Wicked Guitar Solo of the West: The 409th Greatest Song of All Time

 

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!"