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Give Me Robert Johnson

from The Color Bars EP by The Color Bars

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about

This was an early hit at The Color Bars first live shows in Brooklyn and NYC in the early 2000's. A bouncy piano-based song about being disenchanted with the sometimes coldly unfeeling and ironic indie rock scene and yearning to get back to a more honest and direct type of music-making in the vein of Delta bluesman Robert Johnson or early New Orleans jazzman Jelly Roll Morton. Although both of these musicians are mentioned (Jelly Roll at the end during the ragtimey outro), the song never really resembles either of those musicians' styles at any point, but the track does have a soulful, spirited feel. Recorded in Dave Spelber's basement in Rockville Center, NY on a simple 8-track recorder. (see lyrics below)

lyrics

Give me Robert Johnson

Got a real bad feelin' I'm about to vomit
This trust-fund dick's got something on me
He's got a real expensive sound
And a wig that makes him taller then me
And with his band he's singing the sad song
Of how he lost his latest girlfriend

I'm tired of the same old game of deadpan irony
Give me Robert Johnson and a smile you will see

No, I don't want to sing with my tongue in my cheek
Don't spin me around or make me dizzy
He's got a real sarcastic sound
And a shirt that make his muscles look
Bigger then they are he's tellin' the sound guy
To raise the volume on his vocals

I'm tired of the same old game of deadpan irony
Give me Robert Johnson or if not than Leadbelly
I'm tired of the same old game of deadpan irony
Give me Robert Johnson or if not than Jellyroll

credits

from The Color Bars EP, released May 9, 2004
Gerald Slevin - Lead Vocal, Piano, Rhodes Piano, Bass
Dave Spelber - Harmony Vocal, Drums, Percussion
John English - Guitar

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about

The Color Bars Brooklyn, New York

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