Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Blind Willie JohnsonEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-02-01
Music Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
Soundtracks:
- If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down
- Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)
- Lord, I Just Can't Keep from Crying
- Church, I'm Fully Saved Today
- Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed
- Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King
- Let Your Light Shine on Me
- John the Revelator
- I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole
- God Moves on the Water
- Trouble Will Soon Be Over
- Praise God I'm Satisfied
- Mother's Children Have a Hard Time
- It's Nobody's Fault But Mine
- The Soul of a Man
- Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
Free Music Notes for Dark Was the Night
Free Music Review: Early prewar Gospel/Blues at its finest!
Hit: 5 Stars
Dark Was the Night is an album which will reach through the decades, grab you by the shirt and shake you, and most insistently dictate your rapt attention. The strong and gravelly voice of Johnson is comparable probably only to Son House's early Paramount recordings. And while some of the songs on this album can definitely be categorized in the blues genre, many fall much more into the gospel genre, if that is even of importance when discussing one of the great early names in pre-war blues and American music history.
"Blind" Willie Johnson is not a well known name of a Robert Johnson....not even close. To his credit, Eric Clapton and others have brought new people into the blues genre because of their accolades of Robert Johnson; the downside of course, is that some great pre-war blues musicians are often overlooked......and Willie Johnson definitely falls into this category. I picked this CD up by chance at the store to add to my growing collection of prewar blues artists.....and was I ever surprised when I listened to it for the first time.
Johnson was blinded at an early age by his stepmother. His father had caught his stepmother cheating and gave her a beating, and instead of throwing lye at the young Willie's father, she threw it in the eyes of young Johnson, permanently blinding him. His story reads like a Shakespearean tragedy; being blinded at a young age by his stepmother, living most of his life penniless, and dying of pneumonia on a wet mattress after his house burned down because he was refused admittance at a hospital. And despite all of this, he remained steadfast to his religious beliefs, and would often travel to Houston to sing at gospel revivals. This man knew the blues all too well, and also had a deeper understanding of life through his experiences, and all of this comes through in his songs.
Many of Johnson's songs were performed and made famous by others, the most notable being "Nobody's Fault But Mine" by Led Zeppelin. Also, the traditional song of "John the Revelator" was magnificently performed a capella by Son House during his 1960's Columbia Sessions. One of my favorites is "Trouble Will Soon Be Over". And the song "Mother's Children Have A Hard Time" is most likely autobiographical in nature and displays the great love he had for his mother. But every song will grab the listener.....be forewarned.
Very few singers have made the interplanetary trip on NASA Voyager's Golden Record (other musicians and singers who are on it include Beethoven and Chuck Berry), and I think it could be said that sadly, Johnson is probably the least well known of any of them. The song "Dark Was the Night" is now traveling through space, a song which has only his plaintive moans coupled with a guitar, and which wordlessly evokes the pain of the crucifixion of Jesus (and perhaps all of us in this life). For what it's worth, had I known I would have liked Johnson's music so much, I would have bought the 2-CD compilation set.
In a word, brilliant.
Dark Was the Night Poster
Woo-woo! the wind blew in the trees. Squeak-squeak! went the lanterns. And the dark was all around. After a long winter sleep, Frog can't wait to get back to his pond. But just before jumping into the water, something startles him-then sends him running back to the woods. A HUGE Pond Monster with enormous claws! Will Frog ever get a chance to swim in his pond again? And will he and his friends figure out who the Pond Monster really is? With a vibrant text and atmospheric artwoAlong with Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, and others, Blind Willie Johnson was one of the founding fathers of the blues. This 16-song collection features some of his best, most classic work, a distillation of the 30 songs he recorded (all of which are available on Complete Recordings of Blind Willie Johnson). Unlike his peers, however, Johnson's focus was on spiritual music, which he performed in church and on street corners, his chilling, gravelly voice complemented by guitar work that is nothing short of exquisite. Many of the songs taken up and popularized by Johnson's contemporaries and successors were written by him, and they're all here: "John the Revelator," "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed," "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down," "Lord I Just Can't Keep from Crying," "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine," and of course "Dark Was the Night--Cold Was the Ground." Dark Was the Night is a worthy introduction to this seminal artist's work. --Genevieve Williams
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