For the album by Swedish metal band Katatonia, see Last Fair Deal Gone Down (album).
1937 single by Robert Johnson
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down"
Single by Robert Johnson
Released
April 1937 (1937-04)
Recorded
November 27, 1936
Studio
Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
Genre
Blues
Length
2:39
Label
Vocalion, ARC
Songwriter(s)
Robert Johnson
Producer(s)
Don Law
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" is a song by American blues musician Robert Johnson. It was recorded during Johnson's third recording session in San Antonio, Texas, on November 27, 1936. The song was released on a 78 rpm record in April the following year by Vocalion Records as the second side of "32-20 Blues". It was included on the first reissue of Johnson's songs, King of the Delta Blues Singers in 1961. In 1990, it was released on compact disc as part of The Complete Recordings box set, and in 2000 it was included in Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 4.
The song connects some scenes of gambling, work and romance, by situating them on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad. The expression "Deal Go Down" comes from the card game "Georgia Skin".[1][2]
The railroad serves as more than a setting; Max Haymes finds, in the one unclear verse, a furious description of the convict lease work used when the railroad was laid, before Johnson was born.[3] Elijah Wald agrees that the song features lyrics and structure of an archaic work song, similar to "It Makes A Long Time Man Feel Bad";[4] the traditional melody and structure were adapted from Charley Patton's record, "You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die" (1929), its lyrics discarded. David Brackett describes the musical changes, "Johnson modifies this arrangement, simplifying the high-register slide part... and adding a contrasting syncopated figure in the middle of the recording (but omitting the sermon)."[5] But Wald traces also lyrics borrowed from the song "Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down", recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson among others,[6][7] which might have suggested to Johnson some of the changes in arrangement.[8]
^"Traditional Ballad Index of Folk Songs from the English-Speaking World". Fresnostate.edu.
^The game is referenced more clearly in blues songs by Peg Leg Howell, Sylvester Oliver, Lucille Bogan, Memphis Minnie, and the Mississippi Sheiks. It was described by Zora Neal Hurston (Mules and Men, ch. 9, and Glossary; Federal Music Project Recordings, 1 and 2).
^Max Haymes. "Gulfport Island Road Blues (Nonsense & Robert Johnson)". Retrieved 2016-11-04.
^"Research Center". Research.culturalequity.org. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
^Brackett, David (2012). "Preaching Blues". Black Music Research Journal. 32 (1): 128. doi:10.5406/blacmusiresej.32.1.0113. S2CID 201782128.
^Wald, Elijah (3 August 2010). The Blues: A Very Short Introduction. p. 98. ISBN 9780199752874.
^The song was first recorded by banjoist Charlie Poole, but a version was also transcribed by Odum in 1911 and ascribed to blacks: archive.org
^Wald, Elijah (2005). Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. Amistad. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-0-06-052427-2.
and 20 Related for: Last Fair Deal Gone Down information
the 2000s. The band released four more albums with said lineup: LastFairDealGoneDown (2001), Viva Emptiness (2003), The Great Cold Distance (2006) and...
(Trace Adkins song) (2002) "Chrome", a song by Katatonia from LastFairDealGoneDown "Chrome", a song by VNV Nation from Matter + Form Chrome, California...
Katatonia". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2 July 2015. "iTunes - Music - LastFairDealGoneDown by Katatonia". Itunes.apple.com. 8 May 2001. Retrieved 2 July 2015...
The first to be released was "Terraplane Blues", backed with "LastFairDealGoneDown", which sold as many as 10,000 copies. Johnson traveled to Dallas...
Blues", "They're Red Hot", "Cross Road Blues", "Walkin' Blues", "LastFairDealGoneDown", "Preaching Blues" and "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day"...
Des Barres. Egan has recently completed a cover of the classic ‘LastFairDealGoneDown’ for inclusion on a forthcoming tribute to the blues genius Robert...
Bing Crosby. The title was likely inspired by Robert Johnson's "LastFairDealGoneDown", which Dylan had previously quoted in his 1978 single "Changing...
Got a Good Friend" "32-20 Blues" "Phonograph Blues" "LastFairDealGoneDown" "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" "Terraplane Blues" "Walkin' Blues" "Love in Vain...
the Delta Blues Singers Archived May 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine". Down Beat: May 24, 1962. Garland, Phyl. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers"...
[they’ve] ever written”. For the album, the band began tuning their guitars down to C Standard, and introduced several keyboard sections. Renkse would later...
"Saul Gone" is the series finale of the American legal crime drama television series Better Call Saul, which is a spin-off of Breaking Bad. The episode...
2010 Luis Alberto Urrea "Amapola" Phoenix Noir Winner Ace Atkins "LastFairDealGoneDown" Crossroad Blues Shortlist Dana Cameron "Femme Sole" Boston Noir...
Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers Winner Ace Atkins “LastFairDealGoneDown” Crossroad Blues Finalist Dana Cameron “Femme Sole” Boston Noir...
Global Information