Myths and Music
Daemons and Devils in blues and
rock
Vesa Matteo Piludu
Helsinki
Department of Comparative Religion
University of Helsinki
Exú (Salvador, Brazil)
Exu’s colors: red and black
Exú - Carybe
 Traditional trickster
 Is uncontrollable, unpredictable
 But it is possible to ask him
favours
 Dominantly male, but also
female, strongly human and
emotive, full of desires
 It is dangerous for his humanlike behaviour … but isn’t evil
 He is the mediator, the bridge
between humans and divinities
 He must called before all the
others divinities to avoid
“confusion”
Exú
 Exu (known as Eleggua in Cuba and Legba in Haiti) is the owner of
the roads and doors in this world.
 He is the repository of axé (life energy).
 The colours red and black or white and black are his and codify his
contradictory nature.
 In particular, Exu stands at the crossroads of the human and the
divine, as he is a child-like messenger between the two worlds
 Exú is also connected to sacrifices and offer
Eshú l'arôye!
 If Exú is respected, he ”opens the doors” and it is helpful
 If isn’t considered, he could cause every kinds of catastrophes
 He isn’t only good or bad, it depends on the situations
Exú ceremony - padé
 The exú ceremony is called padé
 It consist of an offer of vegetals to Exú
 … and it is performed before the real ceremony,
to avoid “confusion” during the ritual
 CD Filhos de Gandhi, track 3: “sire de exú”
Exú (Salvador, Brazil)
Tecno and Rap - Exú
http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=MqX
QavT72s8
 Theo Werneck and
Paula Pretta's music
Rappa (Brazil): Lado B Lado A
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Se eles sao Exu
Eu sou Yemanjá
Se elem matam bicho
Eu tomo banho de mar
(…)
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Nao abro mao da mitologia negra
Pra dizer:
Eu nao pareco com com voce
(…)
 I’m not renouncing to the Black
 Eu soh guerreiro, sou trabalhador
Eh todo dia vou encarar
Com Fé em Deus e na minha
batalha (...)
If they are Exú
I’m Yemanjá
If they kill a beast
I swim in the sea
(…)
Mythology
 To say:
 I’m not like you!
 I’m a warrior, a worker
 Fighting every day
 With faith in God and in my
battle (…)
 Exú = crossroads’ god
 Yemanjá= Sea goddess
 Free translation: Vesa Matteo
Piludu
Exú and the crossroad’s Devil
 The figure of Exú, Elegguá, Legbá … the god of the crossroads
popular in the Afro-American religions … became the Devil or Satan
of the crossroads in the blues and in North American popular music
 The Blues’ Devil is different from the ambiguous, tricky but also
generous Exú …Satan is clearly only a negative figure
 In the puritan and protestant United States the moral distinctions
should be clear: there is good and bad, black and white, profane
and sacred, Sunday and Friday
Symbols according to the existential semiotics
 The symbols are changing their
meaning often, especially in oral
and popular culture …
 The world of existence isn’t static
 According to Eero Tarasti
(Existential semiotics, 2000 –
Fondamenti della semiotica
esistenziale, 2008)
 the symbols are mobile, flying as
the objects in a Chagall painting
Cross Road Blues (Take 2)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Yd60nI4sa9A&feature=related
 I went to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
 Asked the Lord above "Have
mercy, now save poor Bob, if
you please”
 Mmmmm, standin' at the crossroad
 I tried to flag a ride
Standin' at the crossroad
 I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me
everybody pass me by
 Mmm, the sun goin' down, boy
dark gon' catch me here
oooo ooee eeee
boy, dark gon' catch me here
 I haven't got no lovin' sweet
woman that love and feel my
care
 You can run, you can run
tell my friend-boy Willie Brown
You can run, you can run
tell my friend-boy Willie Brown
 Lord, that I'm standin' at the
crossroad, babe
I believe I'm sinkin' down
What Lord?
 The ”Lord” of the Crossroad is probably a kind of Elegua, Exú or
Legba (Afro-American gods of crossroads and doors) … some
supernatural being that could help during the night
 Even so, Robert Johnson use the generic world ”Lord”, indicating
also the Christian God
 Another lord of Crossroad in the Afro-American folclore is the Devil
… but a call to the Devil asking for help is a nonsense, as the Devil is
clearly a negative figure in the Johnson’s and Blues men's songs
 Even so, legends about a secret path between Johnson and the
Devil are “classic” of blues literature .
