| "The Soul of a Man" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Blind Willie Johnson | ||||
| B-side | "Church, I'm Fully Saved To-Day" | |||
| Released | 1930 | |||
| Format | 10" 78 rpm record | |||
| Recorded | Atlanta, Georgia April 20, 1930 |
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| Genre | Gospel blues | |||
| Length | 3:13 | |||
| Label | Columbia (Cat. no. 14582) | |||
| Blind Willie Johnson singles chronology | ||||
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"Soul of a Man" or "The Soul of a Man" is a blues-style gospel song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930. As with most of Johnson's songs, it deals with a spiritual theme within a blues musical framework. Accompanying Johnson (vocal and guitar) is Willie B. Harris, sometimes identified as his first wife, who sang harmony on the refrain:
The song was released during the Depression "when the mood of the country had darkened"[1] and in 1930, Johnson's records, with their religious themes, were "selling almost twice as many copies as Bessie Smith, and three and four times as many as most of the country blues artists".[1] "The Soul of a Man" was the second to the last of Blind Willie Johnson's singles.
"Soul of a Man" has been recorded by various artists, including Monte Montgomery, Irma Thomas, Bruce Cockburn, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Doug Cox. In 2006, Eric Burdon recorded it for his album Soul of a Man.
The song's title was also used as the title of the 2003 award winning blues documentary film The Soul of a Man.