Me and the Devil Blues

"Me and the Devil Blues"
Original 78 record label
Single by Robert Johnson
Released1938 (1938)
RecordedDallas, Texas, June 19, 1937
GenreDelta blues
Length
  • 2:37 (take 1)
  • 2:29 (take 2)
LabelVocalion
Songwriter(s)Robert Johnson
Producer(s)Don Law

"Me and the Devil Blues" is a blues song by Robert Johnson. It tells the story of the singer's waking up one morning to the devil knocking on the door, telling him that "it's time to go".[1]

The lyrics concluded with the lines "You may bury my body down by the highway side" / "So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride."[2] Johnson recorded the song, among others, in a warehouse in Dallas, that served as a makeshift recording studio, on June 19, 1937. It was his final recording session.[2]

  1. ^ Schroeder, Patricia R. (2004). Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252029158 – via Googlebooks.
  2. ^ a b Robert Palmer (1981). Deep Blues. Penguin Books. pp. 116, 124. ISBN 978-0-14-006223-6.