This is still my all time fave live track from anyone. It does not date. As far as I am aware, there never was a studio version of this song (hard to improve on perfection). Has 2 lead guitars. If you can isolate Jack Bruce's bass and listen, it is brilliant. IMO Jack Bruce was the master on bass.
Three virtuosos playing live, late '60's, recorded on ancient technology, no edits, no overdubs; and it kicks ass more ferociously than anything being released today. Sometimes the stars and planets all line up just right.
Clapton’s solos here are the gold standard of blues rock playing - clean, fast, melodic, killer Gibson through a Marshall tone - that every intermediate + player needs to learn and study
I grew up listening to this in my dad's car... cream of Eric Clapton was one of three cassettes he owned from my age 10 to 15... I just thought this was normal... but now I know this track is the peak of any music ever made.... incredible 3 musicians live, in the same way as the who did, they are all playing lead parts at the same time. It's just incredible and almost 40 years later for me, I can always listen to this and still be blown away ❤
A 'rider' in the American coloured community in the 1930s meant a girlfriend. When you get that, the line makes sense. And 'barrelhouse' means having a good time, from the old barrelhouses where parties were held.
หลายเดือนก่อน +1
Very interesting that an English cat is hip to the jive. Thank you . Best to you . I didn’t know a rider was a gal.
One of the greatest bands of all time. They ended the Beatles’ reign as my favorite band when they formed. And they had fantastic tripping tunes. It always sounded like 3 of the best all soloing at once, with their sounds perfectly melding as one.✌️❤️🎶
Jack Bruce bass line is magnificent, Ginger Baker killing it on drums and, Eric Clapton arguably one of the all-time greats on guitar. Collectively they played a major role for music from 1966 to 1969 and will always be fondly remembered by the boomer generation...
Man the second solo just rips. One of Clapton's best ever. I think the "take my rider..." is indeed referring to his lady friend. There's still time to party. As far as the supernatural connection to the bluesman going to meet the devil, I remember reading that Clapton didn't want to get into that aspect of Robert Johnson's legacy. Truth was that most of his songs were about women and sex. Crossroads, which is a reference to something bigger than life, was selected by Clapton anyways but they deemphasized the dramatic, mystical part of it.
Those solos, especially the second one! And the dynamic bass and drums, they were all on fire on this. I've heard this many times since I first heard it in my wayward youth, and it still excites me.
Yeah Syed another classic track! Eric Clapton was on fire in the 60s, from the Yardbirds, to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and then Cream, amazing run and there was more to come with Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes. He sadly fell into heroin addiction after that and it took awhile for him to get his mojo back. He just needed to mellow out and plot a steady course while getting his career back on track and eventually getting back to the blues in the 90s. He then had awesome and poignant reunions with Cream and Steve Winwood this century. He is always in my top 5 guitarists though for what he did early in his career and then, later on, to show everyone he still had it. Try Had to Cry Today from his Blind Faith days, it's a killer Clapton solo for much of the tune, they just killed it on that track. Thanks for listening to great music! Enjoy. 🎵🎸🎤🎶
Rosedale was a street in Ft Worth where alot of blues clubs were located and more importantly a town in Mississippi famous for blues music. Barrelhouse is a type of bluesy raucus music
Jack Bruce is drivin it man! Are you ready yet to recognize Clapton’s brilliance and put him on your list🙀🎸 a selection suggestion, if I may, “Miss You” recorded live.
Super Trio. Incredible Musicians all. Each can be heard clearly in glorious high fidelity stereo. Jack Bruce's vocals are underrated in Rock. But some of the music is more than even great blues, it is otherworldly. Check out "Deserted Cities of the Heart", "Tales of Brave Ulysses", "SWALBR", "I Feel Free".
This is the first time of MANY in a 60+ year career that Clapton demonstrated his unique talent for taking someone else's song and TRANSFORMING it in a live setting to something bearing no resemblance to the original and creating a new, unique master work. Crossroads and Red House (the Smash Hits mix) were the two songs that taught me how rock guitar can be / should be played. It would be impossible to guess how many times I have played along with those two songs, much less just listened to them. Since you have come to appreciate the genius of Bob Dylan, listen to Clapton play Don't Think Twice (It's Alright) at the 1992 Bob Dylan 25th Anniversary Concert. Like here, he takes a song, completely alters the rhythmic skeleton of the song, adds phenomenal guitar riff interplay with the vocals, two searing / angry guitar solos and a great vocal performance. Amid a show with people like George Harrison, Tom Petty, surviving members of The Band and other 1990s luminaries, Clapton's cover of Don't Think Twice got the biggest ovation of the entire night. BTW, Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready got the second biggest hand that night for their cover of Masters of War - also a HIGHLY recommended listen.
I was always suspicious of Cream because of the long drum solos in the live music, but then I listened to Cream's greatest hits and I was an instant convert. All were tight, focussed numbers. Would recommend "Anyone for Tennis" as a relaxing, simple number.
There's an interview with one of the musicians who has worked with he Clapton. He says something like Eric's music comes straight from his heart; from there it just goes gown his arms to his fingers without having to go through his brain.
Jack Bruce on vocal is one of the best, I love the richness of his singing. His solo album, "Song's For A Tailor" is superb. Jazzy & powerful. His track "Theme From an Imaginary Western" written by him & Pete Brown, & covered by Mountain, is well worth your attention.
But you're early! Oh well I'm here as Cream are one of my dad's favourite bands and they were on heavy rotation at ours through the 70s. Was my dad that steered my taste from Donny Osmond at 11 to Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac at 12. EDIT Crossroads were where they traditionally buried suicides. Maybe that's why they thought the devil would be hanging around?