Nature and Robert Johnson
by: Carter Neil
 To us being by the side of a road at night may contain a bit of fear,
but to a Black man in the Delta in Johnson's time this was a terrifying
position to be in.
 After dark a Black man could be considered to be a threat by a
White man and could be beat up, or worse without any evidence
of wrongdoing.
Robert Johnson and Satan at the Crossroad
 In the Delta of the Mississippi
River, where Robert Johnson was
born, they said that if an aspiring
bluesman waited by the side of a
deserted country crossroads in
the dark of a moonless night, then
Satan himself might come and
tune his guitar, sealing a pact for
the bluesman's soul and
guaranteeing a lifetime of easy
money, women, and fame.
 They said that Robert Johnson
must have waited by the
crossroads and gotten his guitar
fine-tuned.
Crossroads of Highways
 It is said that Robert
Johnson made his pact
with Satan at the
crossroads of
Highways 49 and 61
in Clarksdale,
Mississipi
Robert Johnson
 Robert Johnson, 1911-1938, the
most influential Delta blues artist of
all
 King of Delta Blues
 Granfather of Rock
The original folk legend talk about another
Johnson: Tommy
 “So you sit at the crossroads. Out of the darkness, there comes a
sound in the distance. A large black man appears, playing a guitar.
He takes your instrument, gives you his, and for a moment you play
together. Your fingers dance across the strings and begin to bleed.
The man tunes your guitar and hands it back to you. He walks away
into the darkness. You strum a chord, pick a note, and it occurs to
you that you can play anything, absolutely anything you want. You
also know that the devil will come back for your soul, and he will
come back sooner rather than later.”
 "That's the way I learned to play anything I want," Tommy
Johnson told his brother LeDell.
 Tommy may have sold his soul first, or said that he did, but Robert
Johnson, who was not related to Tommy, is the more notorious
“soul-swapper”
Satan and the musicians
 The story of a musician that
learn to play from a devil, a
spirit or a daemon is present in
every culture
 Plato wrote as the best artist
and especially the musicians
shoud be possessed by a
daimon
 In Finland the best pelimanni
(folk players) were told to have
learnt the art from a devil or a
water spirit
 Paganini was called the
Devil’s Violinist
 Paganini’s many adventures
and extraordinary indulgences
apparently sparked off stories
of his being in league with the
devil and that he had even
been imprisoned for murder.
 "The devil was at his elbow!"
was the claim made to explain
his technical prowess at the
violin.
 Someone even swore that he
saw the devil directing
Paganini’s arm and guiding
the bow!
 As a result, his burial in
consecrated ground was
actually delayed for 5 years.
Robert Johnson: Me and the Devil Blues
 Animated Video:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
3MCHI23FTP8&feature=related
 Early this mornin'
 when you knocked upon my door
 Early this mornin', ooh
 when you knocked upon my door
 And I said, "Hello, Satan,"
 I believe it's time to go.“
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Me and the Devil
was walkin' side by side
Me and the Devil, ooh
was walkin' side by side
 And I'm goin' to beat my woman
 until I get satisfied
 She say: “you don't see
 why that you will dog me 'round”
spoken: Now, babe, you know you
ain't doin' me right, don'cha
 She say you don't see why, ooh
 that you will dog me 'round
 It must-a be that old evil spirit
so deep down in the ground
 You may bury my body
 down by the highway side
 (spoken:) Baby, I don't care where
you bury my body when I'm dead
and gone
 You may bury my body, ooh
 down by the highway side
 So my old evil spirit can catch a
Greyhound bus and ride
Blues spirits, blues feelings, blues music
 Blues illness
 Blues recovering
 The blues are also evil spirits
 Playing the blues music and
causing bad and depressive
feelings
 There are many kind of blues:
loneliness blues, walking blues
singing about the blues spirits,
the blues singer is able to drive
blues spirits away
 It’s a kind of musical exorcism
and self analysis
Robert Johnson: Hellhound On My Trail
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
wC4M4eQlz5I
 got to keep movin'
 I got to keep movin'
blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
 Umm mmm mmm mmm
 blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
 And the days keeps on worryin'
me
there's a hellhound on my trail
hellhound on my trail
hellhound on my trail
 If today was Christmas Eve
 If today was Christmas Eve
and tomorrow was Christmas Day
 If today was Christmas Eve
 and tomorrow was Christmas Day
spoken: Aow, wouldn't we have a
time, baby?
