Blind Willie Johnson – Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground

Blind Willie Johnson was born in 1897 in Marlin, Texas
a small railroad town in the heart of cotton country

He was not born blind

His mother died when he was an infant
his father remarried

When Willie was five
he told his father he wanted to be a preacher
and he made himself a cigar box guitar

When he was seven
his father caught his stepmother
with another man and beat her
to avenge the beating
she threw lye in Willie’s eyes

He spent the remainder of his life
in absolute darkness

His father would leave him
on street corners to sing for money
the myth of Blind Willie Johnson has it
he was arrested for nearly starting a riot
at a New Orleans courthouse with a his rendition of
If I Had My Way I’d Tear The Building Down
a song about Samson and Delilah

He had only five recording sessions
between 1927 and 1930

In 1945 his house burned to the ground
with no money and nowhere to go
Johnson slept in the burned ruins
on a bed of damp newspapers
he contracted pneumonia
was denied admittance to the local hospital
and died

His song Dark was the Night is on the Voyager spacecraft
as it explores the outer edges of our solar system
on its way to interstellar space