Chords for Scott Ainslie: "The Walkin' Blues" (Robert Johnson)

_ _ _ _ _ A lot of the rhythms that we listen to in rock and roll and country music and heavy
metal come out of work song traditions.
There's a song for everything in Africa, for carrying water, for pounding corn, for
every physical activity has a song that goes with it.
They sing throughout the day and work songs became, of course, a part of black southern
life as well.
[A] _ _ _ But if we're [N] chopping logs or driving railroad spikes, any kind of overhanging swing motion,
overhead swing motion, _ usually the work would lie between us.
And I, so if I have an axe, you've got an axe, you're standing about five feet in front of me. _
_ And I swing my axe right through the middle of the plane of your body and sink it into
the log, break it, get my head, hands, and tool out of your way, and then you do the same thing.
It's insanely dangerous.
_ _ But this was the fastest way to get the work done and one more dead black person in the
south wasn't a big deal.
So _ this was the way work proceeded and the slaves figured it out right away and later
criminals, the convicts, not necessarily criminals, they were just confined, _ _ in the
prison work farms across the south, they figured out, you know, we need to sing.
So there's a way to speed the work up or slow it down.
You can pace it.
But also you can know in the song where the next axe is going to fall because you can
hear it in the beat of the song.
And these evolved into what are known as axe or chopping songs where the downbeat of each
measure, the first beat, beat number one, and you sing the pickups, two, three, four.
These songs are built like this.
Take this hammer and carry it to the captain.
Take this hammer and carry it to the captain.
Take this hammer and carry it to the captain.
Tell him I'm gone, boy, tell him I'm gone. _ _
Turns out that every white man who came home from the Civil War was a captain. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ But this way of building songs moved up into rock and roll.
_ _ On the [F] shoulders of one particular song, Sunhouse recorded [G] a version of this song, the first
[N] version, called My Black Mama in 1932.
_ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
In his last recording session, _ [G#] Robert Johnson recorded it as the walk-in blues.
And in this song you can hear the vestiges of [N] this old work song rhythm where the downbeat's
empty, but also the roots of rock and roll.
It's like _ _ [A] _ _ _ [Am] it's_
I woke up this morning, _ feel around for my shoes.
Know by that I got this old rock and [D] blues.
This morning, _ I [Am] feel around for my shoes.
_ [A] _
_ _ [Am] _ Say you know I'm about it.
[E] _
_ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ Feel like blowing my old lonesome home.
I woke up this morning, my [A] little gal was gone.
I feel like _ [D] blowing my [Am] lonesome home.
_ _ _ _ I woke up [D] this morning, [Am] _ _ [D] all [A] I had was one. _ _ _ _
This morning I had to go ride the bike, this [F#] is [Am] treated up.
Don't mind, darling, [D] this morning.
_ _ I [Am] had to ride the bike. _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ [Am] I woke _ [D] _ [Am] _
up this morning, [A] my little gal _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _
_ [A] _ [C] _ _ [A] _ was gone. _
_ _ _ _ _ I woke up this morning, all _ _ _ _ _ [D] I had was one.
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ [A] _ _ [D] _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ This morning I had to go ride the bike, this is treated up.
Don't mind, darling, _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ this morning.
I had to ride the bike.
Don't mind, [F#m] _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Am] darling, this morning.
I had to ride the bike.
_ [A] _ _ _ I'm breaking with an animal.
_ _ _ _ Here she goes.
_ _ I woke up this morning, feel around for my shoes.
Know [F#m] by that I got this [A] old rock and blues.
This morning, _ [D] I feel [Am] around for my shoes.
_ _ _ [A] _ Say you know I'm about it.
_ [E] _ [A] [D] Got this [A] old rock [F#m]
and [A] blues. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [N] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _