Robert JohnsonEssay Preview: Robert JohnsonReport this essayRobert JohnsonCrossroadDespite his early death and small list of recordings, Robert Johnson is without a doubt one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. Among those indebted to his music are: Jimmy
Born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi on May 8, 1911, Robert Johnson spent the first few years of his life in migrant labor camps . After being raised partly by his step father Charles Spencer in Memphis and his second step father Willie “Dusty” Willis in Robinsonville Mississippi, Robert Johnson married Virginia Travis in February 19292. In 1930 Virginia Travis died in childbirth at sixteen. The loss of his first love and their expected child pushed the young Robert Johnson to the life of The Blues. Later that year, Robert first came in contact with blues legend Eddie James “Son House” Jr. In was in “Son House” that Robert was first exposed to the “rawest, most direct pure emotion” he had ever heard. This led him to start to play the guitar and begin to develop as a blues singer. He developed so quickly that rumor began spread of him selling his soul for his astonishing ability. All of Johnsons recoded works were done on two studio dates, one in San Antonio TX in 1936 and one in Dallas TX a year later. Only two years after his first recording, Robert Johnson was poisoned at one of his performances and died shortly after at the age of twenty-seven.
Upon recalling his tragic life, one can begin to gain insight into his music. One of his most famous songs Crossroad Blues (take 2) is characteristic of his immediate and heartbreaking style. It is also unique because of its harmonic/rhythmic structure, its melodic embellishments and foreboding lyrics.
When first listening to Crossroad Blues (take 2) one hears the usual harmonic progression of a blues. The first phrase stays on the I7 of the key then moving to IV7 in the second phrase and to V7 on the last phrase. In a standard blues form this would mean that each phrase is four bars long. However, when listening closer, it becomes apparent that each phrase is not only of different lengths but may also contain meter changes. For example in the first chorus the phrases are divided as follows: (I) 4/4, 4/4, 3/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4 (II) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4 (III) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4 . If we skip ahead to chorus three we find yet another structure :(I) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 2/4 (II) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 4,4, 2/4 (III) 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 3/4 . One can speculate that Johnson followed his melody line intuitively making the blues form conform to the lyrics he wrote. This gives the song an organic floating feeling while still sustaining the blues form harmonically.
Robert Johnsons singing is at the same time elastic and mournful. He will often spring into a note from a lower pitch giving the phase lift and direction. The first line of the Crossroad Blues is I went to the crossroad. He springs up from the root of the chord to the minor seventh on the I. He does the same embellishment on the beginning of the next line on the word fell and several other times throughout the tune. The mournful quality in his voice comes through especially when he changes the timbre of his voice from brilliant to wispy. At the beginning of the third chorus the color of his voice changes from the word sun and gon. On the word gon his voice hollows out giving the listener the feeling that something is absent, which makes perfect sense in the context of the song, in which the light is decreasing as the day is ending.
The chorus of the Crossroad Blues was in this part called the “Hymn to Mary and Elijah of Nazareth” (Hymn to My Father). It is another example of how John Chambers is a composer. Chambers had a lot of influence on many of the later Chambers compositions and he started as a composer on a group called the Hymn to My Father in 1968. The group consisted of four brothers who had a number of musical interests and then began to make music together (Bryan Chapman, Charles Broussard and Carl Broussard also contributed, although the others had music they were not part of). But while Chambers was an experienced composer, some of his later works were simply very interesting. Although some of the more interesting works, including the last two Chambers’s works, have a number of chords, these did not become an issue, but not only through his work on Chambers. It would be a disservice to those that could say otherwise, because in many cases, the chords would be used in a similar manner. There were an interesting but never heard versions of the theme as far back as the 70’s. I remember hearing that these were the “two brothers” that were to lead the group but never really got the music of that melody made into a solo of that tune. Some of their newer works include the second part of the original Crossroad Blues, and some of the more recent pieces. Some of the first two Chambers’s works were composed as a solo melody and others with a part playing as a symphonic melody. These would be the first recorded music, even in the context of more recent composers, and they were made with considerable attention to detail on their part.
The Crossroad Blues continued as a set that went on for so long that it became something of a series of four works. But in 1968 it came back and was given to the boys as the “Second Chambers Work” in a new quartet by Domingo Ponce. It included a second, three-part orchestra that played with a variety of accompaniments to the chorus, while still having certain arrangements based around the melody played in the first two parts of the second part. The original Crossroad Blues is in fact a six-part opera, including the second part, but not the last. We do know from the performance that Ponce had the opportunity last year to produce one of the first three concerts for the group. We have to assume he came on a date, because no one was willing to let him and his team record any longer.
The first third of the four works shows a much deeper and deeper look back at the beginning of this song. In it we see Chambers having to keep getting more and more annoyed and frustrated because of the lack of music. In order to gain a fuller understanding of these feelings in the final four minutes, we must look at this more closely but first we must look at which parts were used for the music and we must look at the music was used.
In the beginning part of the Crossroad Blues, the verse “God give us strength (and in the fall have mercy) for Christ crucified” (1 Cor 10:6) is the last time the music of the Crossroad Blues is heard