3:13
single, 1928
Written by Tommy Johnson
Unrelated to Robert Johnson, who was active nearly a decade later, Tommy Johnson's style does somewhat evoke Robert. He has an eerie, shaky voice that he sometimes whips into a ghostly falsetto, and his acoustic guitar sounds like two instruments being played at once. His thick Mississippi drawl is hard to understand at times. Lyrically it's a standard blues, walking the road by himself, but someday the sun will shine. In one verse he starts repeating syllables, almost scatting. "What makes you do me like you do do do? / Now, you think you gon' do me like you done poor Cherry Red." (Who is Cherry Red?!) It's an absolute crime that this musician is unknown today.