 All I would need my little sweet
rider just to pass the time away,
huh huh
to pass the time away
Robert Johnson: Hellhound On My Trail
 You sprinkled hot foot powder,
mmm mmm, around my door
all around my door
 You sprinkled hot foot powder
 all around your daddy's door, hmm
hmm hmm
 It keep me with ramblin' mind,
rider every old place I go
every old place I go
 I can tell the wind is risin'
 the leaves tremblin' on the tree
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Tremblin' on the tree
I can tell the wind is risin'
leaves tremblin' on the tree
hmm hmm hmm mmm
All I need's my little sweet
woman
and to keep my company, hey
hey hey hey my company
Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
 Mmmmm mmmmm I's up this
mornin'
 ah, blues walkin' like a man
I's up this mornin'
ah, blues walkin' like a man
 Worried blues
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give me your right hand
And the blues fell mama's child
tore me all upside down
Blues fell mam's child
and it tore me all upside down
travel on, poor Bob
just can't turn you 'round
The blu-u-u-u-ues
is a low-down shakin' chill
spoken: Yes, preach 'em now.
Mmmmm mmmmm
is a low-down shakin' chill
 You ain't never had 'em, I
I hope you never will
 Well, the blues
is a schin' old heart disease
spoken: Do it. now.
 You gon' do it?
Tell me about it.
 Let the blues
is a low-down achin' heart disease
 Like consumption
killing me by degrees
 I can study rain
 oh, ohm drive, oh, oh, drive my
blues
 I been studyin' the rain and
I'm 'on drive my blues away
 Goin' to the 'stil'ry
stay out there all day
From: Disease Imagery in Johnson's Preaching
Blues by: Adriana C. Rissetto
 The speaker … states that he can "study rain/oh, oh, drive, oh, oh,
drive my blues" in the same way that a scientist would scrutinize a
bacteria culture in order to ascertain a cure to the disease.
 Here the rain resembles a vaccination in which a small amount
of the virus is introduced into the patient's blood in order to
build up an immunity
 the speaker studies the rain, a symbol of depression, to build up
"an immunity" to the effect of the blues on him.
 However, eventually he rejects this in favor of the distillery, a quick
and easy pain killer which offers immediate, albeit temporary, relief.
 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~music/BLUES/rissetto.html
Nature and Robert Johnson by: Carter Neil
 When he says "I been studyin' rain..." he is doing more than using
the image of rain to reinforce an idea of isolation.
 He is telling the listener that he has knowledge about loneliness
gained through a study of it, through an intense relationship to
it.
 His use of the word "study" further serves to validate his attempt in
the song to "preach" the Blues since a preacher must know what he's
talking about.
 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~music/BLUES/neil.html
ROBERT JOHNSON
If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kg
Yk5FFMhg&feature=related
If I had possession
over judgment day
if I had possession
over judgment day
Lord, the little woman
I'm lovin' wouldn't
have no right to pray
And I went to the mountain
lookin' far as my eyes could see
And I went to the mountain
lookin' far as my eye could see
Some other man got my woman
and the -'a lonesome blues got
me
 And I rolled and I tumbled and I
cried the whole night long
And I rolled and I tumbled and I
cried the whole night long
 Boy, I woke up this mornin'
my biscuit roller gone
Had to fold my arms and I
slowly walked away
 (spoken: ) I didn't like the way she
done
Had to fold my arms and I
slowly walked away
I said in my mind, "Yo,"
trouble gon' come some day
Now run here, baby
set down on my knee
I wanna tell you all about the
way they treated me
Robert Johnson: Life and Legend
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAcer5QVMs&feature=related
Robert Johnson STOP BREAKIN DOWN
 Short film about Robert Johnson told through the eyes of Son House
 Clip 1
 This clip shows a young Robert learning how to play then as a 27
year old man playing at Three Forks the night of his death
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7OivLt6wwU&feature=related
 Clip 2
 This clip shows Robert as a young and terrible guitar player. It shows
one of the reasons why he later became great...the crossroads myth.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrjzohMjcA&feature=related
 Clip 3
 This clip shows Robert as a young man studding hard, learning how
to play the guitar from Ike Zinneman. The locations are a street
corner and rent party. The last scene is a flashback to the crossroads
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNLdrqHqWOg&feature=related
Robert Johnson and the hellhounds
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-PQ3z9M2U0&feature=related
 This is a part of Supernatural TV films, "Crossroad Blues", season 2
 Interwiews:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y__fi7SAhJQ&NR=1
Devil's Roadmap Featurette:
Crossroad Blues Film
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y__fi7SAhJQ&feature=related
Film: Crossroads (1986) duel: Steve Vai
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0QKbnCDW94&feature=related
The women of the film Crossroads
 Has the typical characteristics of Pomba Gira (sensual, gypsy
looking) and the hoodoo woman of the blues (femme fatale, expert of
love spells, creates love blues and desperation in men)
On Robert Johnson Part 1
 Calt, Stephen. "Robert Johnson Recapitulated." Blues Unlimited 86,
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November 1971.
