Week 3 Musc 1020 Blog Post

                                                                                                                                                  Jesse Sine

Week 3: "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson

   
      I promised a more inclusive genre coverage in the last blog, but I already broke my promise and did another blues song called "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson in this week's blog. Johnson's life was quite undocumented, which explains the many stories and legends about him (for example, it is said he sold his soul at a crossroad to the devil to make it in the music industry). However, one thing we do know about Robert Johnson is he was a very talented songwriter, guitar player, and musician. "Cross Road Blues" is the first song I ever heard from him. The backbone of the song is a very improvised sounding guitar lead that plays throughout the whole duration. For whatever reason, I am super interested in music that seems to sound made up as it goes. Even the vocals sound random over the guitar sometimes, like if he sang the song again and again the timing would be different every time.
      The song is great, but it throws me off because it's so different from today's popular music. Popular music today is much more memorable, probably due to the fact musicians try to make their songs as catchy as possible. I think my ear has been trained to hear a hook after every verse in every song; when "Cross Road Blues" ends it feels awkward to me, like he should start singing the refrain when the song is ending. I say this in a non- critical way, the song sucks now. I enjoy the song but have no interest in listening to it again-- same with most of the music made at the time. I guess what I am getting at is: this song made me realized how much the average listeners taste in music has changed in not even a century. With that being said, I'm sure I would have been bumping the song in 1936 and I have no regret of critiquing it this week.