Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

Johnson recorded this song at his second Victor session in August 1928. The guitar is played in A position of standard tuning and features a moveable high-pitched 7th-chord position (fifth-minor 7th-major 3rd) played on the first three strings, with the tonic note (A) in the bass. Willie Brown played some similar figures and probably was an influence on Tommy Johnson, as well as on Robert Johnson, who also played guitar figures like these with a more modern swing feeling. This is one of Tommy Johnson's more difficult guitar pieces, and not too many other musicians learned versions of it. My version is influenced by the playing of Mott Willis and Arzo Youngblood. Tommy Johnson was known for "clowning" with the guitar, and this piece features an example of it in the fretting of the bass string over the top of the neck.