Charters, Samuel. Robert Johnson. New York: Oak Publications,
1972.
Cowley, John. "Walking Blues." Blues Unlimited 106, FebruaryMarch, 1974.
Ferris, Tim. "Robert Johnson." Rolling Stone. February 4, 1971.
Greenberg, Alan. Love In Vain: a Vision of Robert Johnson. New
York: Doubleday, 1983.
Groom, Bob. Robert Johnson. Knutsford:Blue World, 1967.
Groom, Bob. "Robert Johnson: The Man Behind the Music." Blues
World 4, November, 1965.
Groom, Bob. "Standing at the Crossroads: Robert Johnson's
Recordings." Blues Unlimited 118-121, March-October 1976.
Guralnick, Peter. "In Search of RobertJohnson." Rolling Stone,
March 26, 1976.
On Robert Johnson Part 2
 Guralnick, Peter. Searching for Robert Johnson. New York: Dutton, 1989.
 Iglauer, Bruce. "Reconstructing Robert Johnson." Living Blues 5, Summer
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1971.
Lomax, Alan. The Land Where the Blues Began. New York: Dell, 1993.
Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train. NewYork: Dutton, 1975.
Mosley, Walter. RL's Dream. New York: Norton, 1995.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. New York: Viking, 1981.
Pearson, Barry Lee and Bill McCullogh. Robert Johnson: Lost and Found.
University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Schroeder, Patricia R. Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary
American Culture. University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Shines, Johnny. "Remembering Robert Johnson." American Folk Music
Occasional 2, Oak Publications, 1970.
Wald, Elijah. Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the
Blues. Armistad Press, 2004.
Welding, Pete. "Hellhound On his Trail: Robert Johnson." down beat, Music
'66.
Wolf, Robert. Hellhound on my Trail: the Life of Robert Johnson, Bluesman
Extraordinaire. 2004.
Robert Johnson, blues and rock folklore
 The topics of the Robert Johnson’s lyrics and legend
(hoodoo, love spells Devils, blues spirits) are extremely popular in
blues lyrics
Rock music, practically born from blues, herded all this folklore
themes, that has been reinterpreted in an original way by several
authors
The “damned” but sensual and fascinating Robert Johnson became
also a kind of “model” for blues and rock stars
John Lee Hooker & Jim Morrison ( The Doors )
Roadhouse Blues
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxJpFM10yxI&feature=related
Jim Morrison Possesed by Devils Part 1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99UQfzceiI&feature=related
Website about blues lyrics and hoodoo
 http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html#why
Santana: Black Magic Woman, 1970
Album: Abraxas, Author: Peter Green
 Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman
I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I cant see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s trying to make a devil out
of me
Don’t turn your back on me baby
Don’t turn your back on me baby
Yes don’t turn your back on me
baby
Stop messing round with your
tricks
Don’t turn your back on me baby
You just might pick up my magic
sticks
 Got your spell on me baby
Got your spell on me baby
Yes you got your spell on me baby
Turning my heart into stone
I need you so bad, magic woman
I can’t leave you alone
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W
Cc025HH0E&feature=related
Joe Cocker: Civilized Man
Songwriters: Alter, Louis / Delange, Eddie
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
SEFA31Gt8T8&feature=related
 You made me need you
Need you so bad
Would you believe
And never so mad, oh yeah
Double cross me once, and
never cross me again
Now you're running 'round looking
for some sympathy
Well you know as well as I that
we're history
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
Oh yeah, a civilized man
 A poison arrow, right from the
start
Right down to zero, you went for
my heart
Oh yeah
You've been hoodoo, voodoo
Start the fire again
 Now you ask me to forget all
you've brought me to
When you know as well as I you've
got it coming to you
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
Oh yeah, a civilized man
SOLD IT TO THE DEVIL
by Merline (The Yas yas Girl) Johnson
 I sold my soul, sold it to the Devil and my heart has turned to
stone
I sold my soul, sold it to the Devil, and he won't let me alone
I'm hateful and I'm evil, I carries a Gatling gun
I drink carbolic acid, be darned if I will run
But I sold it, I have sold it
Sold it to the Devil, and my heart has turned to stone.
