Chords for Alleged Video Footage Of Robert Johnson
Tempo:
124.3 bpm
Chords used:
E
Gm
C
Ab
G
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Db] [N] Some months ago, allegedly there was found a short piece of film footage that purportedly
showed Robert Johnson on film.
And this particular piece of film, this archival piece of film, was something that stirred,
to say the least, the emotions and the curiosity and the interest of blue scholars all around the world.
There had been a lot of rumor about this particular piece of film.
There had been a lot of speculation about it.
There'd been a lot of excitement about it.
Okay, Steve, if you would take over.
Sure.
A Memphis shopkeeper named Leo Taterred Allred is the person that brought this film to everyone's attention.
And he did it in such a way that it cast a great deal of mystery upon who it was and
where it came from.
He reported that the original film no longer existed, that he had a snippet on video, and
he wouldn't show it to me and never did show it to me.
I had to find this film on my own.
But I was very curious about it, representing the estate of Robert Johnson.
Quite naturally, if it was Robert Johnson, I wanted to know about it.
My grandmother ran this theater that Mr.
Jackson had there, Mr.
Bill Jackson.
[F] The way this film came [Gm] about was some friends of mine bought the theater back in the early
70s, and they ran it.
And they opened the canisters, the duras from Arruval, some of you guys may know them, and
supposedly spliced them together.
Some of them died as they opened them up, and they spliced a lot of them together.
Later on in this footage, there were football highlights.
It was just stuff that was shot in Arruval, Mississippi, for many years.
But there were all kinds of stuff.
Then it was donated to the University of Mississippi.
From there, I just took a feel of it, and we started looking at it.
Everybody has their own idea of who it might be.
But [E] obviously, no one knows for sure.
[C] You showed it to [Ab] Jimmy Page and Robert Plant because I think they were [C] quoted in the London
Times article that I mentioned before regarding this.
What did they think of it?
I'm just curious.
They were very amazed at the finger work, of the guitar work on them.
There's been a lot of folks that have seen it.
I offered to show it to anybody who wanted to look at it.
I never could see it and didn't see it until a friend of mine in the Mississippi Delta
[E] offered me the true story behind this film.
It was taken, or sponsored at least, by a man who owned a theater in Arruval, Mississippi,
and took this film to be able to show back to his audience whenever they happened to
come to the theater.
You go to watch a movie of your choice, and between films, if it were a double feature
or whatever, you could watch yourself on screen.
He made a colored hometown movie, and he made a white hometown movie.
Depending upon the audience that he had in the theater that day, that's the film he'd show.
People were encouraged to come and have a look at this film and see themselves on screen.
That's how this came about.
That was a typical Friday, Saturday night in Arruval, Mississippi, all the way up until
say early 70s.
Mr.
Jackson.
Mr.
Jackson shot a lot of the film footage.
My grandmother shot a lot of the film footage.
Other people there shot the film footage.
It was [Gm] just a small country town.
He was fortunate enough to have a camera.
He went out and tried to capture what was there in the city at that time.
The big question, [N] of course, who is that guy?
That's what we want to know.
It's remarkable footage, whoever it is, because we don't have footage of Delta Bluesmen performing
from anything remotely like that early.
Plus, we have amazing footage of the street in Ruleville, a busy street scene from Saturday afternoon.
What you see that shows it was from 1942 is a movie poster for a movie that came out in December of 1941.
This is the film, Blues in the Night, that is in the background.
You'll see in a moment, if you notice, the two stills.
The individual that shot the film was the man on the right there.
Look at the yellow frame up on the left, and then the yellow frame in the center.
It will show them together.
See it up in the left, and then together you can see that the stills are the same.
It's the same movie that was released in December of 1941.
I went to Ruleville and researched Twin Blues in [Gm] the Night, played at the Delta Theater.
It was January 29th and 30th, 1942.
[E] That's Friday and Saturday.
Friday being a working day, [Bb] this is obviously not a working day for these people.
This is a film from January 30th, 1942.
[E] Johnson died August 16th, [Gm] 1938.
[A] Any idea who this could be?
None whatsoever.
[N] Robert Lockwood is in the audience.
Robert, any ideas?
[Abm] What I've seen don't look like [Gm] Robert to me.
Does the musician look like anyone you would know?
