Eric Clapton played lead guitar.
That's probably why this made Rolling Stone's list of the greatest songs of all time, because other than that, it's a pretty standard blues progression with unimpressive words. In fact, they might benefit from a little almost-style explanation:
I went down to the crossroads
Apparently, some of the streets in Los Angeles are not happy
Fell down on my knees
Fun Fact: Clapton filed a workman's compensation claim after recording this song
Asked the Lord above for mercy
"Save me if you please"
Sources are not convinced this was an authentic conversion experience
I went down to the crossroads
Tried to flag a ride
Cream bassist, Jack Bruce, attempted to be the starter for some street drag races
Nobody seemed to know me
Everybody passed me by
Being passed by cars had nothing to do with being unrecognized and everything to do with the fact he was standing in the middle of the road
I'm going down to Rosedale
An enclosed shopping mall in Roseville, Minnesota
Take my rider by my side
Talk-to-text technology misspelled this reference to going to the mall with his lyricist
You can still barrelhouse, baby
On the riverside
A veiled threat that if this song doesn't become a hit, the writer may return to being homeless and living in a large wooden cask next to a van down by the river
You can run, you can run
The person being sung to is able to rapidly move forward by foot
Tell my friend-boy Willie Brown
Coded message that is actually asking if the singer's boyfriend is planning on getting a tan
And I'm standing at the crossroads
Believe I'm sinking down
"I'm melting! Melting! What a world! What a world!"
No comments:
Post a Comment