944 ( Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground )

944 ( Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground )

I'm venturing into a theme week; the theme: my favourite songs featured on The Voyager Space Probe's "The Sounds of Earth" golden record. I have already chosen at least a couple featured on record to my list, one being the first song I chose: J.S. Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, movement #1, and my twentieth pick: Mozart's "Queen of the Night Aria." Suffice it to say if I had not already chosen them they would be featured this week.
Anyway, this Gospel/Blues is simply a beautiful song. It features Blind Willie Johnson playing the slide guitar with him vocalizing along with the it. The song was apparently recorded in the mid-late 1920s.
From what I have read, the team that gathered the songs led by Carl Sagan chose this track to express the human aspect of loneliness. To think, a humble Blues guitarist's composition might be one of the first pieces of music an alien civilization experiences from our little world. How is THAT for a legacy?

Here is a recording of the song on YouTube.


My song pick a year ago today: Devo - Come Back Jonee
My song pick two years ago today: Weather Report - A Remark You Made

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