Anyone a fan of the late, great Blues legend Robert Johnson? How did he die?

Question

I love Blues music and his music. There's so much mystery surrounding his death and/or disappearance. Rumors back then said he sold his soul to the devil and the devil came to collect. Is this true? I hope not!!

Answer 1

Robert Johnson!
In the last year of his life, Johnson is believed to have traveled to St. Louis and possibly Illinois. He spent some time in Memphis and traveled through the Mississippi Delta and Arkansas. By the time he died, at least six of his records had been released.

His death occurred on August 16, 1938, at the approximate age of 27 at a little country crossroads near Greenwood, Mississippi. He had been playing for a few weeks at a country dance in a town about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Greenwood.

There are a number of accounts and theories regarding the events preceding Johnson's death. One of these is that one evening Johnson began flirting with a woman at a dance. One version of this rumor says she was the wife of the juke joint owner, while another suggests she was a married woman he had been secretly seeing. Researcher Mack McCormick claims to have interviewed Johnson's alleged poisoner in the 1970's, and obtained a tacit admission of guilt from the man. When he was offered an open bottle of whiskey, his friend and fellow blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson knocked the bottle out of his hand, informing him that he should never drink from an offered bottle that has already been opened. Robert Johnson allegedly said, "don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand". Soon after, he was offered another open bottle and accepted it. That bottle was laced with strychnine. Johnson is said to have survived the initial poisoning only to succumb to pneumonia three days later, in his weakened state. His life was short but his music would serve as the root source for an entire generation of blues and rock and roll musicians.

David Connell, in an article in the British Medical Journal in 2006 entitled Retrospective blues: Robert Johnson — an open letter to Eric Clapton, has suggested that the cause of Johnson's death may have been Marfan's syndrome, which is connective tissue disorder. The most obvious symptoms of this are arguably visible in the photographs of Johnson, such as his long fingers, legs and arms. Other symptoms are curved spine, eye problems (Johnson was said to have 'one bad eye') and a slim body.

The precise location of his grave remains a source of ongoing controversy, and three different markers have been erected at supposed burial sites outside of Greenwood. Research in the 1980's and 1990's strongly suggests Johnson was buried in the graveyard of the Little Zion church near Morgan City, Mississippi, not far from Greenwood, in an unmarked grave. A marker was placed at this location in 2002.

Among the Mississippi Delta bluesmen believed to have exerted the strongest influences on Johnson's music are Charley Patton, Willie Brown, Tommy Johnson, and Son House. Peter Guralnick, in Searching for Robert Johnson, quotes Son House, "We'd all play for the Saturday night balls, and there'd be this little boy standing around. That was Robert Johnson. He was just a little boy then. He blew harmonica and he was pretty good with that, but he wanted to play guitar."

Robert Johnson has a son named Claude and grandchildren currently living in Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

Answer 2

The story about the crossroads. It is known when Mr.Johnson started wanting to play guitar he would hang around the "old timers", but they gave him a hard time because he couldn't play very well. Every week-end mr.Robert would go join the jam session in his area, and every week-end was rejected. This really fustrated him to the point that he often said that .."I would sell my soul to the devil just to learn to play (the guitar)".One week-end mr.Robert didn't show up at the juke joints, and it did kind of puzzle people because he was a persistent cat. To be honest, it might have been two weekends that went by. Anyway, the weekend he did show up to the jam sessions, he could play! amazingly as well, and totally blew all the old timers away!When they asked him where he had been for the past few week-end, he joking told them that he had made a trip to the "cross roads" (which was a dangerous place due to some tradegies that had happened their and was rumored as being haunted by the devil because most of the tragedies were strange to explain. (There was a couple of murders their). The "Cross roads" is a real place in Mississippi. There are many "rumored" spots though, and that is fact. The accepted "crossroads" for mainstreams sakes is where Hwy 61 and 49"cross". The city of Clarksdale Miss. has a big sign made of two big guitars at the "business" intersection of these highways. The fabled crossroads did have a big tree there, and the story is Mr.Johnson sat under the tree and played till the devil showed up and they struck a deal. This story was a fable spread more by the locals and "old timers" that could not explain the amazing talents the Mr.Johnson had accuried "over night". They all said that he must have went down to crossroads and sold his soul, like he always claimed he would, just to learn how to play.

