TERRAPLANE BLUES / ROBERT JOHNSON

"Terraplane Blues" is a song by singer, composer and blues guitarist Robert Johnson, which was published in 1937 and sold over 50,000 copies and became one of his most recognized songs over the years.

It is clear that the blues would not have been the same without the Gibson L-1 and the voice, and the charisma of this great musician from the state of Mississippi who was a vital influence for many musicians who discovered in his chords and his particular way of playing the guitar a good bridge to create the basic sounds of rock. Beyond the dark legend that says that Robert Johnson came to sell his soul to the devil in order to be the best bluesman in his country, it is worth noting that his musical style was very innovative for the critics of the time, and also in some of his lyrics you can find certain influences taken from the spiritual rituals that were performed by black slaves, and where they sought freedom from their pitiful situation of exploitation and submission in those cotton plantations.

In short, the "King of the Delta Blues" only needed 27 years of history and almost 30 recordings to become a legend in his country and an influence for many bands that years later would change the history of rock. The real cause of his death is not known for sure, but with him went many stories, sorrows and joys that were accompanied by some chords that sounded under an eternal record.

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If there is a basic example about Johnson music and why he is famous as a bluesman, it can be summarized in the song "Terraplane Blues", a song where he talks metaphorically about sex, in times when conservative attitude and innocence was the daily bread of the dials and other media.

This song, which was recorded on November 23, 1936, in San Antonio, Texas, was inspired by the prestigious brand introduced by the Hudson Motor Car Company in July 1932 and which enjoyed great popularity, especially because it was a car that incorporated 6 and 8 cylinder Essex engines. But Johnson didn't want to pay homage to that model of car, but used it as a good context to talk, in a clear double sense, about sex, in its most ironic state and at the same time full of innocence.

In the song Johnson talks about a walk with his girlfriend in a Terraplane, and that at one point the car did not want to leave. It was at that moment that the blouse maker believes that the cause of the car being "drowned" was that his girlfriend went on a spree with another man while he was somewhere else. This is how, while Johnson describes all the mechanical problems of his Terraplane, a story appears with some sexual hint.

This particular way of writing, where the car is used as a good place to have love relations, was very used in the world of the rock, and clear examples are some pieces of Chuck Berry and until The Beatles with their "Drive My Car".

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On a musical level, the song contains some good riffs (in call and response format) that are simply played with three strings of the guitar, and although in practice it seems simple, very few manage to sound with the category and the pachorra that Robert Johnson left in his musical pieces. Those details leave the song as a very interesting piece to enter fully in the Delta Blues.

For the guitarist, journalist and music critic Dave Rubin, "Terraplane Blues" had a high popularity due to that sexual insinuation and declares that although it is not one of the most perfect songs nor so inspired by Robert Johnson, it is a vital piece to begin to know the musical catalog of this extraordinary bluesman who supposedly sold his soul to the devil in order to achieve eternity.

Beyond the legend (which gives a very special bonus to the artist), Robert managed to make the Blues a song that went beyond the pain, suffering and passion, and took it to the plane of love relationships, infidelity and a certain irony to bring it to all the public and massify the style.