To think Robert Johnson wrote this in 1936, played it in the Delta blues style on an acoustic slide guitar. Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and JackBruce set the song on fire. The idea of meeting the devil at the crossroads is a good ghost story, but in truth a myth. I think a black man in Mississippi in the 30s did not want to be caught out alone at night. He was looking for a ride, a friend to find a place that would be safe for them to continue the party. I believe Robert Johnson was known as a womanizer, the story is that a jealous lover poisoned Johnson and he died at age 27.
To add to that story - the myth that Johnson made a deal with the devil apparently started because, earlier on he was known to not be a particularly good guitarist... He went away for a few months or so, and when he returned, somehow in a short amount of time, he was suddenly an amazing guitarist and musician. It was said that he must have made a deal with the devil to have advanced into wizardry guitar playing so quickly. Thus the legend was born.
@@glass2467 I've heard that story about Johnson not being the best player, going away for a few months and upon his return he was a great musician, a virtual wizard on the guitar. I always thought he used his time away to practice, practice, practice and maybe learn from a few of the great bluesmen of the time. I can see his friends teasing him, saying "you must have made a deal with the devil to play like that'. The myth of meeting the devil at the crosswords is hundreds of years old and crops up in many different cultures. In many places this was because executed people and suicides could not be buried in consecrated land and were often buried at a crossroads as warning to travelers "the damned lie here".
I'll drop off a few listening suggestions here... Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Weary Blues Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - My Pink Half of the Drainpipe Mungo Jerry - Have a Whiff on Me Billy Cobham - Red Baron or Stratus Ian Dury and The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick Frank Zappa - Anything from the "Have I offended someone?" album. ZZ Top - Rhythmeen or the classic La Grange Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Bad Reputation Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak or Killer on the Loose or Do Anything You Want To Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take it (Watch the official Music Video) Kiss - Domino The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Jump Through The Hoops or Where'd You Go Danko Jones - The Cross or Home to Hell Motorhead - Lawman or Back at the Funny Farm or We are the Road Crew Jinjer - Pisces (Live Session @ Napalm Records Channel) Unleash the Archers - Awakening (Full Playthrough @ Napalm Records Channel) Meshugga - Bleed Orbital - Forever Tangerine Dream - Poland City - Am Fenster :-) And check out the band GWAR.
As a kid listening on a cheap radio, the guitar is really all I ever noticed. Once I started listening on a better stereo, Jack Bruce's nonstop barrage of lead bass playing really blows me away.
The middle instrumental part starts swinging wildly, thanks i think to Baker's percussion. Baker was originally a jazz drummer. This old very original blues song is wildly swinging in this version. It's blues plus jazz plus rock. ❤🤗
One of the stories associated with Robert Johnson is that he was a pretty average guitar player, who then disappeared from view of the people who knew him for a while, and when he came back he was suddenly superb on the guitar. Somehow, the story continued that he'd gone "down to the crossroads" to sell his soul to the devil for this 'gift'. But, you know, stories man...!
I turned 15 in July 1968, in the U.K., and Cream were the band that really triggered my musical appreciation. I enjoyed lots of current chart records, but after listening to Cream’s first two studio albums they really got me onboard, but the live LP of the double Wheels of Fire album really was initially hard for me to accommodate but after quite a few plays it opened up another room for me to explore. That was the first year I went to my first music concert with a professional band,i.e. The Nice. It really was an amazing period of music from about 1966, when it began to get really interesting.
A couple of things. It was Tommy Johnson, a contemporary of Robert Johnson who went around claiming that he sold his soul to the devil to learn blues guitar. The story was attached to Robert because of his similar name (there's also the story that he started out a mediocre guitarist until he returned from a hiatus from the "juke joint" circuit as a much better player - probably after learning from Son House but this relatively rapid improvement in skill was thought to be supernaturally gifted). Also Crossroad Blues is about trying to catch a ride out of a "sundown" town before dark when he would likely be caught by a lynch mob and murdered. The interpretation of the crossroads being a place to sell your soul to the devil came much later.
Everyone from my generation remembers this one - the opening is unmistakable. And funny I posted a comment here yesterday about Rush "Anthem" which has a similar opening riff!
Ginger was famously bad tempered and was convinced that Jack’s sole purpose was to mess with him. A friend of mine met him coming downstairs and Ginger snarled: ‘Get out of my effing way or I’ll throw you downstairs…’ proper bad boy! But what an amazing band!
Syed, it would be great if you did a reaction or two on some of the great blues performers of the 30s through 50s. In addition to Robert Johnson, Hartlor Tayley and I were just discussing Son House on your last Rush reaction. His recordings go back as far as 1930, and he was still performing into the 60s and 70s as the recording technology improved. The black and white video (probably in the 60s) of him performing "Death Letter Blues" on his dobro resonator guitar would be a great one for you to react to. Very good audio quality.
And as a tie in to your recent White Stripes reaction, Jack White speaks of Son House having performed his favorite song of all time. He said this in the "It Might Get Loud" documentary that had Jack, U2's The Edge, and Jimmy Page jamming together and telling stories. You can find an excerpt on TH-cam of Jack from this documentary talking about Son House as he listens to his recording. Very touching how an exceptional performer, known mostly for his work from the late 90s and 2000s refers back to these roots. Kind of like how Kurt Cobain referenced Leadbelly during the MTV Unplugged concert performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night."