Answer 3

Everybody's already answered how Robert Johnson passed. I wanted to address the "deal with the devil" stuff. That goes all the way back to the African and Caribbean beliefs of the slaves that came to America. They had a deity called Legba (from the African Ellegua) who was the deity of the crossroads, that is, the junction between heaven and earth. If you wanted Legba/Ellegua to grant your request, you would go to a crossroads and make a sacrifice.

This tradition travelled with the slaves who came from Africa and the Caribbean to America, and became part of the voodoo (also called Vodoun or Voudou) tradition, which was very active in the South at that time. Every town had a voodoo lady or hoodoo lady who would lay spells for you.

Since many of the former slaves became Christian, the preachers started calling Legba the "devil." Anyone who got good at an instrument and didn't use it "for the Lord's work," it was always rumored that they went to the crossroads and did a voodoo ritual to "the devil," to get their skill.

Some blues men, who were already outside the church, used to brag that they had done this. Strangely enough it wasn't Robert Johnson who claimed this first, but a blues singer named Peetie Wheatstraw, who used to call himself "The Devil's Son-In-Law." It was really Tommy Johnson (no relation to Robert) another bluesman, who used to tell the story about Robert selling his soul to the "dark man" at the crossroads.

The thing was that Robert Johnson was only a fair guitar player till he went south for a while and no one saw him for a good year or so. When he came back he was full of songs and was a much better player. Some people speculate he went to New Orleans and saw a "root doctor" or "hoodoo man" but personally I think he just practiced till his fingers bled, and then came back to show them all up.

Answer 4

Robert Johnson became the 1st to inject the " desperate " sense into this form of common, solo form. Classical composers could constantly create great expression, in part by using arsenal of musicians and contraptions. you're able to placed your self in the " time ". The 30's music portrayed a happier time, and need for a bright destiny, the place-as, Blues music hit the painful nerve maximum have been scared to the touch. in spite of the very incontrovertible fact that there have been gamers before Johnson, he appeared to embody the essense of the type so nicely that from the 2d of his dying, musicians began to hunt for the " sense " section that Robert did so clearly. gamers have found out, and a few masters have blessed this earth for the reason that Johnsons dying. Many guitarists are "greater proper " gamers ( wharever meaning), yet Robert will alway be the inspiration for EXPRESSIVE playing of the guitar!

Answer 5

He "slept around" a lot. A jealous girlfriend put poison in his whiskey. The "sold his soul to the devil" was part of his "image" as a "bad boy of the blues" - I think it was his idea. People wondered why his "chops" were as good as they were. The true story is he got to practice a lot under the roof of a sympathetic girlfriend. I don't know if its the same one that murdered him.

by the way - at the time you were either singing and playing as a minister for the Lord, or you were playing "the devil's music" (blues).

Answer 6

According to legend, he was poisoned by a jealous man, who's wife Johnson had been hitting on, during a jook joint gig around Aug. 11, 1938 in Greenwood, Mississippi.
People who were there said he was seen foaming at the mouth and crawling around on all fours, acting like a rabid dog, until he finally passed a few days later, on Aug. 16.....
Sounds kinda grisley, but who knows what poison and moonshine can do to someone?! What a sad way to be remembered, but it also added to his legend, in a bizarre sort of way.

Answer 7

I don't believe those rumors. But,yes Robert Johnson is a blues great. My personal favorite of his is Travelling Riverside Blues.(The Led Zeppelin cover is good,too.)

Answer 8

I read that he was poisoned by a bottle that had strychnine in it. Supposedly Robert Johnson was hitting on some girl and the guy gave him a drink that was poisoned. He survived the poisoning but died of pneumonia a few days later.

Answer 9

I'm a fan Of Robert Johnson too. I think the rumors started because of his song "Crossroad blues". But I also have no idea hoe he died....sorry...

Answer 10

According to this bio, he was poisoned then succumbed to pneumonia on Tuesday, August 16, 1938.


"He was sick and before the night was over, he was displaying definite signs of poisoning; he was out of his mind. It seems the houseman's jealousy finally got the best of him and someone laced Robert's whisky with strychnine. It got the best of Robert, too!"