“Cross Road Blues” tells of being unable to be noticed or picked up and constantly waiting for someone to stop, which never happens. I would turn this into my own interpretation by saying “Cross Road Blues” is a song about paralysis as a result of indecision. Not knowing which way to go, hesitating, and causing self induced paralysis by not being able to move since the decision cannot be made. I picked this song to focus on for my project. I avoided painting an obvious crossroads and wanted to show the indecision with the figures. I see them as a time sequence of one individual and these are the different stages of trying to decide which way to go. It intensifies as the eye moves right. The background color also gives an idea of factors that may influence the decision making process, such as going towards darker or warmer colors.
In “Cross Road Blues,” Robert Johnson sings “You can run, you can run, tell my friend-boy Willie Brown, Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad” and I wondered who Willie Brown is. He was also a Delta Blues singer, who actually played alot of music with Charlie Patton. Why Johnson referenced Willie Brown may be because Johnson was influenced by Willie Brown musically, which could make him a figure who teaches music. There is the legend that the devil teaches fiddlers to play at the crossroads, so perhaps this is the reference? I find that myth to be interesting and not so much negative or scary but more of an interesting “trademark” of the blues/ folk tradition to have these types of superstitions that can be used to make an image more unique.
After reading back over the reading my understanding has changed in a way that I think I have learned more about the history of black people through their music, rather than a history book. History class in middle school and high school give some depth to the history of the African Americans becoming enslaved and continuing from there… but after listening each week to the different layers that Jones also mentions in the reading, like songs from Africa to work songs to gospels to blues, then I heard how the suppression of the black people is developed over time into new forms of song. The songs give a much more accurate and raw perspective and account of their history.
William Ferris puts it nicely that the blues consist of “a kinship of love for music and good times shared together” (22) in Blue from the Delta. Then it is also true that the blues are expressions of the singer’s lives, which could contain loneliness, and weariness. Much of these were culminated from difficulties African Americans had to endure. Ferris discusses how place is a defining factor of for the form a blues song takes (28). This is because of the unique characteristics of each town or city the singers lived and the encounters they had. A place being isolated has an effect on the song, or its proximity to, for example, the delta or another body of water. It was interesting that female blues singers were more prevalent in the urban realm while the men were known for the “rural” areas during the early recording stages. Ferris also brought up how the “blues singer became a spokesperson for the black community,” which he later explains that it is so deep in those roots that it is assumed to naturally sing blues from a black person’s standpoint (26).
I selected a handful of songs to go into detail on this week (there are so many!):
At first I thought Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” was about Chicago. After listening closer it made me do a double take with my ears and I had to read the lyrics and try to understand the chorus… because he sings “Back to the land of California, to my sweet home Chicago,” and both places are far apart in the United States. Initially I guessed that this could be him trying to decide if he wanted to either go back to California, or Chicago, then he chooses his “sweet home” Chicago. But later in the second to last stanza, he sings “I’m goin’ to California, From there to Des Moines Iowa,” so maybe he grouped California and Chicago together. I did some research on this and found that (according to the Chicago Tribune) that Johnson never went to Chicago, which answers one question I had, which was what does Chicago have to do with the delta? It seems to be a mystery...
“Corrina, Corrina” as first recorded by Bo Carter, reminds me a little bit of “Into the Pines” from the line asking where she was last night. “I met Corrina across the sea…” this line also makes me think of the Odyssey and Corrina would take the form of Calypso because it seems like the singer is enthralled with her and loves her too much for his own good.
On mudcat there was some discussion that “Careless Love” was WC handy’s “folk” version of “Loveless Love,” told by him in an interview with Lomax…Bessie Smith also sings a version of this, I found that she is one of the successful female blues singers. Apart from the song’s history, I wonder what the meaning of a careless love is… in one way it is an oxymoron, in another way it could be taken as a care-free love that is relaxing and comfortable. But the song sounds like it is calling love itself a careless being that neglects to take care of the person in love. I see where this would be found in the delta blues world (or any world) where love can tear people away from their families and cause people to chase after it, not knowing where it will lead them.
I listened to Charlie Patton’s “‘34 Blues” but it was hard to enjoy because his style of singing was hard for me to understand. But this also gave me understanding as to why his audience was smaller, especially compared to MHJ and Woody Guthrie. It is because Patton is more like Leadbelly in the way that they had some difficulties finding large audiences who could relate (or understand) their songs. After some research I also found that Patton appealed more to “folk” and was not as commercialized because his tone was unique. As for the song, “‘34 Blues” addresses some scenes of the Great Depression era where he sings “I was as broke as I could be...”
Then “I’m So Glad” by Skip James gives so many different paths as well because he is glad, doesn’t know what to do, but also tired of several negative emotions that are caused by someone else. Maybe is glad because the “moaning” and “weeping” is over and now he is no longer giving his energy to negative things but now he has so much more time to be glad that he does not know what to do with himself… which can be a good thing! Then I watched the YouTube video where he sings “Devil Got My Woman,” the other four men hanging around enjoying the music really captures a quality blues scene…
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