Female Hoodoo
 HOODOO BLUES
by Bessie Brown
 I'm on the war path now, I'm mean and evil I vow,
Some woman stole my man, to get even I've a plan.
Gonna sprinkle ding 'em dust all around her door
Gonna sprinkle ding 'em dust all around her door
Put a spider in her dumplin', make her crawl all over the floor
Mojo Hands for women and men
 MOJO HAND BLUES
by Ida Cox
I'm going to Louisiana, to get myself a mojo hand
I'm going to Louisiana, to get myself a mojo hand
'Cause these backbiting women are trying to take my man
 MOJO HAND
by Lightnin' Hopkins
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNDJF4azgog&feature=related
I'm goin' to Louisiana, and get me a mojo hand
I'm goin' to Louisiana, and get me a mojo hand
I'm gonna fix my woman so she can't have no other man
 Cold ground was my bed last night, rocks was my pillow too
 I woke up this morning,
I'm wondering, "What in the world am I gonna do?"
I lay down thinking, "Buy me a mojo hand."
HOO DOO BLUES
by HARRY CHATMON
 I'm the old hoodoo, works with white mojo
(=white magic hoodoo)
I'm the old hoodoo, works with white mojo,
I can get a woman a man, anywhere I go.
A woman come to me, beggin' and cryin',
"Someone have done went and took that man of mine;"
"Listen, sweet mama, looked at your hand,
Go back home and control your man."
 (…)
 I'll tell you one thing, sweet mama, what you'll have to do,
Go down town and get you a old horseshoe.
Come back home and fix it up over your front door,
Bet you five dollars your man'll never leave home no more.
Lightnin’ Hopkins:
Black Ghost Blues
 Black ghost, black ghost, please stay away from my door
Black ghost, black ghost, will you please stay away from my
door
Yeah you know you worry po' Lightnin' so now, I just can't sleep no
more
 Yeah you know I go to dreaming first night, black ghost is all po'
Lightnin' can see
I go to dreaming first night, black ghost is all po' Lightnin' can see
You know that's why I begin to wonder why you keeps on worryin'
me
Black ghost is a picture, and the black ghost is a shadow too
Whoa black ghost is a picture, and the black ghost is a shadow
too
You just can see him, but you can't hear him talkin'
Ain't nothin' else that a black ghost can do
Black Ghost Blues!
THE JINX BLUES [No. 1]
by Son House
 Well, I got up this mornin', jinx all 'round
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jinx all 'round, 'round my bed,
Know I thought about you and, honey, and it like to kill me dead
(…)
You know the blues ain't nothing but a low down shaking,
low down shakin', achin' chill
(…)
Well, blues, blues, is a worried heart,
is a worried heart, heart disease
(…)
Know, 'clare the woman you be lovin', man, is so doggone hard to
please (…)
Mmm, I rather be outdoors, walkin' up,
walkin' up, and down the road (…)
I said, look a here, darlin', honey, don't you try to cry no more,
Well, when I leave this time, I'm gonna hang crepe on your door
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r62FNK3JCqs
Son House "Death Letter Blues"
 Son House "Death Letter Blues"
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgrQoZHnNY
 Cassandra Wilson "Death letter"
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFvnT0X9eFQ
I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
"Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead"
I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
"Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead"
Son House "Death Letter Blues"
 I grabbed my suitcase, I took off, up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board
I grabbed my suitcase, I took on up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board
 Well, I walked up close, I looked down in her face
Good old gal, you got to lay here till Judgment Day
I walked up close, and I looked down in her face
Yes, been a good old gal, got to lay here till Judgment Day
(…)
 Oh, some people tell me the worried blues ain't bad
It's the worst old feelin' that I ever had
Some people tell me the worried blues ain't bad
Buddy, the worst old feelin', Lord, I ever had
Hmmm, I fold my arms, and I walked away
"That's all right, mama, your trouble will come someday"
SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS - I Put A Spell On You
Recorded also by Nina Simone, Nick Cave, Natasha Atlas and
many more …
 SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
mR81PGlBeqE&feature=related
 'I Put A Spell On You'. Nina
Simone (1968)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ORSzfw8FE-o&feature=related
 You know I cant stand it
You’re runnin’ around
You know better daddy
I cant stand it cause you put me
down
I put a spell on you
Because you’re mine
You’re mine
 I put a spell on you
cause you're mine
You better stop the things you do
I ain’t lyin’
No I ain’t lyin’
I love ya
I love you
I love you
I love you anyhow
And I don’t care
If you don't want me
I'm yours right now
You hear me
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine
I ain't superstitious – Willie Dixon 1962
recorded also by The Rolling Stones (1978)
 Well, I ain't superstitious, black cat
just cross my trail
Well, I ain't superstitious, oh the
black cat just cross my trail
Don't sweep me with no broom, I
might get put in jail
When my right hand itches, I gets
money for sure
When my right hand itches, I gets
money for sure
But, when my left eye jumps,
somebody's got to go
 (…)
 Well, the dogs are howlin, all over
the neighborhood
Whoa, the dogs are howlin, all over
the neighborhood
