| "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Robert Johnson | |
| Released | April 1937 |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| A-side | I Believe I'll Dust My Broom |
| Recorded | San Antonio, Texas, Monday, November 23, 1936 |
| Genre | Blues |
| Label | Vocalion |
| Writer | Robert Johnson |
| Producer | Don Law |
"Dust My Broom" is a blues standard originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" by Robert Johnson, the 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 03475, ARC 7-04-81 and Conqueror 8871. There is an ongoing dispute as to whether the song was originally written by Johnson or by his contemporary, Elmore James.[1]
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This was the second song that Johnson recorded, immediately after "Kind Hearted Woman Blues". He adopted this song from traditional sources.[2] Unlike the many versions by other musicians, Johnson's original accompaniment was finger picked, and not played as a bottleneck or slide guitar.[3][4] Leroy Carr’s original hit was "I Believe I’ll Make A Change" recorded in August 1934.[5] The popular bottleneck guitar player and singer Kokomo Arnold used the tune for two records: "Sagefield Woman Blues" recorded in September 1934[6] and "Sissy Man Blues" recorded in January 1935[7] 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.[8] However, Edward Komara suggests[9] that Johnson may have begun developing his version of the song as early as 1933, since it had already been recorded by the Sparks Brothers as "I Believe I'll Make A Change" in 1932[10] and by Jack Kelly as "Believe I'll Go Back Home" in 1933[11]
Arnold began "Sissy Man Blues" with essentially the same verse as Kelly:
I believe, I believe I’ll go back home x 2
Lord acknowledge to my good gal, mama, Lord, that I have done you wrong
This couplet echoes traditional religious songs about The Prodigal Son. Indeed, in his 1938 re-working of the song, Big Bill Broonzy[12] includes the line:
The Prodigal Son went home, I believe I'll do the same
Arnold also borrows a verse from "Mr Carl’s Blues" recorded by Carl Rafferty in December 1933.[4][13] The melody is somewhat different, but Paul Oliver considers it to be the same song.[14]
| Mr Carl’s Blues | Sissy Man Blue | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 of Rafferty's verses 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 takes Arnold's melody and these three verses, adding two new verses of his own. As well as telephoning to find his lost girl, he will write a letter. And he changes his attitude to the woman he is leaving. Arnold acknowledges that he has done wrong, but Johnson tells his woman "The black man you been loving, girl friend, can get my room". He then adds a characteristic verse on unfaithful women and this woman in particular. The resulting text has a unity that was missing in Arnold's two records.[8] The singer is leaving for home, disillusioned with one woman and yearning for another, who may be anywhere in the world.
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'm gonna write a letter, telephone every town I know x 2
If I can't find her in West Helena, she must be in East Munroe I know
I don't want no woman, wants every down town man she meets x 2
She's a no good dony, they shouldn't 'low her on the streets
I believe, I believe I'll go back home x 2
You can mistreat me here, babe, but you can't when I go home
And I'm gettin' 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'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
Attempts have been made to read a hoodoo significance 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 won't be back no more".[15]
Johnson did not attempt to copy the distinctive guitar styles of Arnold or Blackwell. But, according to Elijah Wald,[8] the accompaniment was a major innovation. Fingerpicking in the key of E, he plays high pitch triplets against a driving bass boogie figure, creating an effect similar to the then popular combination of piano and guitar accompaniment. Johnson's blend is so seamless it appears to be two guitarists playing at the same time. In fact, when Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards first heard Johnson he remarked; "He's great! But who's the other guitar player?" (In another version, Mick Jagger made this remark to Richards when Richards first played him the song). Johnson drives the beat with the shuffle rhythm and plays fills simultaneously. 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 (It Just Won't Write)". (Still, no one has quite matched Johnson's technique on Dust My Broom. As crude as it is, it's also immensely sophisticated).[16] However, Temple spoke of performing with a musician he knew as "RJ". Edward Komara suggests[9] that "RJ" was Robert Johnson, and that he and Temple jointly invented the piano boogie guitar style.
Komara believes that Johnson played this and other songs in a 'secret tuning', which Komara calls "Aadd9". This is an 'open A' tuning with the fifth string retuned from A to B, giving a tuning of E-B-E-A-C♯-E.[9]
The first reissue of Johnson's music King of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961 omitted "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and other forward looking performances, described by Pearson and McCulloch[15] as "traditional pieces that would have connected Johnson to the rightful inheritors of his musical ideas – big-city African American artists whose high-powered, electrically amplified blues remained solidly in touch with Johnson's musical legacy."
The second compilation issued by Columbia Records, King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II was issued nine years later, although a bootleg album of recording to supplement the first volume had been issued on the Kokomo label and was owned and circulated among blues enthusiasts.[17] The Columbia album was marketed to a younger, wider audience than the jazz fans for whom the first album was compiled. In the liner notes, Marketing Manager Jon Waxman[15] wrote, "Unquestionably, a major influence on much of today's rock music is the blues – more especially rural blues ... So, if you dig contemporary music, especially the blues, give a listen to Robert Johnson, the original master."
