What is it about the old blues song Crossroads, written by Robert Johnson in 1936? Actually, Robert Johnson wrote Cross Roads Blues which was later recorded by Cream as Crossroads. At that point it became the consummate guitar player's song.
Some of the lyrics are:
Standin' at the crossroad, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by
These lines recall a time when if you were hitchhiking at a main intersection of your town, the cross roads, the people driving by were bound to recognize you as the population of the town just wasn't that big. Maybe the hitcher's problem was that he was recognized, that's why everybody passed him by.
A few years ago I went up to San Jose to hear my friend Paul Keller's band Hush play at the Strawberry Festival. They performed on an outdoor stage with other bands. I saw the band that came on right before them and they played Crossroads in a style similar to the Cream version but more as a basic Blues song. Then Hush played it in their set exactly like Cream, including Clapton's iconic solo. The band that followed them also played it in a Reggae style. Three bands, all playing Crossroads. Why?
It's really a very basic Blues tune that has been done a million times, three times by three different bands in the time I spent watching. What is the appeal? My friend, singer-songwriter Jerry Strull, even does a Bluesy version in his solo acoustic set. I don't get it. Sure, it helped launch a whole Blues style of music but it's just the first in a long history of cliche blues tunes. I could see a rock band like Hush doing it as a cover of the Cream song if they could do it exactly like the Cream version, which they do, but otherwise, it's just not that interesting.
Crossroads has apparently become the Louie Louie of Hard Rock songs. I don't know why.
You comment is posted now Dave. Thanks.
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