That is true sign of death, baby,
that ain't no good
Willie Dixon
(William James Dixon)
July 1, 1915 - Jan. 29, 1992
Skip James - Devil Got My Woman 1966
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2POWSnStU
 I'd rather be the devil, to be that woman man
I'd rather be the devil, to be that woman man
Aw, nothin' but the devil, changed my baby's mind
Was nothin' but the devil, changed my baby's mind
I laid down last night, laid down last night
I laid down last night, tried to take my rest
My mind got to ramblin', like a wild geese
From the west, from the west
The woman I love, woman that I loved
Woman I loved, took her from my best friend
But he got lucky, stoled her back again
And he got lucky, stoled her back again
Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
1968 Beggars Banquet
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
JpNoniDH6IY
 Please allow me to introduce
myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long
year
Stole many a mans soul and
faith
 Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a
change
 Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
 I rode a tank
And I was ‘round when Jesus
Christ
Had his moment of doubt and
pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his
fate
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
 Hope you guess my name, oh
yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
 While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the Kennedys?
 When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
 And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached
Bombay
(…)
 Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
 Just call me Lucifer
cause I'm in need of some
restraintSo if you meet me
Have some courtesy
 Have some sympathy, and some
taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
 Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um
yeah
Sympathy, The Master and Margarita
 Please allow me to introduce
myself, I'm a man of wealth
and taste
 These opening lines reflect
Jagger's direct inspiration by
The Master and Margarita,
with the book opening with the
similar
 "'Please excuse me,' he said,
speaking correctly, but with a
foreign accent, 'for presuming
to speak to you without an
introduction'"
 Richards suggested changing
the tempo and using additional
percussion
Bruce Sprinsteen – Youngtown
LP: The Gost of Tom Joad 1995
 Here in north east Ohio
Back in eighteen-o-three
James and Danny Heaton
Found the ore that was linin' yellow
creek
They built a blast furnace
Here along the shore
And they made the cannon balls
That helped the union win the
war
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown
 Kept 'em hotter than hell
I come home from 'Nam worked
my way to scarfer
A job that'd suit the devil as well
 Taconite, coke and limestone
Fed my children and made my pay
Then smokestacks reachin' like
the arms of god
Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay
 Well my daddy come on the 0hio
works
When he come home from world
war two
Now the yards just scrap and
rubble
He said, "hem big boys did what
Hitler couldn't do"
These mills they built the tanks and
bombs
Bruce Sprinsteen – Youngtown
LP: The Gost of Tom Joad 1995
 That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and
Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they
were dyin' for
 From the Monongaleh valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalacchia
The story's always the same
Seven-hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world's
changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
 When I die I don't want no part
of heaven
I would not do heavens work
well
I pray the devil comes and takes
me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of
hell
 The lyrics ego want to be punished
as Robert Johnson in Me and the
Devil blues
Bruce Springsteen - Devils and Dust 2005
 I got my finger on the trigger
But I don't know who to trust
When I look into your eyes
There's just devils and dust
We're a long, long way from home,
Bobbie
Home's a long, long way from us
I feel a dirty wind blowing
Devils and dust
I got God on my side
And I'm just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear's a powerful thing, baby
It can turn your heart black you can
trust
It'll take your God filled soul
And fill it with devils and dust
 Well I dreamed of you last night
In a field of blood and stone
The blood began to dry
The smell began to rise
Well I dreamed of you last night,
Bobbie
In a field of mud and bone
Your blood began to dry
And the smell began to rise
(…)
Now every woman and every
man
They wanna take a righteous
stand
Find the love that God wills
And the faith that He commands
I've got my finger on the trigger
And tonight faith just ain't enough
When I look inside my heart
There's just devils and dust
Iron Maiden
The number of the beast, 1982
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSPirTVKm9U&feature=related
 Woe to You Oh Earth and Sea
for the Devil sends the beast with wrath
because he knows the time is short
Let him who hath understanding
reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number
its number is six hundred and sixty six
I lived alone my mind was blank
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind
What did I see? Could I believe? That what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy
Just what I saw in my old dreams were they
reflections of my warped mind staring back at me?
