From OP: Recorded at San Francisco’s Winterland on March 10th, 1968, Clapton was 22 years old when he played this song. The song appears on the live half of the double album Wheels Of Fire as the first of two tracks on side three. It was also released as a single in January 1969, and it was in this way that I first came into possession of the song. This monument to greatness, oddly enough, only reached #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 but managed to peak at #17 on Cash Box on March 1, 1969.
A short clip from Clapton's own legendary performance of "Crossroads" at Winterland in 1968 appears in the video.
In 1986, Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
One of the most masterful rock performances of all time also had one HELL of a story associated with the lyrics, based on the song "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson. Actually, to be more accurate, "Crossroads" was an adaptation by Eric Clapton of two Robert Johnson songs: "Cross Road Blues" and "Traveling Riverside Blues," with the weight of the lyrics coming from "Cross Road Blues."
According to legend Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in return for becoming the greatest blues guitarist of his time at a crossroads along the Mississippi Blues Trail. Some accounts have the Devil already waiting on Robert, others that he walks up while Robert is distracted by an unworldly dog (or hell hound) howling by the roadside. He appears as a large black man, takes the guitar Johnson is carrying, tunes it, plays it a bit and hands it back ... along with a new supernatural musical ability. Many claim this was in Rosedale although others dispute this and say it was in Clarksdale. In all fairness, the Clarksdale crossroads at Highways 61 and 49 looks scarier, but that doesn't mean a thing.
Rosedale, Mississippi appears to be the authentic focal point for the trail bluesman Robert Johnson rode by rail. The tale as told by another blues artist, Henry Goodman, of a meeting between Johnson and the Devil at the legendary "crossroads" where Highway 8 intersects with Highway 1 near Rosedale is the closest thing to a "document" there is, since it is after all only a story. Yet this story is said to be an actual vision revealed to Goodman of how Johnson became one of the greatest blues guitarists in return for giving his soul to the Devil. You can read a transcript of the legend at: http://www.vagablogging.net/robert-johnson-sold-his-soul-to-the-devil-in-rosedale-mississippi.html
From OP:
ReplyDeleteRecorded at San Francisco’s Winterland on March 10th, 1968, Clapton was 22 years old when he played this song. The song appears on the live half of the double album Wheels Of Fire as the first of two tracks on side three. It was also released as a single in January 1969, and it was in this way that I first came into possession of the song. This monument to greatness, oddly enough, only reached #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 but managed to peak at #17 on Cash Box on March 1, 1969.
A short clip from Clapton's own legendary performance of "Crossroads" at Winterland in 1968 appears in the video.
In 1986, Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
One of the most masterful rock performances of all time also had one HELL of a story associated with the lyrics, based on the song "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson. Actually, to be more accurate, "Crossroads" was an adaptation by Eric Clapton of two Robert Johnson songs: "Cross Road Blues" and "Traveling Riverside Blues," with the weight of the lyrics coming from "Cross Road Blues."
According to legend Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in return for becoming the greatest blues guitarist of his time at a crossroads along the Mississippi Blues Trail. Some accounts have the Devil already waiting on Robert, others that he walks up while Robert is distracted by an unworldly dog (or hell hound) howling by the roadside. He appears as a large black man, takes the guitar Johnson is carrying, tunes it, plays it a bit and hands it back ... along with a new supernatural musical ability. Many claim this was in Rosedale although others dispute this and say it was in Clarksdale. In all fairness, the Clarksdale crossroads at Highways 61 and 49 looks scarier, but that doesn't mean a thing.
Rosedale, Mississippi appears to be the authentic focal point for the trail bluesman Robert Johnson rode by rail. The tale as told by another blues artist, Henry Goodman, of a meeting between Johnson and the Devil at the legendary "crossroads" where Highway 8 intersects with Highway 1 near Rosedale is the closest thing to a "document" there is, since it is after all only a story. Yet this story is said to be an actual vision revealed to Goodman of how Johnson became one of the greatest blues guitarists in return for giving his soul to the Devil. You can read a transcript of the legend at:
http://www.vagablogging.net/robert-johnson-sold-his-soul-to-the-devil-in-rosedale-mississippi.html