Elmore James?
I knew Elmore James very good.
Does that look like him?
[N] No.
You can't play the guitar?
No.
No.
I had [E] to ask you.
[G] It was told to me that you had seen this film earlier,
and that you thought it was, and that Honey Boy thought it was, and a few other [Ab] musicians.
You're telling me you told a [E] lie.
You know, we have another very distinguished bluesman in here.
I think Henry [Em] Townsend is here.
Is that right?
Maybe we can hear it.
Henry, [E] do you want to comment on this film?
Do you need to say anything [Gm] about it?
It's not, I mean, it's the same as Robert Lockwood.
It is not Robert Johnson.
My philosophy all along has been, is it is or is it ain't, I don't know.
You guys will know.
The devil is the only one who maybe knows for sure, you know?
[N] It is, of course, not Robert Johnson.
But it does look like Robert Johnson in certain ways.
Robert Lockwood last night said,
I don't care how many times you look at this film,
it ain't never going to be Robert Johnson.
[G] [Cm] So that's the final word on the subject as far as I'm concerned.
[N]
showed Robert Johnson on film.
And this particular piece of film, this archival piece of film, was something that stirred,
to say the least, the emotions and the curiosity and the interest of blue scholars all around the world.
There had been a lot of rumor about this particular piece of film.
There had been a lot of speculation about it.
There'd been a lot of excitement about it.
Okay, Steve, if you would take over.
Sure.
A Memphis shopkeeper named Leo Taterred Allred is the person that brought this film to everyone's attention.
And he did it in such a way that it cast a great deal of mystery upon who it was and
where it came from.
He reported that the original film no longer existed, that he had a snippet on video, and
he wouldn't show it to me and never did show it to me.
I had to find this film on my own.
But I was very curious about it, representing the estate of Robert Johnson.
Quite naturally, if it was Robert Johnson, I wanted to know about it.
My grandmother ran this theater that Mr.
Jackson had there, Mr.
Bill Jackson.
[F] The way this film came [Gm] about was some friends of mine bought the theater back in the early
70s, and they ran it.
And they opened the canisters, the duras from Arruval, some of you guys may know them, and
supposedly spliced them together.
Some of them died as they opened them up, and they spliced a lot of them together.
Later on in this footage, there were football highlights.
It was just stuff that was shot in Arruval, Mississippi, for many years.
But there were all kinds of stuff.
Then it was donated to the University of Mississippi.
From there, I just took a feel of it, and we started looking at it.
Everybody has their own idea of who it might be.
But [E] obviously, no one knows for sure.
[C] You showed it to [Ab] Jimmy Page and Robert Plant because I think they were [C] quoted in the London
Times article that I mentioned before regarding this.
What did they think of it?
I'm just curious.
They were very amazed at the finger work, of the guitar work on them.
There's been a lot of folks that have seen it.
I offered to show it to anybody who wanted to look at it.
I never could see it and didn't see it until a friend of mine in the Mississippi Delta
[E] offered me the true story behind this film.
It was taken, or sponsored at least, by a man who owned a theater in Arruval, Mississippi,
and took this film to be able to show back to his audience whenever they happened to
come to the theater.
You go to watch a movie of your choice, and between films, if it were a double feature
or whatever, you could watch yourself on screen.
He made a colored hometown movie, and he made a white hometown movie.
Depending upon the audience that he had in the theater that day, that's the film he'd show.
People were encouraged to come and have a look at this film and see themselves on screen.
That's how this came about.
That was a typical Friday, Saturday night in Arruval, Mississippi, all the way up until
say early 70s.
Mr.
Jackson.
Mr.
Jackson shot a lot of the film footage.
My grandmother shot a lot of the film footage.
Other people there shot the film footage.
It was [Gm] just a small country town.
He was fortunate enough to have a camera.
He went out and tried to capture what was there in the city at that time.
The big question, [N] of course, who is that guy?
That's what we want to know.
It's remarkable footage, whoever it is, because we don't have footage of Delta Bluesmen performing
from anything remotely like that early.
Plus, we have amazing footage of the street in Ruleville, a busy street scene from Saturday afternoon.
What you see that shows it was from 1942 is a movie poster for a movie that came out in December of 1941.
This is the film, Blues in the Night, that is in the background.
