Devilishly inspired － 恐ろしく見事な －

Have you ever taken a guitar lesson?  It’s fiendishly expensive.  It will typically cost at least 5,000 yen per lesson.  But prices are at least falling.  Back in the 1920s, a lesson with the greatest guitar instructor available cost much more – you had to pay the price of your immortal soul.  And the instructor wouldn’t come to your house, or let you pick the time of day, either.  You had to meet him at the crossroads at midnight.

So goes the legend, anyway.  And the great guitar instructor was of course the Devil himself.

There is a legend surrounding the great blues guitarist Robert Johnson that he sold his soul to the Devil in return for becoming the greatest guitarist in the world.  Unfortunately, if true, the bargain didn’t work out too well for Johnson, since he didn’t become successful in his lifetime and died in poverty at the age of 27 in 1938.  The cause of death has not been clearly established but another blues musician claims that Johnson was poisoned by the husband of a woman he had been flirting with.

The rumours of Johnson making a pact with the Devil may have started because he mastered the guitar very quickly, and because he used to practice by playing in graveyards.  This is probably a reasonable place to play since the residents aren’t in a position to complain!

The legend has also no doubt been helped by several references Johnson makes to the Devil in his lyrics.  Below are extracts from two of his songs, “Me and the Devil blues” and “Hellhound on my trail”.  I’ll leave you to make your own mind up whether he was inspired by the Devil, or just devilishly inspired. 

An extract from “Me and the Devil blues”:
Early this morning, when you knocked upon my door,
And I said, “Hello Satan.  I believe it’s time to go.”
Me and the Devil {were} walking side by side,
And I’m going to beat my woman until I get satisfied.
 

An extract from “Hellhound on my trail”:
I’ve got to keep moving,
Blues falling down like hail,
And the day’s keep on worrying me.
There’s a hellhound on my trail. 

Vocabulary:

devilish, devilishly – This can mean like the Devil, ie. Cruel, evil etc.  Or it can mean very difficult (“the English test was devilishly difficult.”)  It can also mean “very” or “exceedingly”, ie. “He is devilishly handsome.”

fiendish, fiendishly – The same as “devilish” above.  “Fiend” is another word for “Devil” or “demon”.

immortal – undying; something which lives forever

a bargain – a deal; an agreement

to flirt with someone – to make romantic approaches towards or give sexual signals towards someone

a pact – a bargain; an agreement

Satan – The Devil, according to Christian tradition

hail – hard ice, which falls from the sky like rain

a hellhound – Literally, a dog from Hell