Stop Breakin' Down
| "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by Robert Johnson | |
| B-side | "Honeymoon Blues" |
| Released | 1938 |
| Format | 10" 78 rpm record |
| Recorded | Dallas, Texas, June 20, 1937 |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length |
2:16 (take 1) 2:21 (take 2) |
| Label | Vocalion (no. 04002) |
| Writer(s) | Robert Johnson |
"Stop Breaking Down" or "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" is a Delta blues song recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937. Described as an "upbeat boogie with a strong chorus line", the song became popular largely through later interpretations by other artists.
Robert Johnson recorded "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" during his last recording session in 1937 in Dallas, Texas. The song is a solo piece with Johnson providing guitar accompaniment to his vocals. Several songs have been identified as "melodic precedents": "Caught Me Wrong Again" (Memphis Minnie, 1936), "Stop Hanging Around" (Buddy Moss, 1935), and "You Got to Move" (Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy, 1934).
Of his Dallas recordings, it is Johnson's most uptempo song, with "his exhuberant vocal driv[ing] home the story line". Two takes of the song were recorded, both sounding very similar, although Johnson flubbed the opening verse of the second take. His record company released both takes on different pressings, with some singles having the first take and others having the second. Although the song is played in a fretted guitar style, on both takes Johnson added a brief slide coda that comes across "like a little inside joke".
In 1970, the first take of the song was included on Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II album, making it available for the first time since its initial release. Both takes were later included on the 1990 box set The Complete Recordings.
As with most Johnson songs, "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" failed to generate much interest with the blues record buying public when it was released. However, his work was kept alive by a "small circle of Mississippi peers" with interpretations recorded by other blues artists. In 1945, Sonny Boy Williamson I recorded his version as an early Chicago blues with Big Maceo (piano), Tampa Red (guitar), and Charles Sanders (drums) (RCA Victor 20-3047). Titled "Stop Breaking Down", the song featured somewhat different lyrics, including the refrain "I don't believe you really really love me, I think you just like the way my music sounds" in place of Johnson's "The stuff I got it gon' bust your brains out, hoo hoo, it'll make you lose your mind". Williamson's song inspired the versions sung "by most postwar Chicago blues artists".
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