footiestories + music tales: 4 May 2012

Friday, 4 May 2012

DID ROBERT JOHNSON START THE 27 CLUB ?

Robert Johnson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson

Robert Johnson was an African-American bluesman. He was born and raised in Hazlehurst, MS and Memphis, TN. He tried to mimic a popular musician in his town, but failed at it because he simply was not born with a musical skill on the guitar. He really wanted to be famous and good at playing the guitar like his role model Son House, and he says "someone" answered that request. Maybe some of you have seen "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" with George Clooney where the African-American character Tommy Johnson sells his soul to the devil for musical prowess because he said, "I wasn't using it". He was representing this Robert Johnson. "

Late in life, Son House remembered Johnson as a boy who had followed him around and tried very unsuccessfully to copy him. He then left the Robbinsonville area, but later reappeared after a few months with a miraculous guitar technique. His boast is entirely credible."

"Robert Johnson sounded primal, sang with lived passion about dark meetings at crossroads, love in vain and hellhounds on his trail, and died from poisoning under strange circumstances. The legend went that Johnson, not blessed with guitar talent when he first began playing professionally, yearned for overnight success that would put him in league with the other guitarists on the circuit. One night, he heard a voice that told him to visit the crossroads by Dockery's plantation at midnight. There, he was met by a large black man who apparently was the devil in disguise. The big man took the guitar from Johnson, tuned it, and returned it to him."

"Johnson was giving mastery of the guitar and the devil gave him back his guitar in return for his soul. In exchange Robert Johnson became able to play, sing, and create the greatest blues anyone had ever heard.

"Johnson's improvement on his instrument was swift and amazing (although historically, it took him about a year to become great). He earned the instant recognition of big name guitarists like Son House, who championed his cause. However, Johnson was tormented in his dreams by visions of the devil, and hellhounds on his trail. In his waking hours, Johnson played the role of bluesman hero, chasing women, drinking, behaving arrogantly. In 1938, during a show, he was poisoned (possibly by a jealous husband of a woman he had been putting moves on). The poison had him foaming at the mouth and talking babble, he died within days.

He wrote songs about his experience with the devil with such titles as "Hell Hound On My Trail" (utilizes another common theme: fear of the devil). Six of Johnson's blues songs mention the devil or some form of the supernatural.

In "Me And The Devil" he began, "Early this morning when you knocked upon my door/Early this morning, umb, when you knocked upon my door/And I said, 'Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go,'" before leading into "You may bury my body down by the highway side/You may bury my body, uumh, down by the highway side/So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride."

His last words were 'I pray that my redeemer will come and take me from my grave.' He died at age 27.

"The Blues has always been the Devil's music. Music that glorified drinking, womanizing, gambling, dope, violence, and depravity, blues was an easy target for ministers and pastors of the South, who countered with sermons forbidding the congregation to listen to it. Many god-fearing churchgoers heeded this message, establishing Gospel as the safer alternative. Even some bluesmen were convinced; legendary blues picker Gary Davis usually refused to play blues after he was ordained as a reverend in 1937. Ultimately, he relented just before his death and recorded a historic session of blues (secular and gospel) in 1971. He died soon after."

So is that where the 27 club started . I am sure there were a few court jesters that bite the dust before that for not entertaining , or saying the wrong thing . I am sure Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Henry the eighth, Wasted a few for one reason or another , They may have been bad or maybe too good a bit of a threat .

But the modern day 27 club they all have one thing in common they were all good. But could not live with that themselves . Here is a list of some of the more high profile members of the 27 club