Yeah, the train left the station, it had two lights on behind. Well, the blue light was my baby and the red light was my mind. All my love's in vain.
Amazingly, the enigmatic, nigh mythical, Daddy of the Blues, Robert Johnson built his enormous legacy on the strength of just two recording sessions from 1936 and 1937. He actually only cut a total of 41 recordings in all (29 individual songs plus 12 alternate takes) during his brief time on this mortal coil. Each one though a treasured classic and of immeasurable influence on future generations of artists; and indeed on future music genres!
One of the finest such tracks, the minimalist dark masterpiece "Love In Vain" was apparently written for his departed erstwhile lover, one Willie Mae Powell (the chick Rob moans "Oh, Willie Mae" for in the final verse here!)
Robert cut this - and another slightly different version - of "Love In Vain" at the quaintly named
Blue Bonnet Hotel in San Antonio, Texas way way back in 1936!
"Love In Vain" is a song that in many ways stands as the Blues template! All the key components are here ... gorgeous guitar, sparseness, heartbreak, pain, poetry, soul, verisimilitude ... and a train!!
Yap, this sublime slice of Blues is a powerful song that reaches the aphoristic and nihilistic conclusion: "It's hard to tell, but all true love's in vain"!
The train's about to leave the station, with the singer's loved one on board. He's followed her there, lumping her luggage (and no doubt pleading with her endlessly on the way to please, please stay!) He now, though, faces the sickening sight of watching her disappear forever, literally and figuratively, before his very eyes.
When the train approaches, all he can do is look "her in the eye" and cry. He's distraught, heartbroken. He knows for certain that she doesn't love him, but he still does not understand exactly why, since he's enrapt in her so much. But all his love has been in vain!
Yap, she's on a train and that train is trundling out! She's gone and all he's got is heartbreak.
The two lights on the back of the departing train further reveal his thunderous emotions. One light is blue and the other is red. The blue light symbolises his depression at their separation ("the blue light was my baby"), while the red light symbolises his raging anger at this situation ("the red light was my mind.")
The lines about the train lights are immediately followed by the critical summation "All my love's in vain"! All of which indicates his intense anger with loving people and failing to receive love in return.
Furthermore, the blue and red lights on the departing train are a metaphor for the reality that his emotions and his mind are being taken away from him - they're leaving along with his soul mate on the very same train!
Essentially, as the result of this love and its rejection, he's now lost his emotions and his mind! Now he knows the world's a cruel place! It's one where he's isolated - physically alone and emotionally abandoned also.
Even worse, if all his love has been in vain, perhaps his entire life has been in vain too!
His life's now boiled down to this .... tearfully standing alone in a chasm, watching the ass-end of a departing train that's taking everything important he's ever had - or indeed may ever have - far, far, far, forever away!
Yap, this song's a real thing. A raw, bullshit-free, slice of verite! A song buried neck deep in dark realities.
Just as life is more than a tad peppered with melancholia and sadness, this song is too. However, it's not a song that celebrates sadness or wallows in self pity. It's a song that delves into the centuries-old, soulful expression of sadness through art - what Lorca called
duende - an depiction of the darkness that can become in fact a thing of catharsis. One that, just as it helped Johnson through his pain, can too perhaps, for a rare moment, soothe somewhat the sorrowed soul of the attentive audience.
There's an explosive excitement in the air which rings loud and clear in today's popular music. Young composers are creating songs which carry meaning and lasting power. Many of these songs are sung with soul and understanding, but as we concentrate on the lyrics, we may perchance, shy away from enjoying the melodies.
+Tony+Richardson.jpg)
Posts