The number of the beast, 1982
'Cause in my dreams it's always there
the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair - Yeah!
Night was black was no use holding back
'Cause I just had to see was someone watching me
In the mist dark figures move and twist
was all this for real or just some kind of hell
6-6-6 the Number of the Beast
Hell and fire was spawned to be released
Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised
as they start to cry hands held to the sky
In the night the fires burning bright
the ritual has begun Satan's work is done
The number of the beast, 1982
 666 the Number of the Beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight
This can't go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or some crazy dream
but I feel drawn towards the evil chanting hordes
they seem to mesmerize me...can't avoid their eyes
 666 the Number of the Beast
666 the one for you and me
I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take its course
The number of the beast
isn’t satanistic
 The texts tells about an inner
struggle against an evil power
 The theme is quite similar to the
Delta blues’ ones
Metallica: Loverman (Nick Cave)
LP: Garage Inc
 There's a devil waiting outside your
door
(How much longer)
There's a devil waiting outside
your door
It is bucking and braying and
pawing at the floor
And he's howling with pain and
crawling up the walls
 There's a devil waiting outside your
door
He's weak with evil and broken
by the world
He's shouting your name and he's
asking for more
There's a devil waiting outside your
door
 Forever, Amen Till end of time
Take off that
dress I'm coming down I'm your
loverman
Cause I am what I am what I am
what I am
 L is for LOVE, baby
O is for ONLY you that I do
V is for loving VIRTUALLY all that
you are
E is for loving almost
EVERYTHING that you do
R is for RAPE me
M is for MURDER me
A is for ANSWERING all of my
prayers
N is for KNOWING your loverman's
going to be the answer to all of
yours
Nick Cave: Loverman 1994
 I'll be your loverman!
 I got a masterplan
To take off your dress
 And be your man
Seize the throne Seize the mantle
Seize the crown
Cause I am what I am
What I am what I am I'm your
loverman!
There's a devil lying by your side
You might think he's asleep
but look at his eyes
He wants you, baby, to be his
bride
There's a devil lying by your side
Loverman! Loverman!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
y1WXVG7h0bM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
T4Tl18T38P4&feature=related
Metallica: Loverman (Nick Cave)
LP: Garage Inc
 Loverman! Till the bitter end
 There's a devil crawling along your
While empires burn down
 Forever and ever
and ever and ever
 Amen I'm your loverman
So help me, baby So help me
Cause I am what I am what I am
what I am
I'll be your loverman!
 There's a devil crawling along your
floor
There's a devil crawling along
your floor
With a trembling heart, he's
coming through your door
With his straining sex in his
jumping paw
floor
And he's old and he's stupid and
he's hungry and he's sore
And he's lame and he's blind
and he's dirty and he's poor
Give him more
 (…)
 I'll say it again
L is for LOVE, baby
O is for O yes I do
V is for VIRTUE, so I ain't gonna
hurt you
E is for EVEN if you want me to
R is for RENDER unto me, baby
M is for that which is MINE
A is for ANY old how, darling
N is for ANY old time
Skip James: He is a mighy good leader
 Skip James: He is a mighy good leader
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnapiTta51k&feature=related
John Lee Hooker & Santana - The Healer
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_8kkuekS5A&feature=related