In this edition of American Icons, parsing truth from hearsay in the history of Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues.” And finding out what the song means at a time when many Americans are still on the crossroad, particularly in Johnson’s home-state of Mississippi, which has the highest poverty rate in the country - and where his grandchildren still live.Īmerican Icons is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “It sounds like there's two or three guitars talking to each other.” Type out all lyrics, even if it’s a chorus that’s repeated throughout the song The Section Header button breaks up song sections. “It's wild,” says Jon Pareles, chief pop music critic at The New York Times. He was educated, he wrote his own songs and he played the guitar as if it were a piano: one hand played the rhythm and the other the melody. Myths aside, Robert Johnson stood out for his complex personality and his technique. “Cross Road Blues” is one of just 29 songs that the bluesman recorded, and more than any other, it encapsulates the myths that surround his life: He sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads to become a guitar virtuoso. Soundtracks (22) Open Your Heart Written by Madonna, Gardner Cole & Peter Rafelson Suckerpunch Written by Jaret Reddick My Greatest Day Written by Jaret. Asked the Lord above for mercy, ‘Save me if you please,’” sang Robert Johnson in 1936. “I went down to the cross road, fell down on my knees.
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