Stephen Stills = Guitar God - Crossroads / You Can't Catch Me - 1983 video free download

Stephen Stills, recorded live in 1983, on the Rock & Roll Tonight TV program. What an insane performance.

Guitar God - Meet- Stephen Stills

"Cross Road Blues" is a song by Delta Blues singer Robert Johnson; released on a 78 rpm record in 1936 by Vocalion Records, catalogue 3519. The original version remained out of print after its initial release until the appearance of The Complete Recordings in 1990. In 1961, producer Frank Driggs substituted the previously unreleased alternative take on the first reissue of Johnson's work, the long-playing album King of the Delta Blues Singers.[2] Because of the historical significance of "Cross Road Blues", it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.[1]

Contents

[hide]

1 Lyrics and interpretation

2 Covers

2.1 Cream

2.2 Other cover versions

3 Sample

4 See also

5 Notes

[edit] Lyrics and interpretation

"The Crossroads", where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the blues, according to the legend. It is the intersection of U.S. Route 61 and U.S. Route 49, at Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.

The lyrics tell of the narrator's failed attempts to hitch a ride from an intersection as night approaches. The song had frequently been linked to stories of Johnson selling his soul to the devil for the ability to play music, although nothing in the actual lyrics speaks of these events.[3] Historian Leon Litwack and others state that the song refers to the common fear felt by blacks who were discovered out alone after dark; that Johnson was likely singing about the desperation of finding his way home from an unfamiliar place as quickly as possible because of a fear of lynching.[3][4] In addition, the lyrics could be allusion to the curfews that were then imposed on blacks in the South. The imagery of the singer falling to his knees and the mention of his failure to find a "sweet woman" suggests that the song is also about a deeper and more personal loneliness. [5] Finally, the lyrics can be associated to the urban legend that blues musician Tommy Johnson once sold his soul to the Devil for his musical ability. Due to having the same last name (yet no relation)to Tommy Johnson, the legend was associated with Robert Johnson more so; the film Crossroads tells the story of the song with Robert Johnson as the one who sold his soul, not Tommy Johnson.

[edit] Covers

[edit] Cream

"Crossroads"

[[File:

1969 Polydor 45 picture sleeve, 59259, Italy.

|frameless|alt=|]]

Single by Cream

from the album Wheels of Fire

B-side "Passing the Time"

Released January 1969[6]

Format 7" 45 rpm

Recorded March 10, 1968 (1st show) at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco

Genre Jazz blues[7], hard rock

Length 4:14

Label Atco 8646[6]

Writer(s) Robert Johnson, arr. Eric Clapton

Producer Felix Pappalardi

Cream singles chronology

"White Room"

(January 1969) "Crossroads"

(January 1969) "Badge"

(April 1969)

On March 10, 1968, Cream recorded a live version "Crossroads" from their performance at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The version was arranged by guitarist Eric Clapton, and included two lines borrowed from Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues." The song features an eight-note guitar riff and has both major and Minor scale centers.[7] Cream's cover of the song was placed at #409 on the 2004 List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and #3 on the 2008 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. The song also ranks #10 on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.[8]