You'll see in a moment, if you notice, the two stills.
The individual that shot the film was the man on the right there.
Look at the yellow frame up on the left, and then the yellow frame in the center.
It will show them together.
See it up in the left, and then together you can see that the stills are the same.
It's the same movie that was released in December of 1941.
I went to Ruleville and researched Twin Blues in [Gm] the Night, played at the Delta Theater.
It was January 29th and 30th, 1942.
[E] That's Friday and Saturday.
Friday being a working day, [Bb] this is obviously not a working day for these people.
This is a film from January 30th, 1942.
[E] Johnson died August 16th, [Gm] 1938.
[A] Any idea who this could be?
None whatsoever.
[N] Robert Lockwood is in the audience.
Robert, any ideas?
[Abm] What I've seen don't look like [Gm] Robert to me.
Does the musician look like anyone you would know?
Elmore James?
I knew Elmore James very good.
Does that look like him?
[N] No.
You can't play the guitar?
No.
No.
I had [E] to ask you.
[G] It was told to me that you had seen this film earlier,
and that you thought it was, and that Honey Boy thought it was, and a few other [Ab] musicians.
You're telling me you told a [E] lie.
You know, we have another very distinguished bluesman in here.
I think Henry [Em] Townsend is here.
Is that right?
Maybe we can hear it.
Henry, [E] do you want to comment on this film?
Do you need to say anything [Gm] about it?
It's not, I mean, it's the same as Robert Lockwood.
It is not Robert Johnson.
My philosophy all along has been, is it is or is it ain't, I don't know.
You guys will know.
The devil is the only one who maybe knows for sure, you know?
[N] It is, of course, not Robert Johnson.
But it does look like Robert Johnson in certain ways.
Robert Lockwood last night said,
I don't care how many times you look at this film,
it ain't never going to be Robert Johnson.
[G] [Cm] So that's the final word on the subject as far as I'm concerned.
[N]
Key:
E
Gm
C
Ab
G
E
Gm
C
[Db] _ _ _ _ _ [N] Some months ago, allegedly there was found a short piece of film footage that purportedly
showed Robert Johnson on film.
And this particular piece of film, this archival piece of film, was something that stirred,
to say the least, the emotions and the curiosity and the interest of blue scholars all around the world.
There had been a lot of rumor about this particular piece of film.
There had been a lot of speculation about it.
There'd been a lot of excitement about it.
Okay, Steve, if you would take over.
Sure.
_ _ A Memphis shopkeeper named Leo Taterred Allred is the person that brought this film to everyone's attention.
And he did it in such a way that it cast a great deal of mystery upon who it was and
where it came from.
_ He reported that the original film no longer existed, _ _ _ that he had a snippet on video, and
he wouldn't show it to me and never did show it to me.
I had to find this film on my own. _
_ But I was very curious about it, representing the estate of Robert Johnson.
Quite naturally, if it was Robert Johnson, I wanted to know about it.
My grandmother ran this theater that Mr.
Jackson had there, Mr.
Bill Jackson.
[F] The way this film came [Gm] about was some friends of mine bought the theater back in the early
70s, and they ran it.
And they opened the canisters, the duras from Arruval, some of you guys may know them, and
supposedly spliced them together.
Some of them died as they opened them up, and they spliced a lot of them together.
_ Later on in this footage, there were football highlights.
It was just stuff that was shot in Arruval, Mississippi, for many years.
But there were all kinds of stuff.
Then it was donated to the University of Mississippi.
From there, I just took a feel of it, and we started looking at it.
Everybody has their own idea of who it might be.
_ But [E] obviously, no one knows for sure.
[C] You showed it to [Ab] Jimmy Page and Robert Plant because I think they were [C] quoted in the London
Times article that I mentioned before regarding this.
What did they think of it?
I'm just curious.
They were very amazed at the finger work, _ of the guitar work on them.
_ There's been a lot of folks that have seen it.
I offered to show it to anybody who wanted to look at it.
I never could see it and didn't see it until a friend of mine in the Mississippi Delta
_ [E] offered me the true story behind this film.
It was taken, or _ sponsored at least, by a man who owned a theater in Arruval, Mississippi,
and took this film to be able to show back to his audience whenever they happened to
come to the theater.
