Song · Robert Johnson
“Cross Road Blues” by Robert Johnson
Released 1992
“Cross Road Blues” by Robert Johnson appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2001 and 2020. It was first released in 1992. Its best result is #14 on the WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,561 indie & aaa song of all time.
Robert Johnson wrote "Cross Road Blues", the song most people know as "Crossroads", and he cut it alone, just his voice and an acoustic slide guitar in the Delta style, making two takes on November 27, 1936. One came out as a single in 1937 and was heard mostly in the Delta; the other waited until 1961, when the compilation King of the Delta Blues Singers carried it to a wider audience during the folk revival.
The legend stuck to it anyway. Southern folklore marks the crossroads as the spot to strike a bargain with the Devil, and the song got folded into the myth of Johnson trading his soul for his genius, even though the words never mention Satan. It may have been in his repertoire as early as 1932, and it has long since hardened into a blues standard.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 14 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2012 | 226 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2020 | 1361 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
Also listed as: Crossroad Blues; Crossroads Blues.
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