Hellhound on My Trail

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One of two known photographs of Robert Johnson
One of two known photographs of Robert Johnson

"Hellhound on My Trail" is an original blues song recorded by a young drifter from the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson, in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, July 20, 1937, one of ten songs recorded in his second and last recording session for RCA.

Such is the customary modern understanding of the song. However, research by blues scholars has established that Johnson followed Johnny Temple and Joe McCoy in adapting Skip James's song "Devil Got My Woman". Johnson also used this song for the lyrics of "Come On In My Kitchen". The emotional intensity, guitar tuning and strained singing style of "Hellhound On My Trail" owe much to James's performance. Another Skip James song adapted by Johnson was "20-20 Blues", the model for Johnson's "32-20 Blues".[1]

The phrase "hellhound on my trail" was already in currency. Funny Paper Smith in his 1931 Howling Wolf Blues No.3 had sung:

"I take time when I'm prowlin', an' wipe my tracks out with my tail
Get home, get blue an' start howlin', an' the hellhound on my trail"[2]

By the fall of 1938 he was dead, rumored to have been murdered during the summer, maybe stabbed to death or poisoned by a jealous lover. He was twenty-seven when he died. This song is one of twenty-nine songs that is all that is left of Robert Johnson. A somewhat mythological figure, little else is known about him.[3]

According to legend, Johnson sold his soul to the devil in a Faustian deal at the crossroads in return for his musical talent.[4]

This song fuels the mystery and lore surrounding him as it suggests a man in the grip of evil, and his deal with the devil has become part of popular culture.[5]

He played the guitar with a distinctive bottleneck slide style and sang with an intensity that was personal and chilling in its candor. No one remembers what he used for a bottleneck but his bottleneck playing was in an open E chord with the lower strings used as a drone-like accompaniment. Muddy Waters told Alan Lomax that he admired Johnson and had once seen him perform. However, the similarities in their styles are due to their borrowings from their teacher Son House.[6]

Contents

[edit] Song

Although this is a twelve bar blues song in structure, it is unique in melody and verse form. The first and last verses may be the finest found in the blues, according to music historian Samuel Charters.[3] The poetic imagery is brilliant and intense with a feeling of personal frenzy.[7] The song's lyrics reflect an agonized spirit for whom there is no escape.[8] The vision of the hounds of hell coming to catch sinners was prevalent in southern churches at that time, and this may have been the image in Johnson's mind.[3]

I got to keep movinnnn', I got to keep movinnnn',
Blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail,
Mmmmm-mm-mm-mm, blues fallin' down like hail, blues fallin' down like hail,
And the day keeps on worring' me, there's a hell-hound on my trail,
Hell-hound on my trail, hell-hound on my trail.

[edit] Legacy

Robert Johnson has influenced generations of bluesmen, including Eric Clapton who recorded a tribute album to Johnson entitled Me and Mr. Johnson which includes "Hellhound on My Trail". Johnson is number five on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time with Clapton who is placed at number four.[9] "Hellhound on My Trail" is listed as one of NPR's 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century because of the profound impact of the song on the evolution of the blues.[10] "Hellhound on My Trail" is now considered a classic.[7]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Wald, Elijah (2004). Escaping the Delta. Robert Johnson and the invention of the Blues. p. 171. Amistad. ISBN 0-06-052427-8.
  2. ^ Wardlow, Gayle Dean (1998). Edited with an introduction by Edward Komara. Chasin' that Devil Music. Searching for the Blues. p. 198. Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-552-5.
  3. ^ a b c Charters, Samuel (1973). Robert Johnson. New York: Oak Publications, pp 15-17, 69. ISBN 0-8256-0059-6. 
  4. ^ Hellhound. npr.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  5. ^ Robert Johnson. University of Mississippi. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  6. ^ Lomax, Alan (1993). The Land Where the Blues Began. p 411. Methuen. ISBN 0-413-67850.
  7. ^ a b Shaw, Arnold (1978). Honkers and Shouters. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, pp 38-39. ISBN 0-02-061740-2. 
  8. ^ Oliver, Paul (1990). Blues Fell This Morning, 2nd Ed, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 285-287. ISBN 0-521-37793-5. 
  9. ^ The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  10. ^ The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. npr.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.

[edit] External links

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