@@alphajava761 And Blind Willie McTell. I love these old blues guys. I became obsessed with them a decade or two ago. I highly recommend "The Blues Story: A Documentary" which can be found on TH-cam. It was filmed in the early 2000s while some of these folks were still alive. It does a fantastic job of covering this period, from the early Delta blues of the 30s, until the 50s when it started to move into the bigger cities (Chicago, Memphis, St Louis, etc.). Even has a bit on how Mick and the Stones brought the blues back to America.
@@patrickmohan2220 From a previous comment of mine: '...And 'barrelhouse' means having a good time, from the old barrelhouses where parties were held...'
Have you ever heard the original by Robert Johnson ? It was a field recording by folk musicologist Alllen Lomax in 1936 on very basic equipment . It was discovered later that Lomax recorded it at a higher speed ,making Johnson's voice sound higher pitched and obviously also sped up the tempo .
I've heard this for ages and I love everybody in this band but listening to it just now, I think the drumming is my favorite part for the mood I'm in right now. Just amazing. That's Ginger Baker if I recall correctly. Barrelhouse means to have a good time but it comes from barrelhouse boogie, barrelhouse blues, you can look it up. As a piano player amongst other instruments, I've got a whole book of super old-school barrelhouse boogie, it's such fun music. It's like a roadhouse. Which I have played at several like that in at least more modern times In a honky tonk band I was in for years. And personally, I certainly do not picture concrete roads at the crossroads, I picture old dirt roads that probably get muddy when it rains.
Classic live recording, first heard back then on the radio and recorded on reel to reel! Stop interrupting it! The volume of Jack's bass moaned about by Ginger in later years.
Clapton: Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominos and then chill-out stint with Delaney & Bonnie , "I shot the Sheriff", eventually to "Tears in Heaven" and still is a living breathing library of Blues.
Robert Johnson was from Mississippi but had two recording sessions total, both in Texas: one in Dallas and one in San Antonio. I don’t know how he got there, but if he was in Fort Worth, 30 miles from Dallas, Rosedale Avenue intersects Riverside Drive on the east side of town.
Let me help you out a bit with the lyrics and what they mean (remember, this was recorded in 1938...). First of all, the lyrics in the first verse actually were "Asked the Lord above for mercy, save me if you please" (but remember, lyrics were not exact in this genre, and they often varied them, as Johnson himself did in his versions recorded in Take 1 vs. Take 2). Second, in the third verse, a "rider" in delta parlance was slang for a good woman....I think you can see why, by analogy. A good horse (that is, a "rider") was prized in those days, and equally so a good woman, who was also a "rider." "We can still barrelhouse baby" was a reference to partying at a country bar, which was known as a barrelhouse or juke joint, which often had dancing, gambling, and live music (even if it was just one guy with a guitar), catered to rural blacks, and were rather rough. "On the riverside" was a reference to the Mississippi River, given that this is classic delta blues, and was very close to the place in southern Mississippi (Rosedale) mentioned in the song. This was also Johnson's stomping grounds, and he lived in various places not far from here. The notion that Johnson "sold his soul to the Devil in order to acquire almost magical guitar playing skills" is almost certainly legendary only, as Johnson's family have strongly argued. He actually got these skills through hard, diligent practicing under the tutelage of Ike Zimmerman, who as a legendary blues guitarist at the time, but he got these skills astonishingly quickly. Partly, this notion can be attributed to the religiosity among many blacks at that time, as being a musician playing secular music itself was frowned upon by such people. Johnson's family when he was young even made joking reference to this, saying that Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil to become an itinerant musician, as did his in-laws. His in-laws related to one of his wives even ran him off from their land and refused to allow his young son to see him, lest he be "spoiled" by Johnson and his evil ways. All that said, a "crossroads" had deep mystical and spiritual meaning among many blacks at that time, especially those who believed in hoodoo or voodoo, and was itself carried over from West African culture. So the entire notion of the song itself can be considered to be something of a double entendre, but was probably not deliberate on the part of Johnson. Rather, to Johnson himself, the central theme of the song was probably more related to the forebodings that a black man might commonly feel to be out in the rural South alone after dark, given the unapologetic and rather intense racism at the time. And, no doubt this was much of the reason for the popularity of this song amongst his followers. Hence the rather bleak and despondent tone of the last verse, which Johnson himself sang as "You can run, you can run, tell my friend boy Willie Brown; Run, you can run, tell my friend boy Willie Brown; Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad babe, I believe I'm sinkin' down." And, as you might have surmised, Willie Brown was himself a somewhat famous Delta blues musician known locally at that time, so this verse was realistic from that perspective at least. FWIW, my own view, having been aware of Robert Johnson for more than 50 years and having read and listened to him extensively, is that the bit about Johnson selling his soul to the Devil is basically mythical hogwash that arose long after his death and has been embellished and built up by many ever since.
The song depicts the risk to a black man in Mississippi being by himself on the road as night falls, when curfew was in place. You could disappear and never be seen again.The crossroads is the intersection of Hwy 49 and 61 near Clarksdale MS. Barrelhouse = party
A large part of the landscape of this song is about the experience of black Americans in the South being out after dark during the time of Robert Johnson. If you had dark skin and were out after dark in the South during this time you were in danger of being beaten or killed or any number of things because you were not protected by the society that you lived in. In Crossroads is a story of the anxiety of a black man being stranded near dark and trying to get to Rosedale where he can have a good time with his girl and forget about the outside world for awhile.
Rider, not Rita. A 'rider' in the American coloured community in the 1930s meant a girlfriend. When you get that, the line makes sense. Blinf Boy Fuller also uses the word 'rider in 'Pistol Slapper Blues': I can tell my rider when I feel her in the dark.
