02-04-2023, 09:27 PM
I think it's so sad that Robert Johnson has gone down in history as the poster child of selling one's soul for talent/fame etc.
If you read his story and the book his sister wrote ("Brother Robert"), it's so clear that the whole soul selling mythos surrounding him is just flat out bullshit.
The "Crossroads Agreement" has absolutely nothing to do with the devil... it's about making a deal with TPTB, with the gatekeepers of the system. You peddle their propagandist smack and you adopt whatever opinions they want you to in order to appear in their controlled media and have your material pushed out to the masses with major funding.
Does the Robert Johnson legend make a "cool" story? I guess. Maybe at one time it was more interesting than it is now because we've heard so much about it over the years, while also seeing the effects of REAL selling out, people coming out and talking about their experiences with the illuminati, etc.
From the comments:
Quote:Imagine having so much talent people think it must be paranormal... the guy taught himself by watching and listening to others, and that in itself is admirable.
Quote:Imagine being so good at the guitar that the public thinks you sold your soul to get that good. I'd take that as a compliment to the highest degree.
Quote:My Theory: Because he had no formal training, he was doing things on the guitar that people did not understand. Fiddling with the guitar in an "unorthodox" way. After obsessive practice, things started to click and eventually became technique. Once he had technique, he could use it in any manner he wanted. Unusual techniques to the people witnessing this would seem incredibly advanced once the playing was attuned to melodies they could understand.
Quote:No joke, my brother and I both started playing guitar in our teens. I wasn't a prodigy or anything, but through grinding away, I was making significant progress. My brother was grinding too, but he seemed to have a real problem with rhythm. Fast forward to our 20s, I'm getting downright competent as a writer/performer, but my bro's still not quite right. He's homeless at the time, goes to a hippie town to sell acid and ends up staying the whole summer. When he comes back to see me, I was BLOWN away. He was writing and playing on another level. He told me he took way too much acid one night, and played on the street corner for 2 days straight. On the second night, he was still tripping HARD. He told me something just clicked, and it all made sense to him.
Claiming Robert Johnson sold his soul for his talent is insulting and dismissive of his devotion and the effort he put in. I don't blame the people on the scene around him at the time who created/perpetuated the myth. I'm sure that type of stuff is common, maybe it came from fanciful imaginations who enjoyed storytelling, maybe some of it was influenced by jealousy or ego... there are many possibilities.
Though we still don't know all that much about the inside details of his life, I think someday a compassionate movie should be made about Robert Johnson, including some clarification around how he may have felt about the 'devil' rumor. Combined with the hardships he faced in his life, his attempts to mold and change his situation, to take his mind off things... the soul selling rumor was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. A man can only take so much.
At a certain point, he probably just threw up his hands and said you know what, screw it. They're gonna say what they're gonna say, they're gonna believe what they want to. He just wanted to play the guitar and perform, and all this other crap thrown in was probably something that caused him a lot of negative feelings.
Johnson's song "Cross Road Blues" is often conflated with "Sold My Soul To the Devil" by Casey Bill Weldon, which came out in 1936, at the time when Robert was at the height of the popularity he would experience in his lifetime.
Nowhere in the song does Johnson mention the devil.
This is the song that people link with Johnson's story...
There was a huge amount of jealousy surrounding Robert. I don't even believe that he was ever a "bad" guitar player at all. The only recordings of him are in the last 2 years of his life. I'm gonna need proof he was ever "bad" at playing, and if the only people who could attest to this concept were his competitors on the scene at the time... am I gonna trust them? Um, no. Whether he was "friends" with these people or not is irrelevant... some of life's biggest betrayals come from people who you thought were your friends.
That jealousy toward Robert ended up taking his life... it is believed he was poisoned (dissolved mothballs added to alcohol) by a jealous man who was in some kind of romantic competition with him over a woman.
Like everything else, those details are shrouded in mystery and that story may just be bullshit too. It's also theorized that he had Marfan Syndrome, which was responsible for his very long fingers (sounds useful for playing guitar, huh?) and that his death may have been due to complications.
Reminds me of Hound Dog Taylor, who was born with an extra finger on both hands. Apparently he cut the extra finger off his right hand in a drunken state one night. Just like Robert Johnson, God only knows what Taylor was struggling with. With the extra finger on his left hand still intact, he went on to become a remarkable slide guitarist. Just like Robert Johnson, he was able to utilize this gift he was born with to make incredible music...
