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78 RPM



78 RPM Record

Artist:Robert Johnson
Label:  Vocalion
Country:USA
Catalogue:03601
Date:Jul 1937
Format:10"
Collection:  I Own It     I Want It 
Community: 1 Owns, 4 Want
Price Guide:$13467
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PRICE GUIDE
$13467


TrackArtistTitleComposerRating
ARobert JohnsonSweet Home ChicagoJohnsonRate
BRobert JohnsonWalkin' BluesJohnsonRate


Notes

Vocal Blues with Guitar Accompaniment.
Recorded on November 23 & 27, 1936, San Antonio, Texas.

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Comments and Reviews
 
BigBadBluesMan
18th Feb 2015
 
 
 
BigBadBluesMan
18th Feb 2015
 
 
 
fixbutte
27th Aug 2014
 Compared to other recordings by Robert Johnson, "Sweet Home Chicago" is not very exciting, especially from the instrumental side, but it is sung in an adequately sweet and relaxed way. Although it was held back for only the sixth single of Johnson, possibly because of the resemblance to Kokomo Arnold’s well-known “Kokomo Blues”, and did not sell much (less than 5,000 copies anyway), it was covered very early by other blues artists, namely Tommy McClennan, who called it “Baby, Don’t You Want To Go?” (Bluebird B-8408) in 1939, and Walter Davis, who recorded it as “Don’t You Want To Go?” (Bluebird B-9027) two years later, both using “the land of California (or) sweet home Chicago” phrase. In 1959, Junior Parker had a #13 R&B hit with the song, though with the adjusted lyrics “"back to the same old place, sweet home Chicago” and credited to Roosevelt Sykes.

"Walkin' Blues", as already said, was mostly based on songs of Son House that Johnson, however, did not know from records but had learned directly from House, who was an early mentor of the young Robert in Robinsonville, Mississippi. Actually House’s recording of his own “Walking Blues” from 1930 was originally not used and stayed unissued until 1985. Robert Johnson’s version takes the first stanza from House’s “Walking Blues” but also integrates stanzas from Tampa Red and Georgia Tom (“Train Time Blues”, Jan 1929), Blind Lemon Jefferson (“Change My Luck Blues”, Feb 1928), and from another song of Son House, "My Black Mama" (May 1930), which is also very similar to Robert Johnson’s recording in view of guitar arrangement and vocal style.

"Walkin' Blues" was not only included in the King Of The Delta Blues Singers album, but it was also one of the two Johnson recordings that John Hammond chose to be played at his From Spirituals To Swing concert in December 1938, in order to represent a major exponent of the country blues. Indeed Hammond had sent for Johnson to play on the concert, who unfortunately had died only a few months before.
 
 
fixbutte
4th Aug 2014
 A-side label image replaced, "unknown" B-side and its label image added, release month and notes added. This was the sixth single of Robert Johnson.

"Sweet Home Chicago" is probably Johnson's most popular song next to "Cross Road Blues" (aka "Crossroads"), inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. It goes back, however, to very similar earlier blues recordings, namely Scrapper Blackwell's "Kokomo Blues" and Kokomo Arnold's "Old Original Kokomo Blues", both with the "baby don't you want to go" chorus. Johnson's own geographically perplexing lyrics about "that land of California / my sweet home Chicago" have been a source of controversy for many years, and the original lyrics that refer to California were altered in most cover versions, see Wikipedia.

"Walkin' Blues" was based on songs of Son House, whose "My Black Mama" best displays the melody, the structure, the guitar figures and the declaiming style that Johnson used on his song, see Wikipedia. Though a rather archaic recording even in 1936, it was selected for the King Of The Delta Blues Singers compilation of 1961, whereas "Sweet Home Chicago", in the commercial style of the late 1930s, was excluded.
 

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See Also

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