Cross Road Blues: The Evolution of a Song
Jerry Desmarais Spaulding High School Barre, Vermont
Thanks to The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University, Cleveland, MS and the National Endowment for the Humanities
African music often features complex rhythmic patterns, often changing within a song. Call and response was also a common feature of African music.
Senegalese drummers on YouTube
"Call and response" in the Maasai Mara, Kenya
The idea of a “crossroads”, a point in life at which a person must make an important decision as to which of two paths to followwas also a common element in West African folklore.
Crossroads near the Dockery Plantation in Mississippi where Robert Johnson traveled and played.
African slaves brought African music and culture with them to the Americas.
Delta Blues music emphasizes singing in the higher registers and rhythms that are common in traditional African music.
Early Delta blues musicians adopted the practice of a solo musician singing and playing a slide guitar. The slide often followed a line of verse, imitating the call and response style.
A Delta blues guitarist typically plays a bass line with his thumb, rhythm and melody, or melody and harmony with his fingers.
“Mississippi” John Hurt
Robert Johnson wrote the song “Cross Road Blues” in the 1930s and recorded it in 1936.
Robert Johnson
Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsB_cGdgPTo
The song is played with a complex rhythm, it begins slowly and gathers speed, the thumb and fingers play a variety of two and threebeat patterns, one over the other. The verses vary in length from 14 to 15 bars. The slide work on the guitar is in response to the high pitched vocals.
Cross Road Blues 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
Mmmmm, standin' at the crossroad,I tried to flag a ride Standin' at the crossroad, I tried to flag a ride Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by
Mmm, the sun goin' down, boy, dark gon' catch me here oooo ooee eeee, boy, dark gon' catch me here I haven't got no lovin' sweet woman that love and feel my care
You can run, you can run, tell my friendboy Willie Brown You can run, you can run, tell my friendboy Willie Brown Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad, babe, I believe I'm sinkin' down
Because of technological, social, and economic developments Robert Johnson had a wider influence than many of the earlier Delta blues musicians. He was able to record his music, it was broadcast on the radio, and he was able to travel to Chicago and across the country.
While he was popular with other musicians and in the Delta, his broader influence was limited. He was not especially well received in Chicago in the 1930s.
At some point a substory evolved that the song was about a deal Johnson had made at the crossroads with the devil, exchanging his soul for musical talent. Johnson did not speak of it, and the lyrics did not reflect it, but the story persisted, perhaps because of his mysterious early death, probably at the hands of a jilted lover or her husband.
Johnson’s death coincided with the “Great Migration” the movement of hundreds of thousands of people from the Mississippi Delta, most to Chicago.
Push factors:
● Mississippi flood of 1927 ● Segregation and oppression in Mississippi ● Introduction of the mechanical cotton picker
Pull factors:
● Job opportunities in Chicago ● Direct railroad link ● Connections to relatives and friends ● Desegregation of war industries in World War II ● Perception that racism was less severe
Elmore James began the revival of Cross Road Blues when he covered the song in the 1950s
Elmore James version, “Standing at the Crossroad,” 1954, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFjt4squRE
How is it different from Robert Johnson’s version?
● It is played with a band ● Rhythm is consistent: 4/4 time throughout ● The slide guitar is quieter ● There is a guitar solo between verses ● James altered the lyrics to emphasize the “lost love” aspect of the song ● And…
Muddy Waters
By the 1950s, blues music had been electrified with separate bass and rhythm guitars and was more frequently played in nightclubs. Muddy Waters is generally credited with popularizing “electric blues” in Chicago. James was playing in a style then being developed by BB King. His version of Crossroad Blues was distributed nationally, though with limited success.
In the early 1960s, The Rolling Stones were inspired by the music of Muddy Waters and others, popularizing it in Great Britain, and blending it with rock and roll. It is often said that the Rolling Stones introduced the blues to white audiences in America.
In 1966, British rocker Eric Clapton recorded “Crossroads” with his band “Cream.” This version achieved the greatest popularity and became a standard of classic rock.
Crossroads by Cream on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE9HvSdcaL4
Compare the Cream version to the original and the Elmore James versions of Cross Road Blues:
● simpler, like R Johnson, only 3 instruments ● elements of hard rock, distorted guitar ● no slide ● elements of psychedelic rock, long improvisation ● standard rhythm, 4/4 throughout ● uses call and response: vocals, then guitar riff
In 2009, John Mayer recorded a cover of Crossroads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKltSZN48zE
Compare it to earlier versions:
Robert Johnson
● He plays bass, rhythm, and melody himself with his right hand ● And…
Elmore James
● He has a full band including vocal harmony ● And...
Eric Clapton, Cream
● He begins with an improvised guitar solo, as in psychedelic rock ● And...