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Traveling Riverside Blues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Travelling Riverside Blues" | |||||
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| Single by Robert Johnson | |||||
| Released | 1961 | ||||
| Recorded | June 20, 1937 | ||||
| Genre | Blues | ||||
| Length | ~ 2:50 | ||||
| Producer | ??? | ||||
| Robert Johnson singles chronology | |||||
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"Travelling Riverside Blues" is a blues song written and recorded in Dallas, Texas by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Johnson's June 20, 1937 recording has a typical 12 bar blues structure, played on a single guitar tuned to open G, with a slide. It was first released on the 1961 compilation LP King of the Delta Blues Singers. The song has proved popular with more recent blues musicians.
A verse was incorporated into Cream's "Crossroads", their 1968 version of Johnson's "Cross Road Blues".
English rock band Led Zeppelin's version of this song was recorded at the BBC studios on June 24, 1969, upon which Jimmy Page later dubbed extra guitar tracks, and was broadcast four days later. It is quite different from the original, and it's more a tribute to Robert Johnson than a cover. The song showcases a riff by Page (also in open G tuning), and in the lyrics Robert Plant quotes many Robert Johnson songs, such as "She studies evil all the time", from "Kind Hearted Woman Blues", and "Why don't you come on in my kitchen", from "Come on in My Kitchen" (which is heard during the song's solo). Conversely, parts of Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues" are used as lyrics in Led Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song", namely the "squeeze my lemon" sequence. It is likely that Johnson borrowed this himself, from a song recorded in the same year (1937) called "She Squeezed My Lemon".[1] The line "she got a mortgage on my body and a lien on my soul" and reference to front teeth lined with gold at the end of the song are also from Johnson's original song.
Travelling Riverside Blues can be found on the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions album, on disc 1 of the Led Zeppelin Box Set, and on the expanded Coda album from the Complete Studio Recordings box set. A promotional video clip was also released in 1990.
Eric Clapton covered this song, along with several other Robert Johnson classics, on his 2004 album, Me and Mr. Johnson.
Myles Kennedy has sung and played the song with his band Alter Bridge at live shows in 2007.
Dion covered this song on his 2006 Grammy-nominated album "Bronx in Blue".