Travelling Riverside Blues
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"Travelling Riverside Blues" is a
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
song written by the bluesman
Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...
. He recorded it on June 20, 1937, in Dallas, Texas, during his last recording session. The song was unreleased until its inclusion on the 1961 Johnson compilation album ''
King of the Delta Blues Singers ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' is a compilation album by American Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone ...
''.


Robert Johnson original version

Johnson's song has a typical
twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...
structure (though as is common in downhome blues of this era, the length of each verse is in fact thirteen-and-a-half bars of 4/4), played on a single guitar tuned to
open G Among alternative tunings for the guitar, an open G tuning is an open tuning that features the G-major chord; its open notes are selected from the notes of a G-major chord, such as the G-major triad (G,B,D). For example, a popular open-G tuning ...
, with a
slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
. An alternate version was recorded the same day (and was considered lost) but was finally released officially on the 1998 reissue of
King of the Delta Blues Singers ''King of the Delta Blues Singers'' is a compilation album by American Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone ...
.


Lyrics

The song is well known for the lyric "Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg", which was later used by
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
in their song "
The Lemon Song "Killing Floor" is a 1964 song by American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Howlin' Wolf. Called "one of the defining classics of Chicago electric blues", "Killing Floor" became a blues standard with recordings by various artists. It has ...
", from the album ''
Led Zeppelin II ''Led Zeppelin II'' is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place ...
''. It is likely that Johnson had taken this himself from a song recorded earlier that same year (1937) called "She Squeezed My Lemon", by
Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...
. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Triple J Music Specials - Led Zeppelin (first broadcast 2000-07-12)


Led Zeppelin version

English
rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
's version of this song was produced by John Walters at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
studios in Aeolian Hall on June 24, 1969 during the band's UK Tour of Summer 1969.
Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
dubbed extra guitar tracks onto the track (the main track being played on a 12-string electric guitar) and it was broadcast four days later on
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' show under the title "Travelling Riverside Blues '69",Dave Lewis (1994), ''The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin'', Omnibus Press, . and repeated on January 11, 1970. Page used an acoustic
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
for the entire song, while Bonham played triplets on the bass drum. It was interest from US radio interviewers and fans during Page's '' Outrider'' tour that originally led him to negotiate with BBC Enterprises for the song's release. A promotional video clip was also released in 1990, with out-take footage from the band's 1976
concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...
, '' The Song Remains the Same'' inter-spliced with other footage from the band's archive. The clip also features a railroad montage, and underwater shots of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. The song reached number seven on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Top Rock Tracks Top 50 chart in November 1990, culled from national album rock radio airplay reports. In Canada, it reached number 57 on the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' Top 100 Chart


See also

*
List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others In their career, the British rock band Led Zeppelin recorded many songs that consisted, in whole or part, of pre-existing songs, melodies, or lyrics. They sometimes credited those sources; sometimes not. The band has been sued a number of times ove ...


References


External links


"Travelling Riverside Blues" promo video at ledzeppelin.com
{{Authority control Blues songs 1937 songs Robert Johnson songs Songs written by Robert Johnson 1990 singles Led Zeppelin songs Songs written by Jimmy Page Songs written by Robert Plant Atlantic Records singles Hokum blues songs Song recordings produced by Don Law