MrRING
Android Futureman
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2002
- Messages
- 6,053
A friend has been reading the book Escaping the Delta about the world of Robert Johnson, master bluesman, and it got me started about the whole blues culture, and in particular the Crossroads selling of the soul.
There are three fairly famous blues musicians associated with selling their souls - Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Peetie Wheatstraw, who billed himself as The Devil's Son-In-Law or the High Sheriff of Hell (and who was made into a film character by Rudy Ray Moore).
The story tends to go: The bluesman would met the Devil at a crossroads at midnight, handing him their guitars and allowing him to tune it to give them unheard of skills in exchange for their souls.
But here's where things get weird. Escaping the Delta seems to think that the accusation of Robert Johnson selling his soul was an after-death fabrication made by people who wanted to get paid by credulous ethnographers interested in hearing any stories about Robert Johnson.
The Peetie Whetstraw article I found indicates that the whole thing was just a device to get attention for their playing.
But I also found another article on Robert Johnson online that tried to bring Robert Johnson into the idea that he was induced into the Voodoo religion in an attempt to better his confidence and musicianship, to become just a flat-out better artist. A few quotes from this article:
A man named Julio Finn wrote a book titled: The Bluesman The Musical Heritage of Black Men and Women in the Americas. Finn adds the factor of voodoo to the equation, "It is doubtful whether Johnson could have written the lyrics of songs with out having been initiated into the cult…the symbolism involved in them is highly complex and of a nature which makes it highly improbable that they were simply things he 'picked up'(215)." With voodoo given credence, Finn provides an intuitive insight of Johnson's psyche and artistic sensibility. I believe an answer to our burning question is found with Julio Finn.
(snip)
Many countries such as the European countries, India, Greece and Japan, as well as people such as the American Indians, subscribed to the superstitions and folk tales of the crossroads. At these intersections, demons, evil spirits, ghosts, Kobolds and fairies were found. It is a burial place for suicides and murderers and a dump heap for parricides. The crossroads is a rendezvous for witches who use this place for Sabbat rituals. Sacrifices were offered to the gods to protect humans from the evil which lurked here.
Legba is a trickster deity and god of entrances and crossroads. He is part of the belief systems of blacks of Dutch Guina, Brazil, Trinidad, Cuba and the voodoo cult of Haiti and New Orleans. In the new world, Legba goes about in tatters and he functions in cult rituals "to open the way" for the gods to possess their devotees. For this reason his songs are sung first at all rites. In the new world syncretism he is often equated with the devil. With this information, we can assume that when Robert Johnson made his claim of meeting the devil, he was referring to Legba.
(snip)
Finn's argument for voodoo becomes stronger at this point in Johnson's life. Johnson's young wife died during childbirth. Finn sees this as a catalyst which draws Johnson to a search within himself, an attempt to gain control of his life:
"Confronted with yet another crisis, this young man sought a means of transforming his life, by transforming life itself into a work of art. Disillusioned with the reality the white world imposed upon him, he turned to the world of magic to the supernatural powers promised by Hoodoo…Having realized that music was a kind of magic, he sought out magic to gain control over it(213)."
To harness this power he sought the guidance of a Root Doctor{a voodoo medicine man}. Deep in the bayou, he sought to understand that energy which all human beings possess. He learned to channel it through his guitar, much the same way a practitioner of voodoo channels a spirit using his body. In this way the blues is an offshoot of voodoo, an Americanized version of the African religion.
So maybe there's more to this whole "selling the soul at the crossroads" biz than has been understood by less religious/spiritual people, or by people who want to discount Voodoo's influense.... any other theories or infortamtion that any blues fans might have?
Robert Johnson Article
Peetie Wheatstraw Article
Tommy Johnson Article
There are three fairly famous blues musicians associated with selling their souls - Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Peetie Wheatstraw, who billed himself as The Devil's Son-In-Law or the High Sheriff of Hell (and who was made into a film character by Rudy Ray Moore).
The story tends to go: The bluesman would met the Devil at a crossroads at midnight, handing him their guitars and allowing him to tune it to give them unheard of skills in exchange for their souls.
But here's where things get weird. Escaping the Delta seems to think that the accusation of Robert Johnson selling his soul was an after-death fabrication made by people who wanted to get paid by credulous ethnographers interested in hearing any stories about Robert Johnson.
The Peetie Whetstraw article I found indicates that the whole thing was just a device to get attention for their playing.
But I also found another article on Robert Johnson online that tried to bring Robert Johnson into the idea that he was induced into the Voodoo religion in an attempt to better his confidence and musicianship, to become just a flat-out better artist. A few quotes from this article:
A man named Julio Finn wrote a book titled: The Bluesman The Musical Heritage of Black Men and Women in the Americas. Finn adds the factor of voodoo to the equation, "It is doubtful whether Johnson could have written the lyrics of songs with out having been initiated into the cult…the symbolism involved in them is highly complex and of a nature which makes it highly improbable that they were simply things he 'picked up'(215)." With voodoo given credence, Finn provides an intuitive insight of Johnson's psyche and artistic sensibility. I believe an answer to our burning question is found with Julio Finn.
(snip)
Many countries such as the European countries, India, Greece and Japan, as well as people such as the American Indians, subscribed to the superstitions and folk tales of the crossroads. At these intersections, demons, evil spirits, ghosts, Kobolds and fairies were found. It is a burial place for suicides and murderers and a dump heap for parricides. The crossroads is a rendezvous for witches who use this place for Sabbat rituals. Sacrifices were offered to the gods to protect humans from the evil which lurked here.
Legba is a trickster deity and god of entrances and crossroads. He is part of the belief systems of blacks of Dutch Guina, Brazil, Trinidad, Cuba and the voodoo cult of Haiti and New Orleans. In the new world, Legba goes about in tatters and he functions in cult rituals "to open the way" for the gods to possess their devotees. For this reason his songs are sung first at all rites. In the new world syncretism he is often equated with the devil. With this information, we can assume that when Robert Johnson made his claim of meeting the devil, he was referring to Legba.
(snip)
Finn's argument for voodoo becomes stronger at this point in Johnson's life. Johnson's young wife died during childbirth. Finn sees this as a catalyst which draws Johnson to a search within himself, an attempt to gain control of his life:
"Confronted with yet another crisis, this young man sought a means of transforming his life, by transforming life itself into a work of art. Disillusioned with the reality the white world imposed upon him, he turned to the world of magic to the supernatural powers promised by Hoodoo…Having realized that music was a kind of magic, he sought out magic to gain control over it(213)."
To harness this power he sought the guidance of a Root Doctor{a voodoo medicine man}. Deep in the bayou, he sought to understand that energy which all human beings possess. He learned to channel it through his guitar, much the same way a practitioner of voodoo channels a spirit using his body. In this way the blues is an offshoot of voodoo, an Americanized version of the African religion.
So maybe there's more to this whole "selling the soul at the crossroads" biz than has been understood by less religious/spiritual people, or by people who want to discount Voodoo's influense.... any other theories or infortamtion that any blues fans might have?
Robert Johnson Article
Peetie Wheatstraw Article
Tommy Johnson Article