Thus, Johnson's record was known to many rock musicians before the rhythm and blues standard by Elmore James.
| "Dust My Broom" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup | |
| A-side | Dust My broom |
| B-side | You Know That I Love You |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| Recorded | Chicago, March 10, 1949 |
| Genre | Rhythm and Blues |
| Label | Victor |
"I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" was not covered until Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's 1949 recording entitled "Dust My Broom".[18] Crudup's guitar accompaniment did not copy Johnson's, and his melody was somewhat altered. His lyrics were partly based on Johnson's, partly new. He begins in biblical language:
It's a sin and a shame, Lord, the way you treat po' me x 2
You know well, that I love you, and I really wouldn't mistreat, thee
His next verses are based on Johnson's, but show a very different attitude to the woman he is leaving:
So, I'm gonna get up in the mornin', an' I swear I'm gonna dust my broom x 2
I'm quittin' the best gal I'm lovin', so my friends can get my room I believe, I believe, believe my time ain't long x 2
I got to leave my baby, break up my happy home
Crudup's record is a solo performance. He sing and accompanies himself on electric guitar.
| "Dust My Broom" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Robert Lockwood Junior | |
| A-side | Dust My Broom |
| B-side | I'm Gonna Dig Myself a Hole |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| Recorded | Chicago, November 15, 1951 |
| Genre | Rhythm and Blues |
| Label | Mercury |
| Writer(s) | Robert Johnson |
In 1951, Robert Lockwood recorded "Dust My Broom" for J.O.B. on March 22[19] and for Mercury on November 15.[20][9] The unissued J.O.B. record was a band performance with Lockwood on electric guitar, Sunnyland Slim on piano and Alfred Wallace on drums. The Mercury record also featured Sunnyland Slim, with Ernest "Big Boy" Crawford on drums. Lockwood had learned the song in person from Robert Johnson, who he regarded as his musical mentor and a sort of "step father", because Lockwood's mother was one of Johnson's regular girlfriends, the one with whom he stayed in Helena, Arkansas.[8] He therefore used Johnson's text with minor changes.
I'm gonna get up early in the mornin', I believe I'll dust my broom X 2
And if you got another man little baby, you sure can have my room I don't want no woman, want every down town man she meets X 2
You know that she's a dirty mistreater, they shouldn't 'low the little girl out on the streets I believe, I believe I'll go back home X 2
I want to tell the little girl I've been lovin', that she have done done me wrong I'm gonna call West Helena, telephone every town I know x 2
If the little girl ain't in Chicago, she's in East Munroe I know I'm gonna call up China, see is my little girl over there x 2
If the little girl ain't on the Philippine Islands, she's in Ethiopia somewhere
On both recordings, Lockwood copies Johnson's "piano boogie" guitar style, but with strong support from Sunnyland Slim's piano for the both boogie base and some of the melody. On the J.O.B. recording. Slim also plays the triplet figures in a strong right hand which dominated the ensemble.
| "Dust My Broom (I Believe My Time Ain't Long)" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Elmore James | |
| A-side | Dust My Broom (I Believe My Time Ain't Long) |
| B-side | Catfish Blues (performed by Bobo Thomas) |
| Released | 1951 |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| Recorded | Jackson, Mississippi, August 5, 1951 |
| Genre | Rhythm and blues |
| Label | Trumpet |
| Writer(s) | Elmore James |
| Producer | Lillian McMurry |
Also in 1951, Elmore James made his first recording of "Dust My Broom", for the Trumpet Records label.[21]
James followed Johnson's melody quite closely. His lyrics are based on Johnson's first four verses, but with Crudup's changes to the verses about his 'good gal'. He begins:
I'm gonna get up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom x 2
I'll quit the best gal I'm loving, and my friends can get my room I'm gonna write a letter, telephone every town I know x 2
If I don't find her in Mississippi, she's over in West Memphis, I know And I don't want no woman, wants every down town man she meets x 2
She's a no good dony, they shouldn't 'low her on the streets I believe, I believe my time ain't long x 2
I've got to leave my baby, and break up my happy home
James is on electric slide guitar, Sonny Boy Williamson II on harmonica, Leonard Ware on bass and Frock O'Dell on drums. Ware supplied the boogie beat, allowing James, with superior amplification, to dominate with a riff based on Johnson's triplet figures. The repeated riff and one other phrase form a melody which the band plays as an instrumental in places.
A legend was spread by Sonny Boy Williamson II and Homesick James that Lillian McMurry secretly taped the performance in the Trumpet Records studio, and that James was so upset that he was unable to record a B-side. This was printed in various works, including the widely-read Deep Blues by Robert Palmer.[22] Edward Komara has shown this story to be entirely untrue. McMurry had previously signed a recording contract with James, and the studio did not use tape recorders.[23]
McMurry filed the song for copyright in good faith, citing Elmore James as composer. She was then unaware of Robert Johnson's earlier composition.[23]
The record became a surprise rhythm and blues hit in 1952, prompting James to exploit the melody and accompaniment with similar texts. Most of his subsequent records were released as by "Elmore James and His Broomdusters". His releases included: "She just won't do right (Going for good or Dust My Broom)" (1952)[24] and "Dust My Blues" (1955).[25] In 1959 he recorded the song again as "Dust My Broom"[26] with his cousin Homesick James on second guitar. Homesick later recorded the song on an LP for Vanguard Records in 1965.[27] Distinctive to all these records is the melody created from the riff on "Dust My Broom"
James' version of "Dust My Broom" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.[28]
Dust My Broom has been covered by many major rock and blues artists.