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
Traveling Riverside Blues
Robert Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If your man get personal, want to have your fun
Best come on back to Friar's Point, mama, barrelhouse all night long
I got women's in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I got women's in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
But my Friar's 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, layin' 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
'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
That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now
But I'm goin' back to Friar's Point, if I be rockin'to my head
The lyrics of Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues" are full of provocative images and innuendos that create a strong sense of sexual tension. At the beginning of the song, Johnson warns his lovers that if their man gets personal and wants to have his own fun, they should come back to Friar's Point where they can enjoy an all-night-long barrelhouse. This suggests that the singer is not a faithful partner and is involved with multiple women.
He then goes on to describe his many lovers, from Vicksburg to Tennessee. But the one who holds the most sway over him is his Friar's Point rider, who hops all over him. This could mean that she is more demanding or controlling than the others. The mention of her front teeth crowned with gold is another interesting detail. Johnson doesn't state her race, but the reference to her teeth could possibly be a nod to racial stereotypes of the time.
The final verse of the song is perhaps the most famous one, with its vivid lemon-squeezing imagery. Johnson sings about how his lover can "squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg" and it's clear that he's using the lemon as a metaphor for his own sexual desire. However, he also suggests that despite all of this, he'll still go back to Friar's Point if he feels like rocking his head. This could be interpreted as a lack of commitment or a recognition that he's not really in control of his own life.
Line by Line Meaning
If your man get personal, want to have your fun
If your man is acting possessive, you should go have some fun
Best come on back to Friar's Point, mama, barrelhouse all night long
Come back to Friar's Point where we can drink and party all night long
I got women's in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I have women in Vicksburg and in Tennessee
But my Friar's Point rider, now, hops all over me
My Friar's Point lover keeps me busy and satisfied
I ain't gon' to state no color but her front teeth crowned with gold
I won't mention her race, but she has gold front teeth
She got a mortgage on my body, now, layin' on my soul
She owns me completely, physically and emotionally
Lord, I'm goin' to Rosedale, gon' take my rider by my side
I'm travelling to Rosedale with my lover by my side
We can still barrelhouse baby, on the riverside
We can still party and drink together on the riverside
Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my
You can pleasure me until I am completely satisfied
'Til the juice rune down my leg, baby, you know what I'm talkin' about
You know what I mean when I say I want to be pleasured until I'm completely satisfied
That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now
I'm serious about wanting to be completely satisfied
But I'm goin' back to Friar's Point, if I be rockin'to my head
I'll only leave Friar's Point if something better comes along, but until then, I'll stay with my lover there
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: ROBERT LEROY JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind