Johnson was not blind from birth. It is not entirely clear how he lost his sight, but it has been suggested that his step-mother threw lye in his eyes to exact revenge on his father.
Johnson began singing on street corners for
tips as a youth. He continued busking for many years when this was apparently his
only source of income. He busked in several Texas cities, but it seems he spent most of
his time in the Texan town, Beaumont. Johnson only made 30 commercial
recordings in his lifetime. These recordings were made for Columbia Records
between 1927 and 1930.
Fortunately, Johnson recorded after the
advent of microphones and his recordings are of high-fidelity. Among his best
known sides are: ”God Moves on the Water,” about the sinking of the Titanic,
“Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” which was recorded by Led Zeppelin, “Motherless
Children,” which was recorded by Eric Clapton, and “John the Revelator” which
has been recorded by many.
Johnson was poor throughout his life, and
it was his status as an African-American resident of the American South that
contributed to his early demise. After his house was destroyed by fire,
Johnson, with no place to go, was forced to sleep in its scorched remains. He
contracted malarial fever, and when his wife brought him to hospital, he was
refused admittance, likely because he was black. Without treatment he succumbed
to the fever on September 18, 1945.
Of several fine compilations of Johnson’s
music, “Praise God I’m Satisfied” (1977), “Sweeter as the Years Go By” (1990),
and “The Complete Blind Willie Johnson” (1993) are the best.
Blind Willie |