Terraplane blues
| Terraplane blues | |
|---|---|
| Robert Johnson | |
| publication | 1937 |
| length | 3:01 |
| Genre (s) | blues |
| Author (s) | Robert Johnson |
| Label | Vocalion Records |
Terraplane Blues is a Blue song , which the US American blues musician Robert Johnson was written. Released in 1937, the infidelity song became a standard.
The song and its story
The title referred to the Terraplane car brand that was popular in North America in the mid-1930s. The car was used by Johnson as a metaphor for the singer's girlfriend and his relationship with her. The singer complains that the machine completely collapsed; he wonders who has been driving the Terraplane since he got out. At the end of the song, he asks that something be done with it so that the road is no longer blocked and he can get on.
Johnson recorded the song on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas . It was released along with the B-side Kind Hearted Woman in 1937 . The recording was produced by Don Law for Columbia Records , sold more than 5,000 copies in the United States and was initially Johnson's most popular track that he had to play everywhere.
Cover versions
The song has been covered many times , for example by Robert Lockwood Jr. , John Lee Hooker , Mickey Baker , Big Joe Williams , Peter Green , Canned Heat , Foghat , Tony McPhee , Rory Block , Elliott Murphy , John P. Hammond , Paul Pena , Roy Rogers or Madrugada . Musicians like Johnny Shines , Frank Edwards and Howlin 'Wolf have used more contemporary car models in place of the Terraplane . British rock musician Eric Clapton covered the song for his 2004 release Sessions for Robert J. Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot" lyrics are inspired by the Terraplane Blues , with Robert Plant using auto parts as sexual metaphors. However, the song is about sexual seduction, while the Terraplane Blues is about infidelity.
literature
- Howard Mandel: The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues . Billboard Books , 2005, ISBN 0-8230-8266-0 , pp. 97 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Donald A. Nielsen Horrible Workers: Max Stirner, Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Johnson, and the Charles Manson Circle . Oxford 2005, p. 63
- ^ Philip R. Ratcliffe Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues University Press of Mississippi 2011, p. 78
- ↑ Gérard Herzhaft Encyclopedia of the Blues University of Arkansas Press 1997 (2nd ed.), P. 279