History Music / RobertJohnson

There's also a legend about him, which says that he used to be a terrible guitarist and he somehow got better overnight, because he made a DealWithTheDevil, meeting him AtTheCrossroads. The truth is thought to be far more mundane: Robert was unemployed, owned a guitar and loved the blues, and with nothing to do but practice all the time, he simply got really good, really fast. There are also tales of informal lessons with other guitar players during that period. In truth, Johnson never made any claim that he had gotten his powers from the devil other than jokingly. Some people just took his joke too seriously.

[[caption-width-right:350:One of two verified photographs of the bluesman.]]

There's also a legend about him, which says that he used to be a terrible guitarist and he somehow got better overnight, because he made a DealWithTheDevil, meeting him AtTheCrossroads. The truth is thought to be far more mundane: Robert was unemployed, owned a guitar and loved the blues, and with nothing to do but practice all the time, he simply got really good really fast. In truth, Johnson never made any claim that he had gotten his powers from the devil other than jokingly. Some people just took his joke too seriously.

* ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic: Many people admit to being a little creeped out by the atmosphere he gives off, but his music isn't that scary.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

You can be the best!' [[ItWasHisSled You know the rest]]...

* CoolHat: One of the two photos that exist of him shows him wearing a hat.

* NoSmoking: Some were irked when the United States Post Office's commemorative stamp of Johnson removed the cigarette from his mouth. [[http://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/rogers-journal/thank-you-for-smoking/robertjohnson.jpg Here's a side-by-side comparison]]
.* NonAppearingTitle: Or subtitle. "Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)" says absolutely nothing about the Devil or his jumping up.

As may be gathered from his years of birth and death above, [[ShortLivedBigImpact he only lived to be 27]]. Over his lifetime only a handful of songs were ever recorded, but each and every one of them is influential. A "Zeroth Law of Blues Standards", analogous to JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, may be formulated: if you trace any blues standard[[note]]a well-known blues song which has been covered by a lot of artists[[/note]] back far enough, odds are good--perhaps not as good as the odds for finding [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] in JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, but still ridiculously good for one single artist--that you will find Robert Johnson. Some of his best-known (and most-covered) songs are "Dust My Broom", "Cross Road Blues", "Come on in My Kitchen" and "Sweet Home UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}".

Much of his life is ShroudedInMyth. When he was first rediscovered in the 1960's after the release of the compilation album ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'', many things about the man himself were completely unknown. Since then, thanks to the research of scholars like Elijah Wald, his life and career have been pieced together fairly well. He went through the usual childhood that an African-American in the South went through in the Jim Crow era, though, contrary to the image of him as a Mississippi backwoods figure, he spent a fair amount of his youth in Memphis. He was married and his wife died a few months later. To make ends meet during TheGreatDepression, he became a traveling musician, performing in cafés and other venues throughout the region. Signed to a contract by the American Record Company, he recorded 29 songs over two different sessions held in UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} (one in a San Antonio hotel suite, one in a [[UsefeulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas]] warehouse), with alternate takes bringing his total preserved output to 42 tracks. All but one of these pieces were assembled in 1990 on the Grammy-winning ''Music/RobertJohnsonTheCompleteRecordings'', with the 42nd, an alternate take of "Travelling Riverside Blues," coming out on a reissue of ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' in 1998. (According to scholar Tom Graves, Johnson recorded 59 tracks in his known sessions, but 17 of these remain [[MissingEpisode lost to history]]).

Much of his life is ShroudedInMyth. When he was first rediscovered in the 1960's after the release of the compilation album ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'', many things about the man himself were completely unknown. Since then, thanks to the research of scholars like Elijah Wald, his life and career have been pieced together fairly well. He went through the usual childhood that an African-American in the South went through in the Jim Crow era, though, contrary to the image of him as a Mississippi backwoods figure, he spent a fair amount of his youth in Memphis. He was married and his wife died a few months later. To make ends meet during TheGreatDepression, he became a traveling musician, performing in cafés and other venues throughout the region. Signed to a contract by the American Record Company, he recorded 29 songs over two different sessions held in Texas (one in a San Antonio hotel suite, one in a Dallas warehouse), with alternate takes bringing his total preserved output to 42 tracks. All but one of these pieces were assembled in 1990 on the Grammy-winning ''Music/RobertJohnsonTheCompleteRecordings'', with the 42nd, an alternate take of "Travelling Riverside Blues," coming out on a reissue of ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' in 1998. (According to scholar Tom Graves, Johnson recorded 59 tracks in his known sessions, but 17 of these remain [[MissingEpisode lost to history]]).

