Love In Vain – Robert Johnson

I’ve been listening to Let It Bleed extensively this week. The recording is several decades old but holds up amazingly well.

The recording I am drawn to the most on Let It Bleed is the blues classic by Robert Johnson, “Love In Vain”. A haunting song about a love that is just out of reach.

“We changed the arrangement quite a lot from Robert Johnson’s. We put in extra chords that aren’t there on the Robert Johnson version. Made it more country. And that’s another strange song, because it’s very poignant. Robert Johnson was a wonderful lyric writer, and his songs are quite often about love, but they’re desolate.” – Mick Jagger, 1995

The Rolling Stones have always honored the blues since their very early days as teenagers. Mick Jagger spoke about his dedication and love of the blues at the “In Performance at the White House” last week.

Jagger told the audience about loving the blues from an early age, when he often saw Sonny Boy Williamson perform in England. The harmonica player, he said, took note of the blues-loving young bands like the Rolling Stones: “Those English boys, they want to play the blues real bad,” he said. “And they do – real bad.”