Sweet Home Chicago’ has become an all too familiar bar band anthem over the past few decades, but even in Robert Johnson’s time the theme was circulating from one artist to another. Johnson may have been the first to coin the ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ phrasing in 1936, but the same basic ‘Baby don’t you want to go’ motif had already been recorded by Kokomo Arnold (as ‘Old Original Kokomo Blues’ in 1934), Charlie McCoy (as ‘Baltimore Blues,’ 1934), Freddie Spruell (‘Mr. Freddie’s Kokomo Blues,’ 1935), and Scrapper Blackwell (‘Kokomo Blues,’ 1928).
Arnold’s record was the best seller of the bunch in the prewar era, but Johnson’s is the one that served as the reference point for the many versions to come, perhaps because of its many reissues on a major label, or the signature Johnson boogie bass line that some argue formed the backbone of rock ‘n’ roll — or maybe it was just that Chicago was a more relevant destination point than Kokomo or Baltimore. What Johnson meant when he sang ‘back to the land of California, sweet home Chicago,’ however, is still a subject of debate.
Robert Johnson, vocal and guitar. Recorded November 23, 1936, San Antonio, Texas. Released in 1937 on Vocalion 03601 (78 rpm). First reissued c. 1967 on a bootleg LP, Kokomo K-1000, Mississippi Delta Blues Singer. Rereleased by Columbia on LP C30034, King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume II in 1970.