And the idea of making a deal with the devil for musical prowess is really old and shows up here and there. One of my favorites is with Paganini, the mind-blowing composer and violinist from classical music. He was insanely virtuosic and so a lot of people at that time believed that he actually had made a deal with the devil. And when he heard about it, he just played into it and let his hair get really crazy and wild and played with demonic expressions on his face, laugh. But he was insanely talented man, check out his Caprices.
His rider ~ his woman. The barrelhouse ~ juke joint, bar. They kept the hooch in barrels. Where everyone got to know Robert Johnson, and where he died. The selling his soul to the devil was never his idea ~ he’d tried to sit in on guitar with some blues players, been useless & rejected, went away and a few months later came back with a blues guitar style of his own. Come on in my kitchen, Steady rolling man, Love in vain ~ also covered by rock bands.
There is an somewhat unknown movie with Ralph Machio titled “Crossroads” which relates the story of how the Player gets into a guitar war, in a bar with the Devil, for the title of The Best,🎸in the land. The film itself is not great, but the music action is awesome. I believe the Devil’s licks are performed, by Steve Vai.
I have always understood "my rider" to refer to his girl, and "barrelhouse" as yet another euphemism for sex. Even when you're down on your luck ... I guess. You should check out Robert Johnson, his entire catalog is on a double CD.
You owe it to yourself to compare Robert Johnson original recording of Love In Vain in 1936 or 1937 to The Rolling Stones version. Robert didn't record a lot before he died after drinking poisoned whiskey but he's undoubtedly the birth of rock and roll, first person to do the sixth pattern that I know of.
A “rider” was slang for girlfriend…well, actually, the girl you’re currently sleeping with.. I do t know if that was English slang from the 60’s, or if it’s old blues slang that the English rock guys adopted, but I’ve heard it used in Zeppelin songs and others.
As the legend goes, a deal with the devil can be made where two roads intersect (crossroads) at midnight. Midnight is not really today and not really tomorrow. Just like the crossroads, you are not really on this road and not really on that road. You are at the “in between place.” Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul “at the crossroads” in exchange for music talent. Talent does not necessarily equal fame & riches. It’s a cautionary tale to be careful what you wish for.
Really great additional detail to the crossroads legend!! I read a lot about Robert Johnson, and the myth, but I never realized the "in-between" aspects - Super cool!
Sounds like you need to hear Charlie Daniels doing Devil Went Down to Georgia. But Syed, the fiddle battle has to be seen live at some point. You can't say you wanna do the studio and then not get around to seeing Charlie Daniels play the fiddle. Just go with the live! Its gping to be a bit of a novelty song for your generation, and I think one listen will do you. This is one more song that "crossed over" to the rock stations...because we weren't stupid about genre rules back then.
This is still my all time fave live track from anyone. It does not date. As far as I am aware, there never was a studio version of this song (hard to improve on perfection). Has 2 lead guitars. If you can isolate Jack Bruce's bass and listen, it is brilliant. IMO Jack Bruce was the master on bass.
im sure they did this in the studio too
I strongly suggest you listen to the Derek and the Dominoes Live Album.
@@billvegas8146 Thanks, will have a listen. Was never a huge fan of Clapton during this period.
@@Scoobydcs
I may be wrong, but I don't think so: so far as I'm aware this is the only version they ever did, on the live part of _Wheels of Fire_ .
Three virtuosos playing live, late '60's, recorded on ancient technology, no edits, no overdubs; and it kicks ass more ferociously than anything being released today. Sometimes the stars and planets all line up just right.
What David said!
There's always a tomorrow. Taj Farrant's own blues version is a must see.
They did with these guys 😊
Clapton’s solos here are the gold standard of blues rock playing - clean, fast, melodic, killer Gibson through a Marshall tone - that every intermediate + player needs to learn and study
I grew up listening to this in my dad's car... cream of Eric Clapton was one of three cassettes he owned from my age 10 to 15... I just thought this was normal... but now I know this track is the peak of any music ever made.... incredible 3 musicians live, in the same way as the who did, they are all playing lead parts at the same time. It's just incredible and almost 40 years later for me, I can always listen to this and still be blown away ❤
A 'rider' in the American coloured community in the 1930s meant a girlfriend. When you get that, the line makes sense. And 'barrelhouse' means having a good time, from the old barrelhouses where parties were held.
Very interesting that an English cat is hip to the jive. Thank you . Best to you . I didn’t know a rider was a gal.
Pure unadulterated rock 'n roll. Just three dudes making great music. IMO the 3 very best musicians of rock.
Keep in mind this is a live version!
One of the greatest bands of all time. They ended the Beatles’ reign as my favorite band when they formed. And they had fantastic tripping tunes. It always sounded like 3 of the best all soloing at once, with their sounds perfectly melding as one.✌️❤️🎶
a barrelhouse is a cheap bar where music is played. Rosedale is a town near the "fabled" crossroads where Robert Johnson met the devil.
This was indeed the Robert Johnson song!
Jack Bruce bass line is magnificent, Ginger Baker killing it on drums and, Eric Clapton arguably one of the all-time greats on guitar. Collectively they played a major role for music from 1966 to 1969 and will always be fondly remembered by the boomer generation...
One of the best groups (trios) ever. I never heard any of their songs that wasn’t GREAT.
Man the second solo just rips. One of Clapton's best ever.
I think the "take my rider..." is indeed referring to his lady friend. There's still time to party.