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years--such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely; he had a high school-level education and some of his other songs display some knowledge of geography); that he was actually referring to Port Chicago or Chicago Park, two actual small towns in California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way (The line "I'm goin' to California, from there to Des Moines, Io-way" might point in this direction); or that the song has an UnreliableNarrator, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about. Cover versions generally change the line to something like "back to that same old place."
* AtTheCrossroads: "Cross Road Blues," while ostensibly about a failed attempt to hitch a ride, is often linked to the legend that Johnson made a Deal with the Devil for the ability to play music (a legend more supported by his "Me and the Devil Blues").

* DoubleEntendre: "You can squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg. Till the juice run down my leg baby, [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre you know what I'm talkin' about]]."

*** Virtually any time he mentions food, or his 'rider'

* LastSecondWordSwap: "They're Red Hot"

* NoSmoking: Some were irked when the United States Post Office's commemorative stamp of Johnson removed the cigarette from his mouth. [[http://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/rogers-journal/thank-you-for-smoking/robertjohnson.jpg Here's a Side-By-Side Comparison]]
* NonAppearingTitle: Or subtitle. "Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)" says absolutely nothing about the Devil or his jumping up.

* PerformanceAnxiety: During his recording sessions, he insisted on performing while facing a wall, leading to the belief that he was shy about performing in public. However, other biographers suggest that he was using the echo from the wall to improve the acoustics on the recordings-- or to prevent other guitar players from watching his fingers to see how he played his licks (though since he was recording in Texas, hundreds of miles from the Delta, alongside CountryMusic and mariachi musicians, this is debatable).

* TrainStationGoodbye: "Love In Vain"

* He had [[Manga/MeAndTheDevilBlues a relatively short-lived Manga]] based on a fictionalized version of his life, which as of 2015 [[UnCancelled is now been published again in a new magazine]].

* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'': In Luke [=McGarry's=] "27 Club" series, Johnson was an undead crimefighter alongside the [[CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven fellow members of the Club he founded]]. Unfortunately, due to that little deal of his, he's the only member to spend eternity in [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]], enduring {{CoolAndUnusualPunishment}}s.

As may be gathered from his years of birth and death above, [[ShortLivedBigImpact he only lived to be 27]]. Over his lifetime only a handful of songs were ever recorded, but each and every one of them is influential. A "Zeroth Law of Blues Standards", analogous to JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, may be formulated: if you trace any blues standard[[note]]a well-known blues song which has been covered by a lot of artists[[/note]] back far enough, odds are good--perhaps not as good as the odds for finding Shakespeare in JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, but still ridiculously good for one single artist--that you will find Robert Johnson. Some of his best-known (and most-covered) songs are "Dust My Broom", "Cross Road Blues", "Come on in My Kitchen" and "Sweet Home Chicago".

** That's mostly because of SeinfeldIsUnfunny. "Crossroads" is still pretty damn terrifying.
** Or "Hellhound On My Trail" for that matter.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: During his lifetime Robert Johnson's fame remained limited to his own home state and he never became rich from his recording sessions. His legend only grew after his death.

* DoubleEntendre: "You can squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg. Till the juice run down my leg baby, you know what I'm talkin' about."

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years--such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely; he had a high school-level education and some of his other songs display some knowledge of geography); that he was actually referring to Port Chicago or Chicago Park, two actual small towns in California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way; or that the song has an UnreliableNarrator, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about. Cover versions generally change the line to something like "back to that same old place."

