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Hellhound On My Trail Lyrics
I got to keep movin'
I got to keep movin'
blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
Umm mmm mmm mmm
blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
And the days keeps on worryin' me
there's a hellhound on my trail
hellhound on my trail
hellhound on my trail
If today was Christmas Eve
If today was Christmas Eve
and tomorrow was Christmas Day
If today was Christmas Eve
and tomorrow was Christmas Day
spoken: Aow, wouldn't we have a time, baby?
All I would need my little sweet rider just
to pass the time away, huh huh
to pass the time away
You sprinkled hot foot powder, mmm
mmm, around my door
all around my door
You sprinkled hot foot powder
all around your daddy's door, hmm hmm hmm
It keep me with ramblin' mind, rider
every old place I go
every old place I go
I can tell the wind is risin'
the leaves tremblin' on the tree
Tremblin' on the tree
I can tell the wind is risin'
leaves tremblin' on the tree
hmm hmm hmm mmm
All I need's my little sweet woman
and to keep my company, hey hey hey hey
my company
blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
blues fallin' down like hail
hellhound on my trail
hellhound on my trail
and tomorrow was Christmas Day
spoken: Aow, wouldn't we have a time, baby?
to pass the time away
all around my door
every old place I go
Tremblin' on the tree
hmm hmm hmm mmm
my company
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"gotta keep moving blues falling down like hail" It was said that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads, this line probably means that he's running from the devil.
The "Christmas" lines mean that he wants to spend time with a special girl, perhaps?
The "Hot Food Powder" could mean Salt around his door, preventing the Devil to enter the house. "It keep me with ramblin' mind, rider. Every old place I go" means that the devil is always around, waiting to kill him. It always keeps his mind "Ramblin'" because he can't always bring salt everywhere!
"I can tell the wind is risin'. Leaves tremblin' on the tree." line means that the Devil is approaching, causing a stir outside! "All I need's my little sweet woman to keep my company." means that he wants the spend the final moments of his life, with his little sweet women.
@NoahRose Thank you, this was the level of interpretation required for an artist of Robert Johnsons' history and demograpic.
@NoahRose Thank you, this was the level of interpretation required for an artist of Robert Johnsons' history and demograpic.
means he has to live his life to the fullest because when he dies it is all over. great song
There is an old term "nv'r-do-well" that refered to men who for one reason or another alway find themselves in dire situations. They usually live transient lives, that often include past enemies or debts that could one day catch up to them.
Often, others will recognize these traits in a person. Thus the saying "trouble follows him around". Some of these men at some point recognize the cycle in their lives. When they do they adopt a life-style where they don't try to plant roots or plan for the future. When they arrive at a new home it is not with the intention of it being temporary; but the suspect something will eventually cause them to have to leave. It doesn't have to be their fault; it could lost job; cultural bias; addiction, depressions, even being duped.
These are the elements that would define a person as 'having a hellhound on their trail'. It is worse than just having a string of bad luck. General bad luck wounds the individual. Having a hellhound on ones trail ponders seemingly random string of life destroying events.
The hellhound is a what some would call being cursed. This line of belief fits with the lore of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil (where fugitively or literally.)
Given that Johnson, and many of his peers, traveled in circles that placed some weight in the powers of the occult; and that because of his lifestyle (described above) he was likely repeatedly told that he was going to hell; the meaning of his lyrics [for me] fall neatly into place.
WOOT! 1st post on one of my favrite blues songs!
amazing.
Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the artistry of the guitar. He had a consistent fear of Satan coming to claim his eternal soul. fyi, Hot foot powder is some magical thing associated with Hoodoo. I'm not sure what tho exactly.
"The malevolent use of Hot Foot Powder in the South during the 1930s is attested to by no less an authority than the Mississippi Delta blues singer Robert Johnson. In his haunting anthem, "Hellhound on My Trail," Johnson attributes his doomed and restless life to the fact that a woman has barred him from her family home by sprinkling Hot Foot Powder around the door. Whether or not this was literally the case, it is a fact that Johnson never settled long in one locale." ~ catherine yronwode at http://www.luckymojo.com/hotfoot.html
"The malevolent use of Hot Foot Powder in the South during the 1930s is attested to by no less an authority than the Mississippi Delta blues singer Robert Johnson. In his haunting anthem, "Hellhound on My Trail," Johnson attributes his doomed and restless life to the fact that a woman has barred him from her family home by sprinkling Hot Foot Powder around the door. Whether or not this was literally the case, it is a fact that Johnson never settled long in one locale." ~ catherine yronwode at http://www.luckymojo.com/hotfoot.html
all of his songs that he wrote and sang was related to that night when he made a deal with the devil
Is the theory that he sold his soul to the devil based on something other than an episode of Supernatural?
@soullessbunny It is my understanding (Though I may be rwrong) that it was an idea he pushed along with his friends to add mystery to him and improve his marketing. (Come see the man who sold his soul to be the best guitar player in the world!) Supernatural go the idea from that.
@soullessbunny It is my understanding (Though I may be rwrong) that it was an idea he pushed along with his friends to add mystery to him and improve his marketing. (Come see the man who sold his soul to be the best guitar player in the world!) Supernatural go the idea from that.
Anyone who dwell so deeply into a meaning to an song and forget the one most important thing, a person can't sale something that doesn't belong to them. Freewheel belongs to you, the ability to see right from wrong belong to you, being able to determine your life goals belong to you, but your Soul belongs to God, and for you to sale, trade or bargain with. Your soul is the property of God that's the one reason why some angles refused to worship humans, is because God gave humans something that was no bestowed to them. A Soul.....so it's not for humans to sale.
The first stanza (6 lines) means that the Devil is keeping track of him in order to collect his debt when the time comes. He wants to hide in Isfahan. (As in The Gardener and Death by the Dutch poet P.N. van Eyck.)
Christmas Eve is Saturday; and Christmas Day is Sunday.
It's hare's foot powder, a voodoo charm.
Baby and Daddy form a couple. Perhaps Baby changed the lock on the door. (So much trouble by Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.)
The wind is rising: the leaves trembling on the tree. That's Beaufort 3. A physical description.