Ramblin' on My Mind
| "Ramblin' On My Mind" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Robert Johnson | |
| A-side | "Cross Road Blues" |
| Released | May 1937 |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| Recorded |
San Antonio, Texas Monday, November 23, 1936 |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 2:51 |
| Label | Vocalion |
| Writer(s) | Robert Johnson |
"Ramblin' On My Mind" is a blues song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by blues musician Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03519 and ARC 7-05-81. Johnson performed the song in the key of E, and recorded two takes. Both takes were used for different pressings of both the Vocalion issue and the ARC issue.[1]
The song uses the melody made popular by the hit record M & O Blues by Walter Davis. Johnson composed two songs to this melody "Ramblin' On My Mind" and When You Got A Good Friend with different musical approaches and different guitar tunings, although both were in the key of E. For "Ramblin' On My Mind" he used an open tuning that allowed him to combine a boogie shuffle on the bass strings with bottleneck triplets on the treble strings.[2] These slide triplets were model for Elmore James's famous accompaniment to Dust My Broom.[3]
The song was covered by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and featured on the album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, and by Clapton on the albums Just One Night, Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies, Sessions for Robert J, and on Live from Madison Square Garden.
References
- ↑ Dixon, Robert M. W., John Godrich, & Howard Rye (1997) Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943 Fourth edition, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-816239-1
- ↑ Komara, Edward (2007). The Road to Robert Johnson, The genesis and evolution of blues in the Delta from the late 1800s through 1938. pp. 47-48. Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-634-00907-9
- ↑ Wald, Elijah (2004). Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. p 139. Amistad. ISBN 0-06-052423-5