You go to watch a movie of your choice, and between _ films, if it were a double feature
or whatever, you could watch yourself on screen.
He made a colored hometown movie, and he made a white hometown movie.
Depending upon the audience that he had in the theater that day, that's the film he'd show. _
People were encouraged to come and have a look at this film and see themselves on screen.
That's how this came about.
That was a typical Friday, Saturday night in Arruval, Mississippi, all the way up until
say _ early 70s.
Mr.
Jackson.
Mr.
Jackson shot a lot of the film footage.
My grandmother shot a lot of the film footage.
Other people there shot the film footage.
It was [Gm] just a small country town.
He was fortunate enough to have a camera.
_ He went out and tried to capture what was there in the city at that time.
The big question, [N] of course, who is that guy?
That's what we want to know.
It's remarkable footage, whoever it is, because we don't have footage of Delta Bluesmen performing
_ from anything remotely like that early.
Plus, we have amazing footage of the street in Ruleville, a busy street scene from Saturday afternoon.
What you see that shows it was from 1942 is a movie poster for a movie that came out in December of 1941.
This is the film, Blues in the Night, that _ _ is in the background.
You'll see in a moment, if you notice, the two stills.
The individual that shot the film was the man on the right there.
Look at the yellow frame up on the left, _ _ _ _ _ _ and then the yellow frame in the center. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ It will show them together.
_ _ See it up in the left, _ and then together you can see that the stills are the same.
It's the same movie that was released in December of 1941.
I went to Ruleville and researched Twin Blues in [Gm] the Night, _ _ played at the Delta Theater.
It was January 29th and 30th, 1942.
[E] _ _ That's Friday and Saturday.
_ Friday being a working day, _ [Bb] this is obviously not a working day for these people.
This is a film from January 30th, 1942. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] Johnson died August 16th, [Gm] 1938.
[A] Any idea who this could be?
None whatsoever.
[N] Robert Lockwood is in the audience.
Robert, any ideas?
[Abm] What I've seen don't look like [Gm] Robert to me.
Does the musician look like anyone you would know?
_ Elmore James?
I knew Elmore James very good.
Does that look like him?
[N] No.
You can't play the guitar?
No. _ _ _ _
No.
I had [E] to ask you.
_ [G] _ It was told to me that you had seen this film earlier,
and that you thought it was, and that Honey Boy thought it was, and a few other [Ab] musicians.
You're telling me you told a [E] lie.
You know, _ we have another very distinguished bluesman in here.
I think Henry [Em] Townsend is here.
Is that right?
Maybe we can hear it.
Henry, [E] do you want to comment on this film?
Do you need to say anything [Gm] about it? _
It's not, I mean, it's the same as Robert Lockwood.
It is not Robert Johnson.
_ My philosophy all along has been, is it is or is it ain't, I don't know.
You guys will know.
The devil is the only one who maybe knows for sure, you know?
[N] It is, of course, not Robert Johnson. _
But it does look like Robert Johnson in certain ways.
Robert Lockwood last night said,
I don't care how many times you look at this film,
it ain't never going to be Robert Johnson. _ _ _
[G] _ _ [Cm] _ So that's the final word on the subject as far as _ I'm concerned.
[N] _ _
showed Robert Johnson on film.
And this particular piece of film, this archival piece of film, was something that stirred,
to say the least, the emotions and the curiosity and the interest of blue scholars all around the world.
There had been a lot of rumor about this particular piece of film.
There had been a lot of speculation about it.
There'd been a lot of excitement about it.
Okay, Steve, if you would take over.
Sure.
_ _ A Memphis shopkeeper named Leo Taterred Allred is the person that brought this film to everyone's attention.
And he did it in such a way that it cast a great deal of mystery upon who it was and
where it came from.
_ He reported that the original film no longer existed, _ _ _ that he had a snippet on video, and
he wouldn't show it to me and never did show it to me.
I had to find this film on my own. _
_ But I was very curious about it, representing the estate of Robert Johnson.
Quite naturally, if it was Robert Johnson, I wanted to know about it.
My grandmother ran this theater that Mr.
Jackson had there, Mr.
Bill Jackson.
[F] The way this film came [Gm] about was some friends of mine bought the theater back in the early
70s, and they ran it.
And they opened the canisters, the duras from Arruval, some of you guys may know them, and
supposedly spliced them together.
Some of them died as they opened them up, and they spliced a lot of them together.
_ Later on in this footage, there were football highlights.
It was just stuff that was shot in Arruval, Mississippi, for many years.
But there were all kinds of stuff.
Then it was donated to the University of Mississippi.
From there, I just took a feel of it, and we started looking at it.
Everybody has their own idea of who it might be.
_ But [E] obviously, no one knows for sure.
[C] You showed it to [Ab] Jimmy Page and Robert Plant because I think they were [C] quoted in the London
Times article that I mentioned before regarding this.
What did they think of it?
I'm just curious.
They were very amazed at the finger work, _ of the guitar work on them.
_ There's been a lot of folks that have seen it.
I offered to show it to anybody who wanted to look at it.
I never could see it and didn't see it until a friend of mine in the Mississippi Delta
_ [E] offered me the true story behind this film.
It was taken, or _ sponsored at least, by a man who owned a theater in Arruval, Mississippi,
and took this film to be able to show back to his audience whenever they happened to
come to the theater.
You go to watch a movie of your choice, and between _ films, if it were a double feature
or whatever, you could watch yourself on screen.
He made a colored hometown movie, and he made a white hometown movie.
Depending upon the audience that he had in the theater that day, that's the film he'd show. _
People were encouraged to come and have a look at this film and see themselves on screen.
That's how this came about.
That was a typical Friday, Saturday night in Arruval, Mississippi, all the way up until
say _ early 70s.
Mr.
Jackson.
Mr.
Jackson shot a lot of the film footage.
My grandmother shot a lot of the film footage.
Other people there shot the film footage.
It was [Gm] just a small country town.
He was fortunate enough to have a camera.
_ He went out and tried to capture what was there in the city at that time.
The big question, [N] of course, who is that guy?
That's what we want to know.
It's remarkable footage, whoever it is, because we don't have footage of Delta Bluesmen performing
_ from anything remotely like that early.
Plus, we have amazing footage of the street in Ruleville, a busy street scene from Saturday afternoon.
What you see that shows it was from 1942 is a movie poster for a movie that came out in December of 1941.
This is the film, Blues in the Night, that _ _ is in the background.
You'll see in a moment, if you notice, the two stills.
The individual that shot the film was the man on the right there.
Look at the yellow frame up on the left, _ _ _ _ _ _ and then the yellow frame in the center. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ It will show them together.
_ _ See it up in the left, _ and then together you can see that the stills are the same.
It's the same movie that was released in December of 1941.
I went to Ruleville and researched Twin Blues in [Gm] the Night, _ _ played at the Delta Theater.
It was January 29th and 30th, 1942.
[E] _ _ That's Friday and Saturday.
_ Friday being a working day, _ [Bb] this is obviously not a working day for these people.
This is a film from January 30th, 1942. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] Johnson died August 16th, [Gm] 1938.
[A] Any idea who this could be?
None whatsoever.
[N] Robert Lockwood is in the audience.
Robert, any ideas?
[Abm] What I've seen don't look like [Gm] Robert to me.
Does the musician look like anyone you would know?
_ Elmore James?
I knew Elmore James very good.
Does that look like him?
[N] No.
You can't play the guitar?
No. _ _ _ _
No.
I had [E] to ask you.
_ [G] _ It was told to me that you had seen this film earlier,
and that you thought it was, and that Honey Boy thought it was, and a few other [Ab] musicians.
You're telling me you told a [E] lie.
You know, _ we have another very distinguished bluesman in here.
I think Henry [Em] Townsend is here.
Is that right?
Maybe we can hear it.
Henry, [E] do you want to comment on this film?
Do you need to say anything [Gm] about it? _
It's not, I mean, it's the same as Robert Lockwood.
It is not Robert Johnson.
_ My philosophy all along has been, is it is or is it ain't, I don't know.
You guys will know.
The devil is the only one who maybe knows for sure, you know?
[N] It is, of course, not Robert Johnson. _
But it does look like Robert Johnson in certain ways.
Robert Lockwood last night said,
I don't care how many times you look at this film,
it ain't never going to be Robert Johnson. _ _ _
[G] _ _ [Cm] _ So that's the final word on the subject as far as _ I'm concerned.
[N] _ _