Level: 3
Tuning: Dropped D

This was recorded at Johnson's second Victor session in August 1928. Johnson loved alcohol, and during Prohibition (1920-1933) he often drank cheap substitutes for bonded liquor, extracting the alcohol content from such substances as shoe polish, hair tonic, and Sterno cooking fuel (Canned Heat). He continued this practice at times up to his death in 1956. The lyrics of the song are chilling in their description of the singer's acceptance of his inevitable fate. The guitar is played in dropped D tuning and has some similarities to the guitar part of Big Road Blues, especially in its second and third lines and in the ending tag. Its most distinguishing feature is a recurring riff that seems to owe something to piano "walking bass" figures. The riff's lively sound contrasts with the grim theme of the lyrics.