.
Four and two is six
He continues with another equation, signaling his path forward.
You gonna keep monkeyin' round with your friend-boy, you gonna get your Business all in a trick
Robert Johnson warns his lover that if she continues to hang out with a dangerous crowd, she will get in trouble.
But I'm cryin' baby
Robert Johnson's lover is still crying for him to stay.
Now six and two is eight
He continues with the math equations to describe his path forward.
Eight and two is ten
He indicates that he is almost at his destination.
Friend-boy, she trick you one time
He is warning his lover's friend that she cannot be trusted.
She sure gonna do it again
He emphasizes how the friend is not trustworthy and will likely deceive them again.
But I'm cryin' hey, hey
Robert Johnson's lover is still crying for him to stay.
I'm goin' to California
He reminds his lover where he is going and why.
From there to Des Moines Iowa
He explains that he will be making stops along the way.
Somebody will tell me that you need my help someday, cryin'
He predicts that his lover will need him one day and he will help her.
Hey, hey
He repeats his invitation to his lover to come with him.
Back to the land of California
He repeats his reminder to his lover about California.
To my sweet home Chicago
He repeats his love for his hometown of Chicago.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: ROBERT JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Igor Batista
Lyrics:
Oh, baby, don't you want to go?
Oh, baby, don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
Oh, baby, don't you want to go?
Oh, baby, don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I'm heavy loaded baby
I'm booked I gotta go
Cryin', baby
Honey, don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
Now two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin round here friend-boy
You gonna get your business all in a trick
But I'm cryin', baby
Honey, don't you wanna go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But I'm cryin', hey hey
Baby, don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
I'm goin to california
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday
Cryin', hey hey
Baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago?
abby
What many don't realize this is how good this sounds on a 1930's lacquer record recording . Could you even imagine how amazing it would have been to hear him play live .
Father McKenzie
it would have been epic!
carter
no
Bio Hazard
@carter k sorry
XxSerge_JacksonxX
I hear he was so good that people thought he sold his soul to the devil
Ned D.
Robert Johnson is one of the most influential musicians of all time. I'm pretty sure almost every popular blues guitarist would list him as an inspiration.
Pedro Urbieta
same dude that sold his soul
Mellons
@Pedro Urbieta thats a myth
Shannon5909
Hey, I've played classical guitar for 45 years and Mr Johnson is at the top of my list for inspiration!
Ophelia pain
Not just blues, rock and some punk. You would be amazed.