As far as the supernatural connection to the bluesman going to meet the devil, I remember reading that Clapton didn't want to get into that aspect of Robert Johnson's legacy. Truth was that most of his songs were about women and sex. Crossroads, which is a reference to something bigger than life, was selected by Clapton anyways but they deemphasized the dramatic, mystical part of it.
A "rider" was a type of gun.
Barrelhouse is a jazz dive, akin to a blues or shebeen
Those solos, especially the second one! And the dynamic bass and drums, they were all on fire on this. I've heard this many times since I first heard it in my wayward youth, and it still excites me.
Yeah Syed another classic track! Eric Clapton was on fire in the 60s, from the Yardbirds, to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and then Cream, amazing run and there was more to come with Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes. He sadly fell into heroin addiction after that and it took awhile for him to get his mojo back. He just needed to mellow out and plot a steady course while getting his career back on track and eventually getting back to the blues in the 90s. He then had awesome and poignant reunions with Cream and Steve Winwood this century. He is always in my top 5 guitarists though for what he did early in his career and then, later on, to show everyone he still had it. Try Had to Cry Today from his Blind Faith days, it's a killer Clapton solo for much of the tune, they just killed it on that track. Thanks for listening to great music! Enjoy. 🎵🎸🎤🎶
Rosedale was a street in Ft Worth where alot of blues clubs were located and more importantly a town in Mississippi famous for blues music. Barrelhouse is a type of bluesy raucus music
listening to this since the 90's brilliant fast track, if this was 20 years earlier, it would have been done very slowly in the old blues fashion.
I think your analysis was spot on. Especially the story being told. Great reaction / review.
As we say here in Texas; Y'all be safe.
Jack Bruce is drivin it man! Are you ready yet to recognize Clapton’s brilliance and put him on your list🙀🎸 a selection suggestion, if I may, “Miss You” recorded live.
Super Trio. Incredible Musicians all. Each can be heard clearly in glorious high fidelity stereo. Jack Bruce's vocals are underrated in Rock. But some of the music is more than even great blues, it is otherworldly. Check out "Deserted Cities of the Heart", "Tales of Brave Ulysses", "SWALBR", "I Feel Free".
Pinnacle of Blues/Rock/Talent
This is the first time of MANY in a 60+ year career that Clapton demonstrated his unique talent for taking someone else's song and TRANSFORMING it in a live setting to something bearing no resemblance to the original and creating a new, unique master work. Crossroads and Red House (the Smash Hits mix) were the two songs that taught me how rock guitar can be / should be played. It would be impossible to guess how many times I have played along with those two songs, much less just listened to them. Since you have come to appreciate the genius of Bob Dylan, listen to Clapton play Don't Think Twice (It's Alright) at the 1992 Bob Dylan 25th Anniversary Concert. Like here, he takes a song, completely alters the rhythmic skeleton of the song, adds phenomenal guitar riff interplay with the vocals, two searing / angry guitar solos and a great vocal performance. Amid a show with people like George Harrison, Tom Petty, surviving members of The Band and other 1990s luminaries, Clapton's cover of Don't Think Twice got the biggest ovation of the entire night. BTW, Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready got the second biggest hand that night for their cover of Masters of War - also a HIGHLY recommended listen.
Clapton the height of his greatness. This is live and it could easily pass as a studio cut the band is so tight, flawless.
Not too shabby for a live track !
I was always suspicious of Cream because of the long drum solos in the live music, but then I listened to Cream's greatest hits and I was an instant convert. All were tight, focussed numbers. Would recommend "Anyone for Tennis" as a relaxing, simple number.
There's an interview with one of the musicians who has worked with he Clapton. He says something like Eric's music comes straight from his heart; from there it just goes gown his arms to his fingers without having to go through his brain.
Jack Bruce on vocal is one of the best, I love the richness of his singing. His solo album, "Song's For A Tailor" is superb. Jazzy & powerful. His track "Theme From an Imaginary Western" written by him & Pete Brown, & covered by Mountain, is well worth your attention.
But you're early! Oh well I'm here as Cream are one of my dad's favourite bands and they were on heavy rotation at ours through the 70s. Was my dad that steered my taste from Donny Osmond at 11 to Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac at 12.
EDIT Crossroads were where they traditionally buried suicides. Maybe that's why they thought the devil would be hanging around?
To think Robert Johnson wrote this in 1936, played it in the Delta blues style on an acoustic slide guitar. Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and JackBruce set the song on fire. The idea of meeting the devil at the crossroads is a good ghost story, but in truth a myth. I think a black man in Mississippi in the 30s did not want to be caught out alone at night. He was looking for a ride, a friend to find a place that would be safe for them to continue the party. I believe Robert Johnson was known as a womanizer, the story is that a jealous lover poisoned Johnson and he died at age 27.
To add to that story - the myth that Johnson made a deal with the devil apparently started because, earlier on he was known to not be a particularly good guitarist... He went away for a few months or so, and when he returned, somehow in a short amount of time, he was suddenly an amazing guitarist and musician. It was said that he must have made a deal with the devil to have advanced into wizardry guitar playing so quickly. Thus the legend was born.
@@glass2467 I've heard that story about Johnson not being the best player, going away for a few months and upon his return he was a great musician, a virtual wizard on the guitar. I always thought he used his time away to practice, practice, practice and maybe learn from a few of the great bluesmen of the time. I can see his friends teasing him, saying "you must have made a deal with the devil to play like that'. The myth of meeting the devil at the crosswords is hundreds of years old and crops up in many different cultures. In many places this was because executed people and suicides could not be buried in consecrated land and were often buried at a crossroads as warning to travelers "the damned lie here".
@@ziggymarlowe5654 Excellent information. I don't think anyone truly believes the Johnson-Devil pact myth, but it makes a great story.
@@glass2467 Oh I agree! And I love.a good scary story!
The 27 curse! Robert Johnson, Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin. Crazy
Excellent as usual man. Check out cream's " Tales of Brave Ulysses ".
Very cool, unusual drum groove. Snare on the straight quarters in the verses, then gets funky in the solos.
EC at his best. Pure greatness.
I'll drop off a few listening suggestions here...
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Weary Blues
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - My Pink Half of the Drainpipe
Mungo Jerry - Have a Whiff on Me
Billy Cobham - Red Baron or Stratus
Ian Dury and The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Frank Zappa - Anything from the "Have I offended someone?" album.
ZZ Top - Rhythmeen or the classic La Grange
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Bad Reputation
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak or Killer on the Loose or Do Anything You Want To
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take it (Watch the official Music Video)
Kiss - Domino
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Jump Through The Hoops or Where'd You Go
Danko Jones - The Cross or Home to Hell
Motorhead - Lawman or Back at the Funny Farm or We are the Road Crew
Jinjer - Pisces (Live Session @ Napalm Records Channel)
Unleash the Archers - Awakening (Full Playthrough @ Napalm Records Channel)
Meshugga - Bleed
Orbital - Forever
Tangerine Dream - Poland
City - Am Fenster :-)
And check out the band GWAR.
I always thought the lyrics were "We can still buy a house, baby, on the Riverside" 🫣😛
Me too 😂😂
As a kid listening on a cheap radio, the guitar is really all I ever noticed. Once I started listening on a better stereo, Jack Bruce's nonstop barrage of lead bass playing really blows me away.
take my rider by my side and barrelhouse on the riverside are from another Robert Johnson song : Traveling Riverside Blues
The middle instrumental part starts swinging wildly, thanks i think to Baker's percussion. Baker was originally a jazz drummer. This old very original blues song is wildly swinging in this version. It's blues plus jazz plus rock. ❤🤗
This song ..... Legends 😍😍 Thank you Cream
One of the stories associated with Robert Johnson is that he was a pretty average guitar player, who then disappeared from view of the people who knew him for a while, and when he came back he was suddenly superb on the guitar. Somehow, the story continued that he'd gone "down to the crossroads" to sell his soul to the devil for this 'gift'. But, you know, stories man...!
Three incredible rock and roll musicians.
You should definitely do some Robert Johnson. It's hard to find anyone earlier who had such a profound effect on modern music. He's the originator.
I turned 15 in July 1968, in the U.K., and Cream were the band that really triggered my musical appreciation. I enjoyed lots of current chart records, but after listening to Cream’s first two studio albums they really got me onboard, but the live LP of the double Wheels of Fire album really was initially hard for me to accommodate but after quite a few plays it opened up another room for me to explore. That was the first year I went to my first music concert with a professional band,i.e. The Nice. It really was an amazing period of music from about 1966, when it began to get really interesting.
A couple of things. It was Tommy Johnson, a contemporary of Robert Johnson who went around claiming that he sold his soul to the devil to learn blues guitar. The story was attached to Robert because of his similar name (there's also the story that he started out a mediocre guitarist until he returned from a hiatus from the "juke joint" circuit as a much better player - probably after learning from Son House but this relatively rapid improvement in skill was thought to be supernaturally gifted).
Also Crossroad Blues is about trying to catch a ride out of a "sundown" town before dark when he would likely be caught by a lynch mob and murdered. The interpretation of the crossroads being a place to sell your soul to the devil came much later.
Everyone from my generation remembers this one - the opening is unmistakable. And funny I posted a comment here yesterday about Rush "Anthem" which has a similar opening riff!
all time classic! ♥
Getting into the story was a great angle. Enjoyed it. Ty…
Ginger was famously bad tempered and was convinced that Jack’s sole purpose was to mess with him. A friend of mine met him coming downstairs and Ginger snarled: ‘Get out of my effing way or I’ll throw you downstairs…’ proper bad boy! But what an amazing band!
Same experience at Glastonbury in the 80's. Ginger was, unfortunately, not someone you wanted to approach for an autograph!
Syed, it would be great if you did a reaction or two on some of the great blues performers of the 30s through 50s. In addition to Robert Johnson, Hartlor Tayley and I were just discussing Son House on your last Rush reaction. His recordings go back as far as 1930, and he was still performing into the 60s and 70s as the recording technology improved. The black and white video (probably in the 60s) of him performing "Death Letter Blues" on his dobro resonator guitar would be a great one for you to react to. Very good audio quality.
And as a tie in to your recent White Stripes reaction, Jack White speaks of Son House having performed his favorite song of all time. He said this in the "It Might Get Loud" documentary that had Jack, U2's The Edge, and Jimmy Page jamming together and telling stories. You can find an excerpt on TH-cam of Jack from this documentary talking about Son House as he listens to his recording. Very touching how an exceptional performer, known mostly for his work from the late 90s and 2000s refers back to these roots. Kind of like how Kurt Cobain referenced Leadbelly during the MTV Unplugged concert performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night."
Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller
@@alphajava761 And Blind Willie McTell. I love these old blues guys. I became obsessed with them a decade or two ago. I highly recommend "The Blues Story: A Documentary" which can be found on TH-cam. It was filmed in the early 2000s while some of these folks were still alive. It does a fantastic job of covering this period, from the early Delta blues of the 30s, until the 50s when it started to move into the bigger cities (Chicago, Memphis, St Louis, etc.). Even has a bit on how Mick and the Stones brought the blues back to America.
I'd like to point out this is live music. Unbelievable.
Thanks man! Please do Johnson's original. He was amazing.
"we can still buy a house baby, on the riverside"
Barrelhouse, not 'buy a house'...
@@Pokafalva Well that's 30+ years of hearing something else undone.
@@patrickmohan2220 From a previous comment of mine: '...And 'barrelhouse' means having a good time, from the old barrelhouses where parties were held...'
@@Pokafalva I'll be inviting some folks over for a "barrelhouse" this weekend.
Another great drummer for the ages - Ginger Baker
Have you ever heard the original by Robert Johnson ? It was a field recording by folk musicologist Alllen Lomax in 1936 on very basic equipment . It was discovered later that Lomax recorded it at a higher speed ,making Johnson's voice sound higher pitched and obviously also sped up the tempo .
Love love love it. I went Down to the Crossroad in 2002
Check out the movie "Crossroads" starring Ralph Macchio for a dive into the crossroads & Willie Brown story, and some epic music scenes!
A lot of meaning in these lyrics, Clapton named the addiction treatment center he founded The Crossroads Center.
I've heard this for ages and I love everybody in this band but listening to it just now, I think the drumming is my favorite part for the mood I'm in right now. Just amazing. That's Ginger Baker if I recall correctly.
Barrelhouse means to have a good time but it comes from barrelhouse boogie, barrelhouse blues, you can look it up. As a piano player amongst other instruments, I've got a whole book of super old-school barrelhouse boogie, it's such fun music. It's like a roadhouse. Which I have played at several like that in at least more modern times In a honky tonk band I was in for years.
And personally, I certainly do not picture concrete roads at the crossroads, I picture old dirt roads that probably get muddy when it rains.
Classic live recording, first heard back then on the radio and recorded on reel to reel! Stop interrupting it! The volume of Jack's bass moaned about by Ginger in later years.
Clapton: Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominos and then chill-out stint with Delaney & Bonnie , "I shot the Sheriff", eventually to "Tears in Heaven" and still is a living breathing library of Blues.
This is one of the 3 groups that Eric Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for, the others were Yardbirds and solo career
Robert Johnson was from Mississippi but had two recording sessions total, both in Texas: one in Dallas and one in San Antonio. I don’t know how he got there, but if he was in Fort Worth, 30 miles from Dallas, Rosedale Avenue intersects Riverside Drive on the east side of town.
And underlying it all are Jack Bruce's quite incredible bass lines....
Barrelhouse is referencing a wild style of blues that was played in bars in the south. Bars in a certain part of town or actually outside of town.
Let me help you out a bit with the lyrics and what they mean (remember, this was recorded in 1938...). First of all, the lyrics in the first verse actually were "Asked the Lord above for mercy, save me if you please" (but remember, lyrics were not exact in this genre, and they often varied them, as Johnson himself did in his versions recorded in Take 1 vs. Take 2). Second, in the third verse, a "rider" in delta parlance was slang for a good woman....I think you can see why, by analogy. A good horse (that is, a "rider") was prized in those days, and equally so a good woman, who was also a "rider." "We can still barrelhouse baby" was a reference to partying at a country bar, which was known as a barrelhouse or juke joint, which often had dancing, gambling, and live music (even if it was just one guy with a guitar), catered to rural blacks, and were rather rough. "On the riverside" was a reference to the Mississippi River, given that this is classic delta blues, and was very close to the place in southern Mississippi (Rosedale) mentioned in the song. This was also Johnson's stomping grounds, and he lived in various places not far from here. The notion that Johnson "sold his soul to the Devil in order to acquire almost magical guitar playing skills" is almost certainly legendary only, as Johnson's family have strongly argued. He actually got these skills through hard, diligent practicing under the tutelage of Ike Zimmerman, who as a legendary blues guitarist at the time, but he got these skills astonishingly quickly. Partly, this notion can be attributed to the religiosity among many blacks at that time, as being a musician playing secular music itself was frowned upon by such people. Johnson's family when he was young even made joking reference to this, saying that Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil to become an itinerant musician, as did his in-laws. His in-laws related to one of his wives even ran him off from their land and refused to allow his young son to see him, lest he be "spoiled" by Johnson and his evil ways. All that said, a "crossroads" had deep mystical and spiritual meaning among many blacks at that time, especially those who believed in hoodoo or voodoo, and was itself carried over from West African culture. So the entire notion of the song itself can be considered to be something of a double entendre, but was probably not deliberate on the part of Johnson. Rather, to Johnson himself, the central theme of the song was probably more related to the forebodings that a black man might commonly feel to be out in the rural South alone after dark, given the unapologetic and rather intense racism at the time. And, no doubt this was much of the reason for the popularity of this song amongst his followers. Hence the rather bleak and despondent tone of the last verse, which Johnson himself sang as "You can run, you can run, tell my friend boy Willie Brown; Run, you can run, tell my friend boy Willie Brown; Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad babe, I believe I'm sinkin' down." And, as you might have surmised, Willie Brown was himself a somewhat famous Delta blues musician known locally at that time, so this verse was realistic from that perspective at least. FWIW, my own view, having been aware of Robert Johnson for more than 50 years and having read and listened to him extensively, is that the bit about Johnson selling his soul to the Devil is basically mythical hogwash that arose long after his death and has been embellished and built up by many ever since.
