Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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on one side, red on the other, provoking in his wake foolish arguments about whether his
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In Cuba, where Catholic saints camouflaged Yoruba gods to create the Santeria religion,
Eshu was identified with Satan, but as a creative challenge to good. 142 Cuban people of
African descent still pour cool waters at the crossroads in his honor. In Rio de Janeiro,
Brazilians light candles for him at intersections.
Unlike the Christian devil, Eshu is not inherently evil. His provocations may result in
good or in evil results, depending on how people respond. Eshu challenges one to grow
beyond the limitations of the ego, and he lays down that challenge at the crossroads.
In African myths, the crossroads is where the living and the dead can make contact.
Spirit-gods (loa or lwa) like to hang out in the center of the crossroads. To be able to
stand upon the crossroads and face the gods means one has mastered both life and death.
As author and L.A. Weekly
Their sign for this is the cross, but it has nothing to do with the Christianist cross, which
spirit worlds meet at right angles, and everything that is most important happens at the
spot where they meet, which is neit
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143 The
metaphysical goal of the African is to experience this meeting of both worlds at the
crossroads, and touch the divine.
1936. In the first verse, Johnson describes going to the crossroads and falling to his
knees, crying out to God to save him. In the second verse, he stands and tries to flag a
ride as dusk descends. Johnson wants a ride, which is both a slang term for a lover and a
metaphor for divine possession- as in the Voodoo ceremonies in which the loa, or spirit-
By the third verse, Johnson is expressing his fear of being caught in the dark on the
crossroads with no rider,
Brown, a blues musician of some renown, was a mentor and father figure to Johnson. He
was patient with the little boy who would sneak away from home in Robinsonville,
Mississippi, to pester him about the guitar. Brown showed Johnson how to form chords,
and he and Charley Patton, who lived in Robinsonville for a time and played the juke
joints there regularly, were huge influences on Johnson.
Johnson, in turn, mentored another little boy--Robert Lockwood. Johnson began teaching
Lockwood to play guitar when