Original 78 record labelbyReleasedAugust 1937 ( 1937-08)FormatRecordedNovember 23, 1936, San Antonio, TexasLength2: 59Robert Johnson' Sweet Home Chicago' is a first recorded by in 1936. Although he is often credited as the songwriter, several songs have been identified as precedents. The song has become a popular anthem for the city of Chicago despite ambiguity in Johnson's original lyrics. Numerous artists have interpreted the song in a variety of styles.All five of Chicago's sports teams have played the song at their games in one form or another. And it's hey, hey baby, baby don't you want to goBack to that eleven light city, back to sweet KokomoIn 1932, recorded 'Ko Ko Mo Blues,' with the same refrain, but included a counting line: 'One and two is three, four and five and six'. James Arnold laid claim to the song in 1933, styling himself and naming his version 'Old Original Kokomo Blues'. He later explained the song's references 'eleven light city' referred to a Chicago drugstore where a girlfriend worked and 'Koko' was their brand name of coffee.
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(using the sobriquet 'the Mississippi Mudder') changed the reference to Baltimore, Maryland, in 'Baltimore Blues'. This had more name recognition to the Southern blues audience than.Johnson's adaptation On November 23, 1936, in Room 414 of the in San Antonio, Texas, Robert Johnson recorded 'Sweet Home Chicago'. He changed the character of the song to one of aspirational migration, replacing 'back to Kokomo' with 'to Chicago', and replacing 'that eleven light city' with another migrational goal 'that land of California'.
'Sweet Home Chicago' is a popular blues standard in the twelve bar form. It was first recorded and is credited to have been written by Robert Johnson. Over the years the song has become one of the. Home Sweet Home Chicago with David Hochberg Saturdays 10am-noon HomeSweetHomeChicago. David Hochberg is Vice President of Lending for Team.
But I'm cryin' hey baby, Honey don't you want to goBack to the land of California, to my sweet home ChicagoJohnson sang this as the first verse and used it as the refrain. Otherwise, his verses retained the structure of Arnold's recording, with similar counting verses. Johnson succeeded in evoking an exotic modern place, far from the South, which is an amalgam of famous migration goals for African Americans leaving the South.
To later singers this contradictory location held more appeal than obscure Kokomo. 's 'Baby Don't You Want To Go' (1939) and 's 'Don't You Want To Go' (1941) were both based on Johnson's chorus. Later singers used Johnson's chorus and dropped the arithmetical verses.Johnson uses a driving guitar rhythm and a high, near-falsetto vocal for the song. His guitar accompaniment does not use Kokomo Arnold's style. Instead, he adapted the piano accompaniments of to 'Honey Dripper' and by to 'Red Cross' to guitar. 's 'Baby Don't You Love Me No More' (with Leroy Carr on piano and Scrapper Blackwell on guitar) shares the rhythmic approach and the feel of Johnson's initial two verses. Lyric interpretation The lyrics only obliquely refer to Chicago itself, in the song's refrain, where the song narrator pleads for a woman to go with him back to 'that land of California, to my sweet home Chicago'.
Indeed, California is mentioned in the song more than Chicago, both during this refrain and in one of the stanzas ('I'm goin' to California/ from there to Des Moines, Iowa'). These perplexing lyrics have been a source of controversy for many years. In the 1960s and 1970s, some commentators speculated this was a geographical mistake on Johnson's part. However, Johnson was a sophisticated songwriter and used geographical references in a number of his songs.One interpretation is that Johnson intended the song to be a metaphorical description of an imagined paradise combining elements of the American north and west, far from the and poverty inherent to the of 1936. Like Chicago, California was a common such destination in many -era songs, books, and movies. Music writer Max Haymes argues that Johnson's intention was 'the land of California or that sweet home Chicago'.
Another suggests it is a reference to Chicago's California Avenue, a thoroughfare that predates Johnson's recording and which runs from the far south to the far north side of the city.A more sophisticated and humorous interpretation (and one more consistent with all of the lyrics) has the narrator pressuring a woman to leave town with him for Chicago, but his blatant geographic ignorance reveals his attempt at deceit. Another explanation is that Johnson was conveying a trip across the country, as mentioned in the line, 'I'm going to California/from there to Des Moines, Iowa', and that the end destination was Chicago, Illinois, a state sharing borders with Iowa. Writer Alan Greenberg mentions that Johnson had a remote relative who lived in, which could add ambiguity as to which Chicago the lyrics are actually referring. Finally, using the same tune, Sam Montgomery sang of a land 'where the sweet old oranges grow' in a song by that name.
It is unclear whether the reference to oranges (a California cash crop) was corrective of Johnson's geographical confusion or reflective of an earlier song that Johnson changed.As the song grew to be a homage to Chicago, the original lyrics that refer to California were altered in most subsequent renditions. The line 'back to the land of California' is changed to 'back to the same old place', and the line 'I'm going to California' becomes 'I'm going back to Chicago'. This altered version dates to pianist. Legacy External video, joined by B.B. King and Barack Obama at the White House'Sweet Home Chicago' is a popular for professional and semi-professional musicians and numerous artists have recorded it in a variety of styles. Steve LaVere, the manager of Johnson's recording legacy, commented, 'It's like ' to the blues crowd'.In 1958, recorded the song as an upbeat ensemble shuffle, with harmonica accompaniment.
Released it as a single, which reached number 13 on the. Duke included a songwriting credit for, who recorded the song as 'Sweet Old Chicago' in 1955. Neither Sykes nor Parker included a reference to California, a practice that is followed by subsequent performers.On February 21, 2012, and hosted, 'In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues', a celebration of blues music held in the East Room of the White House. President Obama began by describing the origins of blues in the South and added 'The music migrated north – from Mississippi Delta to Memphis to my hometown in Chicago'. Later, encouraged by and, he joined in singing the first verse of 'Sweet Home Chicago'. ^ Knopper, Steve (May 30, 2002).
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