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To Roben Johnson

Inspired bv the cover tI the King 01 the Delto Blues Singers olbulll, ond the great singer, who, littie mown in Iile, hos effected ,.,ery practi-

tioner tI the Iorm since.

Monday moming, weatherman said to watch for hail
Well it's Monday moming, weatherman said to watch for hail
I swear these blues knock vou so low, make a man crawl like a snail.

I go downtown, work all day to find a job
Well , go downtown, working all day to find a job
I'm a man so poor, ain't nothing way down in mv soul for to rob.

If , die tonight, "II ride to Heaven on a shooting star
" , die this night, ride to Heaven on a shooting star
And "II follow that star on down, if it don't make it that far.

Robert Johnson made it far,
Though neither the age in which he recorded (19~6-~7)
nor his age at death (twentv)
leave anv indication that he did.
But he made it as far from the Mississippi Delta
as mv room in Washngton, D.C.,
where he lies ftat on mv bed-
a dark black man perched in a stark white chair
and hunched over a guitar hell-fire red.
His lone figure is embedded in a background
the color 01 wet sand, and the whole
makes a drab, petfecf square image
in the center of mv bed.
And it is out of that drabness,
out of a sim~e and graceless life,
that there comes a voice
which speckles a gray wo~d with color
and depth.

Michael Terry

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