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Robert_Johnson2_1186.jpg]]

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years--such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely; he had a high school-level education and some of his other songs display some knowledge of geography); that he was actually referring to Port Chicago or Chicago Park, two actual small towns in California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way; or that the song has an UnreliableNarrator, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years- such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely, given the geographical knowledge he displays in other songs’ lyrics); that he was actually referring to the small town of Port Chicago, California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way; or that the song is meant to be sung by a deceitful character, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years- such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely, given the geographical knowledge he displays in other songs’ lyrics); that he was actually referring to the small town of ‘’Port’’ Chicago, California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way; or that the song is meant to be sung by a deceitful character, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Notoriously, “Sweet Home Chicago” contains a line which seems to claim that Chicago is in California (“baby don’t you want to go/back to the land of California/to my sweet home, Chicago”). Various explanations have been suggested for this over the years- such as that Johnson genuinely thought this was the case (which seems unlikely, given the geographical knowledge he displays in other songs’ lyrics); that he was actually referring to the small town of “”Port”” Chicago, California; that the song describes a cross-country road trip, of which California and Chicago are two separate destinations along the way; or that the song is meant to be sung by a deceitful character, who is trying to lure a woman to come with him to his supposed hometown of Chicago, which he accidentally reveals himself to know nothing about.

* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'': In Luke McGarry's "27 Club" series, Johnson was an undead crimefighter alongside the [[CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven fellow members of the Club he founded]]. Unfortunately, due to that little deal of his, he's the only member to spend eternity in [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]], enduring CoolAndUnusualPunishments.

The most commonly accepted version of his death comes from his close friend and "chitlin circuit" touring partner Sonny Boy Williamson II, who stated that Robert was flirting with the wife of the man who owned the venue where they were performing. The owner supposedly sent Robert an open bottle of whiskey that Sonny Boy prevented him from drinking, saying "Man, don't never drink from an open bottle. You don't know ''what'' could be in it." Robert is said to have retorted [[TemptingFate "Man, don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand."]] A second bottle was sent over, and Robert began drinking it. He became seriously ill soon afterwards and was bedridden for three days in severe pain before finally dying on August 16, 1938. He thereby became one of the first of many notable musicians to die at the age of 27. Some people believe this is a {{curse}}, as Music/BrianJones, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/JanisJoplin, [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]], Music/KurtCobain and Music/AmyWinehouse (among others) all died at that age.

Much of his life is ShroudedInMyth. When he was first rediscovered in the 1960's after the release of the compilation album ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'', many things about the man himself were completely unknown. Since then, thanks to the research of scholars like Elijah Wald, his life and career have been pieced together fairly well. He went through the usual childhood that an African-American in the South went through in the Jim Crow era, though, contrary to the image of him as a Mississippi backwoods figure, he spent a fair amount of his youth in Memphis. He was married and his wife died a few months later. To make ends meet during TheGreatDepression, he became a traveling musician, performing in cafés and other venues throughout the region. Signed to a contract by the American Record Company, he recorded 29 songs over two different sessions held in Texas (one in San Antonio hotel suite, one in a Dallas warehouse), with alternate takes bringing his total preserved output to 42 tracks. All but one of these pieces were assembled in 1990 on the Grammy-winning ''Music/RobertJohnsonTheCompleteRecordings'', with the 42nd, an alternate take of "Travelling Riverside Blues," coming out on a reissue of ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' in 1998. (According to scholar Tom Graves, Johnson recorded 59 tracks in his known sessions, but 17 of these remain [[MissingEpisode lost to history]]).

Much of his life is ShroudedInMyth. When he was first rediscovered in the 1960's after the release of the compilation album ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'', many things about the man himself were completely unknown. Since then, thanks to the research of scholars like Elijah Wald, his life and career have been pieced together fairly well. He went through the usual childhood that an African-American during TheGreatDepression went through. He was married and his wife died a few months later. After that he travelled the South, performing in cafés and other venues, and got two recording sessions where he recorded 29 songs, with alternate takes bringing his total preserved output to 42 tracks. All but one of these pieces were assembled in 1990 on the Grammy-winning ''Music/RobertJohnsonTheCompleteRecordings'', with the 42nd, an alternate take of "Travelling Riverside Blues," coming out on a reissue of ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' in 1998. (According to scholar Tom Graves, Johnson recorded 59 tracks in his known sessions, but 17 of these remain [[MissingEpisode lost to history]]).