Hellhound on My Trail
3" sang: "I take time when I'm prowlin', an' wipe my tracks out with my tail ... Get home and get blue an' start howlin', an' the hellhound on my trail".[1][8][9][10][11] The emotional intensity, guitar tuning and strained singing style of "Hell Hound on My Trail" are also found in James' performance.Blues historian Edward Komara concluded "It is probable that Johnny Temple used the "Devil" attachment phrases and lyrics while teaching "Yola" to Johnson".[14] Gioia notes that the lyrics "[deal] with the familiar blues theme of the rambling musician, but now the trip takes on darker tones, the traveler is pursued".[2] The critic Rudi Blesh, in his 1946 book Shining Trumpets: a History of Jazz, reviewed Johnson's recording, stating: "With all its strangeness, 'Hell Hound' is not only an authentic blues, but a remarkable variation in which the standard harmony is altered in a personal and creative way to permit the expression of uncanny and weird feelings.