Robert Johnson Songs Ranked

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. He is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style. Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first induction ceremony, in 1986, as an early influence on rock and roll. He was awarded a posthumous Grammy Award in 1991 for The Complete Recordings, a 1990 compilation album. His single “Cross Road Blues” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. In 2003, David Fricke ranked Johnson fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Here are all Robert Johnson songs ranked.

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15. Stones In My Passway (Stones In My Passway, 1937)

“Stones In My Passway” goes back to the guitar arrangement of his previous year’s hit, “Terraplane Blues”, but with much darker imagery. It begins with the lines, “I got stones in my passway / and all my roads seem dark at night”, which Samuel B. Charters found so impressive that he placed them in front of the Robert Johnson chapter in his very influential book, The Country Blues, in 1959, and “Stones In My Passway” was also incorporated in the King of the Delta Blues Singers compilation LP two years later.”

14. Malted Milk (Malted Milk, 1937)

“On “Malted Milk”, about an undefined alcoholic drink, Robert Johnson adopts the urban blues style of Lonnie Johnson, who was actually his primary model as a guitarist. The arrangement and the vocal delivery of “Malted Milk” are very similar to Lonnie Johnson’s “Life Saver Blues”, and Robert also takes off two lines from Lonnie’s “Blue Ghost Blues”. (Another song of Robert Johnson from the session with the same melody and arrangement, “Drunken Hearted Man”, stayed unissued until 1970.)”

13. They’re Red Hot (They’re Red Hot, 1937)

“”They’re Red Hot” is highly remarkable, too, as it is no blues at all but a racy song in the hokum tradition. It is interesting that surviving contemporaries of Robert Johnson recall a musician so versatile he could sing and play pop songs, cowboy or country numbers and even play polkas on the guitar. As Johnny Shines said in an interview, “We passed a place, a white dancing hall, and the big bands was playing in there, whatsoever kind of music they was playing, we used to have to listen to. Hide around outside and listen. So we’d go home, and when we get ready, we’d play those same pieces.” They played them for their audience, black or white, with only a blues once in a while, and lots of popular songs in between.”

12. 32-20 Blues (32-20 Blues, 1937)

“32-20 Blues was recorded on Thursday 26th November 1936. The following day he recorded Last Fair Deal Gone Down and six other songs. During that week he recorded about half of the music he would ever make. Some people find Robert Johnson’s music repetitive and difficult to get into. But the guitar parts are in fact filled with endless variations and innovations. My advice to anyone who doesn’t like this music is to listen again and pay close attention to the guitar playing. It is full of sorts of intricate and wonderful twists and turns.”

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11. Sweet Home Chicago (Sessions for Robert J, 2004)

“Considering the tremendous variety of tones and styles that Robert Johnson was known to perform live, it’s a pity that we get to hear such a limited part of his range on record. “Sweet Home Chicago” is a great example of that, the kind of record that you wish he had made a hundred of. It is certainly his most famous song, and for good reason. It follows the basic structure of the popular blues song “Kokomo Blues,” which had already been recorded by several different blues artists (most notably Kokomo Arnold in 1934). Johnson’s version upped the ante, though, becoming an instant classic that works on multiple levels. Its universal themes, simple structure and killer hook (“Baby, don’t you wanna go?”) make it the perfect blues cover song.”

10. Come On In My Kitchen (Come On In My Kitchen, 1937)

“One of Johnson’s most soulful recordings, he begins “Come On In My Kitchen” with a moan and his singing never strays far from moaning. Even when he injects a spoken interlude at one point, his voice is a low mumble. His remarkable slide playing is equally soulful, diving in an impressive arc from the high notes to the low. Best of all, though, may be his brilliant use of space, as he stops playing a few times, holds the silence a second longer than expected, and then snaps the guitar back into place.”

9. Kind Hearted Woman Blues (King of the Delta Blues Singers, 1961)

“”Kind Hearted Woman Blues”, in contrast, is a musically sophisticated recording with elaborate yet contradictory lyrics, very much under the influence of the urban blues of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell. It was the first song that Johnson recorded, and the first of the two preserved takes contains his only recorded guitar solo. Not exactly a typical example of the rural Delta blues, it was nonetheless included in the highly influential first Johnson compilation of 1961, King of the Delta Blues Singers, as well as “Terraplane Blues” which had the bonus of being Johnson’s only hit.”

8. When You Got a Good Friend (King of the Delta Blues Singers, 1961)

“On this record, he sifts effortlessly from style to style – he sings high, he sings low, he sings falsetto, he moans, he growls and he even delivers some spoken lines. His guitar does similar gymnastics, starting with a slow, wailing slide style, but transitioning to more upbeat, intricate playing as needed, or becoming a percussion instrument as Johnson just bangs out the rhythm on it.”