The song depicts the risk to a black man in Mississippi being by himself on the road as night falls, when curfew was in place. You could disappear and never be seen again.The crossroads is the intersection of Hwy 49 and 61 near Clarksdale MS. Barrelhouse = party
A large part of the landscape of this song is about the experience of black Americans in the South being out after dark during the time of Robert Johnson. If you had dark skin and were out after dark in the South during this time you were in danger of being beaten or killed or any number of things because you were not protected by the society that you lived in. In Crossroads is a story of the anxiety of a black man being stranded near dark and trying to get to Rosedale where he can have a good time with his girl and forget about the outside world for awhile.
Watch EC play live with Robbie Robertson and "The Band" in the last waltz movie, song is "further on up the road "
"Rita" by his side, is how we pronounce "Reeta" over here. Same lady's name.
Rider, not Rita. A 'rider' in the American coloured community in the 1930s meant a girlfriend. When you get that, the line makes sense. Blinf Boy Fuller also uses the word 'rider in 'Pistol Slapper Blues': I can tell my rider when I feel her in the dark.
Rock 'n roll is an offspring of Robert Johnson. He defines the word seminal.
They took a Robert Johnson blues song and turned it into hard driving rock and roll song. Play it loud for full effect.
Rider-your girl barrelhouse--- a dance step
This song is about a black man down south in the 1930s stuck out at the crossroads after dark and is afraid he'll be lynched if he's caught.
That was live too !
Meant to say watch the Crossroads film with Ralph Maccio of Karate kid fame
You have to react to "Strange Brew" by Cream... such a great tune and vibe... my favorite Cream song!!!
Cream - I feel free, Susnshine of your love, White room.
Go Cream GO!
You know Rock & Roll!
You can look up the story/legend of “the crossroads” .
I was born in Cleveland ms about ten miles from rosedale thats where robert j sold soul to devil
Love clapton and cream
I've never heard a rock recording that comes closer to the feel of jazz. I don't know much was improvised.
And the idea of making a deal with the devil for musical prowess is really old and shows up here and there. One of my favorites is with Paganini, the mind-blowing composer and violinist from classical music. He was insanely virtuosic and so a lot of people at that time believed that he actually had made a deal with the devil. And when he heard about it, he just played into it and let his hair get really crazy and wild and played with demonic expressions on his face, laugh. But he was insanely talented man, check out his Caprices.
barrelhouse is a dive bar it also is the name of real progressive, unrestrained, and unsophisticared jazz
His rider ~ his woman. The barrelhouse ~ juke joint, bar. They kept the hooch in barrels. Where everyone got to know Robert Johnson, and where he died. The selling his soul to the devil was never his idea ~ he’d tried to sit in on guitar with some blues players, been useless & rejected, went away and a few months later came back with a blues guitar style of his own. Come on in my kitchen, Steady rolling man, Love in vain ~ also covered by rock bands.
Just love it !!!
Cream Live is where it is really at 🤟👹❤
Just remember, before there was rap, there was Rock. Rock has been around for 145 years. Jack Bruce is one of the best. Ever.
There is an somewhat unknown movie with Ralph Machio titled “Crossroads” which relates the story of how the Player gets into a guitar war, in a bar with the Devil, for the title of The Best,🎸in the land. The film itself is not great, but the music action is awesome. I believe the Devil’s licks are performed, by Steve Vai.
I have always understood "my rider" to refer to his girl, and "barrelhouse" as yet another euphemism for sex. Even when you're down on your luck ... I guess. You should check out Robert Johnson, his entire catalog is on a double CD.
... 'my rider' is his female companion; a 'barrelhouse' is where alcohol can be purchased & drunk- the beer & liquor are shipped in barrels!
check out more hendrix bro voodoo chile the 14 minute version is so good
Voodoo Child live at either Woodstock or Maui are face melting.
@@vicprovost2561 definitely at woodstock is iconic
@@JR-rk3hs He's a Super Nova at Woodstock, Maui is just Volcanic!
You owe it to yourself to compare Robert Johnson original recording of Love In Vain in 1936 or 1937 to The Rolling Stones version. Robert didn't record a lot before he died after drinking poisoned whiskey but he's undoubtedly the birth of rock and roll, first person to do the sixth pattern that I know of.
A “rider” was slang for girlfriend…well, actually, the girl you’re currently sleeping with.. I do t know if that was English slang from the 60’s, or if it’s old blues slang that the English rock guys adopted, but I’ve heard it used in Zeppelin songs and others.
As the legend goes, a deal with the devil can be made where two roads intersect (crossroads) at midnight. Midnight is not really today and not really tomorrow. Just like the crossroads, you are not really on this road and not really on that road. You are at the “in between place.” Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul “at the crossroads” in exchange for music talent. Talent does not necessarily equal fame & riches. It’s a cautionary tale to be careful what you wish for.
Really great additional detail to the crossroads legend!! I read a lot about Robert Johnson, and the myth, but I never realized the "in-between" aspects - Super cool!
@@glass2467 thank you
I said this on the working man video, but I think you'd like 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago, very similar realm as this and working man
Best solo ever did in his long career..he never played like this again
Check out the cover of this song by Rush off their Feedback album.
Comin' in HOT.
Sounds like you need to hear Charlie Daniels doing Devil Went Down to Georgia. But Syed, the fiddle battle has to be seen live at some point. You can't say you wanna do the studio and then not get around to seeing Charlie Daniels play the fiddle. Just go with the live! Its gping to be a bit of a novelty song for your generation, and I think one listen will do you. This is one more song that "crossed over" to the rock stations...because we weren't stupid about genre rules back then.
Barrelhouse was like a sleazy blues bar