Dust My Broom

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Dust My Broom is a blues standard originally recorded as I Believe I'll Dust My Broom by Robert Johnson, the legendary Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03474, ARC 7-04-81 and Conqueror 8871

This was the second song that Johnson recorded, immediately after Kind Hearted Woman Blues. Like that first recording, Johnson’s song was based on a recent hit by Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, and on a cover version by another popular artist. Carr’s original hit was I Believe I’ll Make A Change recorded in August 1934. The popular bottleneck guitar player and singer Kokomo Arnold used the tune for two records: Sagefield Woman Blues recorded in September 1934 and Sissy Man Blues recorded in January 1935. It seems likely that Johnson owned and studied both of Arnold’s records. Another possibility is that Johnson heard Arnold in person performing a number of verses to this melody.

Arnold began Sissy Man Blues with the same words as Carr’s original

I Believe I'll Make a Change		Sissy Man Bluess
Now I believe, — I believe I’ll go back home …… x 2 Because this life I’m livin’ — won’t let me stay alone		I belive, — I believe I’ll go back home ……....... x 2 Lord acknowledge to my good gal, mama, — Lord, that I have done you wrong

He also borrows a verses from Mr Carl’s Blues recorded by Carl Rafferty in December 1933, with a different melody.

Mr Carl’s Blues		Sissy Man Blues”
I’m goin’ to call up in China, — just to see if my baby’s over there .. x 2 I’ll always believe — my babe’s in the world somewhere		Now, I’m gonna ring up China, yeah man, — see can I find my good gal over there …… x 2 Says the Good Book tells me, — that I got a good gal in the world somewhere

Another verse is used in Arnold’s earlier record, Sagefield Woman Blues.

Mr Carl’s Blues		Sagefield Woman Blues
I do believe, — I believe I’ll dust my broom …… x 2 And after I dust my broom — Anyone may have my room		And I believe, — I believe I’ll dust my broom …… x 2 So some of your lowdown rounders, — Lord, you can have my room

Johnson bases three of his verses on Arnold's

I'm goin' get up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom x 2
Girl friend, the black man you been lovin', girl friend can get my room

I believe, I believe I'll go back home x 2
You can mistreat me here, but you can't when I go home

I'm gonna call up China, see is my good gal over there x 2
I can't find her in the Philippine islands, she must be in Ethiopia somewhere

Johnson did not attempt to copy the distinctive guitar styles of Arnold or Blackwell. But, according to Elijah Wald,^[1] the accompaniment was a major innovation. He played high pitch slide guitar triplets alternating with a driving bass boogie figure, creating an effect similar to the then popular combination of piano and guitar accompaniment. Johnson's innovation later became very common among blues guitarists, especially after the electric guitar became standard. That particular boogie guitar figure was apparently invented by Johnnie Temple, who used it in his 1935 recording Lead Pencil Blues. However, Temple spoke of performing with a musician he know as 'RJ'. Edward Komara suggests^[2] that "RJ" was Robert Johnson, and that he and Temple jointly invented the piano boogie guitar style.

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom was not copied on record until Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's 1949 recording entitled Dust My Broom. Two years later, Elmore James made his first recording of Dust My Broom, on the Trumpet Records label, incorporating the slide guitar triplet figure from Johnson's Rambling On My Mind. The record became a surprise rhythm and blues hit in 1952. James version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.^[3] The record was so popular and so commercially successful as to make the song a blues standard.

James closely followed Johnson's lyrics and included a bottleneck guitar blues riff used frequently by Johnson but not on his recording of this song.^[4] James' first recording was in 1951 for Trumpet Records with Sonny Boy Williamson playing the harmonica and Odie Johnson on bass. James also recorded it under the title "Dust My Blues". He became closely associated with Johnson's song, using the melody for some of his own songs as well and playing it in bottleneck or slide guitar, while Johnson's original was finger picked.

[edit] Song

Johnson's recording was in the key of E. The song's lyrics reflect the loneliness of a man feeling betrayed and in search of a woman.^[5] Attempts have been made to read a hoodoo sinificance into the phrase 'dust my broom'. However the blues artist Big Joe Williams, who knew Robert Johnson, and who also believed in traditional magic, explained it as "leaving for good ... I'm putting you down. I wont be back no more.^[6]

Johnson describes his experience,

I don't want no woman wants every downtown man she meets.

and what he is going to do:

And I'm gettin' up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom,

I'm gettin' up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom,

Girl friend, the black man you been loving', girl friend, can get my room.

I'm gonna call up China, see is my good girl over there.

I can't find her on Philippines Islands, she must be in Ethiopia somewhere.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Wald, Elijah (2004). Escaping the Delta. Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. p.p. 135-138. Amistad. ISBN 0-06-052427-8.
2. ^ Komara, Edward (2007). The Road to Robert Johnson. pp 44-45). ISBN-13:978-0-634-00907-9
3. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame
4. ^ Guralnick, Peter (1971). Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues & Rock'n'Roll. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 56. ISBN 0-06-097175-4. 
5. ^ Charters, Samuel (19733). Robert Johnson. Oak. p. 15. ISBN 0-8256-0059-6
6. ^ Pearson,Barry Lee and Bill McCulloch (2003. Robert Johnson, Lost and Found. Uiversity of Illinois Press. p 68. ISBN 978-0-252-07528-5