Many of the greatest musicians have covered “Crossroad Blues” including Elmore James, John Mayer, but most popularly by Eric Clapton’s short-lived trio band Cream. He died at the age of 27 due to suspected poisoning. The myth has it that he also met his untimely death due to that bargain. The legend surrounding “Crossroad Blues” is the story of how Johnson gained his musical talents by making a bargain with the devil he met at the crossroads. Many of Johnson’s songs have become blues standards and as it is engraved on his tombstone, “he influenced millions beyond his time”. The “Crossroad Blues” or simply known as “Crossroads” is a legendary Mississippi Delta Blues classic song by one of the greatest blues artists of all time, Robert Johnson. The influence it had on many successful musicians throughout the decades cements this song as one of the greatest of the blues of all time. The perfect balance between the vocals and the instruments, with the unique addition of horns in the 1967 recording of Rush makes it a timeless classic. The line itself as sung in the chorus “I can’t quit you baby” was written so that Dixon could draw out an impassioned performance from Rush. Rush’s original single was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1994.ĭixon explained later on in his autobiography that he had written “I Can’t Quit You Baby” out of the preoccupied relationship Rush was in. The song became a hit in the early 1960s and reached no. Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft identifies “I Can’t Quit You Baby” as a blues standard, a twelve-bar blues song that has been covered by a wide variety of great artists such as Led Zeppelin, Gary Moore, an Eric Clapton. “I Can’t Quit You Baby” is a powerful blues ballad performed by Otis Rush but written and produced by legendary blues songwriter Willie Dixon. Here are the top 10 greatest blues songs of all time: 10.