7. Terraplane Blues (King of the Delta Blues Singers, 1961)

“Terraplane Blues” may have been the most successful of Johnson’s singles at the time but it sold only somewhere between 3000 and 4000 copies. This is the main reason why finding a mint condition Johnson 78 rpm single is a bit like finding a pot of gold. An original copy of this single can sell for thousands of dollars. As for the music itself, his guitar playing is just so inventive- full of subtle nuances and twists and turns. The bass sections of the song sound quite unlike what anyone else had done before. It takes a while to really ‘get’ the stark artistry of Robert Johnson but it fully repays the time spent doing so.”

6. Me and the Devil Blues (Me and the Devil Blues, 1937)

“This song has the most evocative imagery of any in Johnson’s catalog, packing a punch whether they are taken literally or figuratively. The narrator sings of “walking side by side” with the devil and unrepentantly blames his wicked behavior (“I’m gonna beat my woman until I get satisfied”) on “that old evil spirit.” Johnson’s guitar work and voice are as strong as ever, making the lyrics that much more compelling. At the end, he sings: “You may bury my body down by the highway side / So my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride.””

5. Love In Vain (Love In Vain, 1937)

“Johnson’s masterpiece, “Love in Vain Blues” was issued by Vocalion as the B-side to his final single, “Preachin’ Blues.” Similarly, over thirty years later, Columbia would release it as the closing track for the 1970 compilation King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. Whether by coincidence or by mutual acknowledgement of the song’s eerie sense of finality, it stands as a fitting last statement by a legendary figure.”

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4. Hellhound On My Trail (King of the Delta Blues Singers, 1961)

“Anyone who dwell so deeply into a meaning to an song and forget the one most important thing, a person can’t sale something that doesn’t belong to them. Freewheel belongs to you, the ability to see right from wrong belong to you, being able to determine your life goals belong to you, but your Soul belongs to God, and for you to sale, trade or bargain with. Your soul is the property of God that’s the one reason why some angles refused to worship humans, is because God gave humans something that was no bestowed to them. A Soul…..so it’s not for humans to sale.”

3. Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped the Devil) (Preachin’ Blues, 1939)

“Preachin’ Blues” was not only one side of the last 78 rpm record released of Robert Johnson, it was also the first recording made available to the a wider public two decades later. As said before, music historian and writer Samuel B. Charters had published his seminal book The Country Blues in 1959, in which he outlined his research into the history of the blues and his search for the bluesmen themselves, and he also compiled a companion album of the same name for Folkway Records. Several of the 14 songs of this album became standards of rock music (e.g. “Key to the Highway”, “Statesboro Blues”, “Walk Right In”), and “Preachin’ Blues” by Robert Johnson was among them, possibly on the recommendation of John Hammond.”

2. Ramblin’ On My Mind (Ramblin’ On My Mind, 1936)

“Ramblin’ on My Mind”, the flipside of the record, is another blues song that deals with traveling. Its melody was obviously taken from “M & O Blues” which had been a successful record by Walter Davis in 1930. The lyrics of the two recorded takes vary considerably, and it seems that both versions were used on the different pressings of the record on Vocalion, Perfect and Romeo. Anyway it is some kind of a sequel of “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” (on the second take Johnson quite similarly sings, “I believe my time ain’t long”), with the singer going to leave his baby that treats him so unkind. Like on that recording, Johnson combines a boogie shuffle on the bass strings of his guitar with triplets on the treble strings, this time, however, using a bottleneck for the first time. Actually Elmore James adopted these slide triplets for his hit version of “Dust My Broom”.”

1. Cross Road Blues (Cross Road Blues, 1936)

“”Cross Road Blues” is a spectacular slide guitar piece with a melody that has no obvious external source, sung with plausible passion and sympathy. Most probably the ambiguous lyrics have ensured the song’s fame though. It starts with the lines (on the first of the two recorded takes), “I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees / Asked the Lord above ‘Have mercy now, save poor Bob, if you please'”. Obviously the singer, at first kneeling in despair to beg forgiveness, then tries to hitch a ride but nobody seems to care for him until the night comes, “Standin’ at the crossroad, I tried to flag a ride / Didn’t nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by / Standin’ at the crossroad, risin’ sun goin’ down / I believe to my soul now, po’ Bob is sinkin’ down”. In both takes, however, a loving sweet woman might help him in his distress.”