Cross Road Blues (Take 1)
Johnson, Robert
I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above "Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please"
Yeoo, standin' at the crossroad, tried to flag a ride
Ooo eeee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, babe, everybody pass me by
Standin' at the crossroad, baby, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroad, baby, eee, eee, risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul, now, poor Bob is sinkin' down
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown1
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin', Lord, babe, I'm sinkin' down
And I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, baby, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well, babe, in my distress
__________
1) this could either be the close friend of Son House
named Willie Brown with whom he played together when Robert
Johnson first began to play, or the younger Willie Brown who
did some recordings for the Library of Congress or yet
another completely unknown Willie Brown, who knows(?);
In the Delta
of the Mississippi River, where Robert Johnson was born,
they said that if an aspiring bluesman waited by the side of
a deserted country crossroads in the dark of a moonless
night, then Satan himself might come and tune his guitar,
sealing a pact for the bluesman's soul and guaranteeing a
lifetime of easy money, women, and fame. They said that
Robert Johnson must have waited by the crossroads and gotten
his guitar fine-tuned.
|
