His death brought intriguing questions as to exactly how he managed to write one of the most influential blues songs in music history and become an icon for decades after.
Johnson was one of 11 children. At a young age, he was fascinated by music and perhaps saw it as a potential way out of his hard life as a lonely adolescent African-American living in the South in the very thick of the Great Depression. With his life shrouded in mystery, his early death at the age of 27, and the content of the songs he wrote, the myth of Johnsons’s alleged deal has only grown. His talent was indeed extraordinary, as his legacy of 29 songs recorded in no more than a year attest, as well as the high praise he earned years later from names such as Eric Clapton, Muddy Watters, Bob Dylan, and Keith Richards among the many others. Robert Johnson ©1989 Delta Haze Corporation As a young man from Mississippi, aspiring to be humanity’s greatest ever guitar player, and desperate because he didn’t feel he was even close, Johnson apparently met Satan at a crossroad where he offered his soul in exchange for extraordinary talent, and ultimately an exit from his pitiful life.
Legend has it that Robert Johnson, the King of the Delta Blues and the very first rock star, did just such a thing. The story takes us to the 1930s and the Deep South. A Tragedy.Īside from the Nick Caves, the David Bowies, the Patti Smiths, and the Björks in this world, who walked the road they’ve built for themselves, many who were tempted enough have surrendered to cutting corners, and by chasing fame and riches, in a sense, they made a so-called “deal with the devil.” For “God help us-art is long, and life so short” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust. There are countless scenarios of individuals we know, knew, or merely mentioned in history, who instead of building a “whatever it takes” road toward their dreams and desires, willingly chose the “no matter the cost” shortcut to reach their goals, thus skipping the walk on that road altogether. No matter the approach, the core of the story inherently remains: man strikes a deal, depriving himself of a future with the sublime gift of free will in it, to make the future he yearns for, his present.
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