Löftenas land

så heter serien om migrationen från Mississippi till Chicago. Såg det andra avsnittet i kväll. Skitbra serie, tycker jag, för den ger en fyllig bakgrund till den svarta bluesmusikens texter och uttryck.

"Oh baby, don't you want to go
Back to the land of California, to my sweet home Chicago"
Sweet Home Chicago* (Robert Johnson)

För att ta sig mot friheten i norr kunde man ta ett godståg. Eller "the Peavine" till Memphis. Eller kanske lösa en biljett på "the Dog" (Greyhound bus). När "the Mason-Dixon line" passerades i Cairo, Illinois fick man sitta var man ville i bussen. I Chicago hamnade de flesta i South Side. En medverkande berättade att han hade 6 dollar i månaden som "house boy" på plantagen. I Chicago fick han jobb 30 minuter efter ankomsten och lönen var 25 dollar i veckan. Dessutom nekades de inte rösträtten! Chicago var "the Promised Land".

"I didn't need no steamheat by my bed
'Cause the girl I had kept me cherry red.
But I left that town. Yes, I left that town.
When I left out of S:t Louis. You know I was Chicago bound."
– Chicago Bound, Jimmy Rogers –

Chicagos dragningskraft var stor!

* "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.[2] Over the years the song has become one of the most popular anthems for the city of Chicago, Illinois, despite ambiguity in Johnson's original lyrics.

Johnson recorded the song during his first recording session in November 1936, and it was released on Vocalion Records (Recording Number 03601). He gives a stirring performance, with a driving guitar rythym and a high, near-falsetto vocal. It was a limited release race record, and was not a big-seller. The song's popularity grew only after Johnson's death in 1938.

Skriver Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Chicago