It's Nobody's Fault but Mine
"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" or "Nobody's Fault but Mine" is a song first recorded by gospel blues artist Blind Willie Johnson in 1927. It is a solo performance with Johnson singing and playing slide guitar. The song has been interpreted and recorded by numerous musicians in a variety of styles, including Led Zeppelin on their 1976 album Presence.
Lyrics and composition
"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" tells of a spiritual struggle, with reading the Bible as the path to salvation, or, rather, the failure to read it leading to damnation. Johnson was blinded at age seven when his stepmother threw a caustic solution and his verses attribute his father, mother, and sister with teaching him how to read. The context of this song is strictly religious. Johnson's song is a melancholy expression of his spirit, as the blues style echoes the depths of his guilt and his struggle. An early review called the song "violent, tortured and abysmal shouts and groans and his inspired guitar playing in a primitive and frightening Negro religious song".In performing the song, Johnson alternated between vocal and solo slide-guitar melody lines on the first and second or sometimes third and fourth strings. Eric Clapton commented: "That's probably the finest slide guitar playing you'll ever hear. And to think that he did it with a penknife, as well." Johnson's guitar is tuned to an open D chord with a capo on the first fret and he provides an alternating bass figure with his thumb.
Recording and release
"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" was one of the first songs recorded by Johnson for Columbia Records. The session took place in Dallas, Texas, on December 3, 1927. Columbia released it as his second single on the then-standard 78 rpm record format, with "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" as the second side. In the 1930s, the single was also issued by Vocalion Records and other labels. In 1957, the song was included on the Folkways Records' compilation album Blind Willie Johnson – His Story, with narration by Samuel Charters. Over the years, it has been included on numerous Johnson and blues compilations, including The Complete Blind Willie Johnson, the comprehensive CD set of his recordings for Columbia.Adaptations
"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" is one of Johnson's most interpreted songs. Many artists have recorded it as "Nobody's Fault but Mine" as well as the original title, with the songwriting credits including Blind Willie Johnson, public domain, and traditional. AllMusic notes renditions by:- John Renbourn – Another Monday
- Nina Simone – Nina Simone and Piano!
- Ry Cooder – The Prodigal Son
- Grateful Dead – Birth of the Dead
- Eric Bibb – Booker's Guitar
- Bill Frisell – Beautiful Dreamers
- Lucinda Williams – God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson
Led Zeppelin rendition
English rock band Led Zeppelin recorded a rendition titled "Nobody's Fault but Mine" for their seventh studio album Presence. Adapted from Blind Willie Johnson's song, the lyrics represent a more secular theme, with an electric rock music backing.Led Zeppelin releases list the songwriters as guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant, however, group chronicler Dave Lewis commented: "The Page/Plant credit here is misleading as Blind Willie Johnson may well have been under the impression that he wrote the lyrics back in 1928, a fact that Robert acknowledged when introducing the track on stage in Copenhagen in 1979."
Background
In an interview, Page explained that Plant wanted to record Johnson's song, so he developed a new musical arrangement, while Plant retained some of the original lyrics. However, Led Zeppelin biographer George Case maintains that Page was probably influenced by John Renbourn's 1966 acoustic version of the song.Led Zeppelin further developed and recorded the song during the difficult period they faced after Plant's 1975 automobile accident in Rhodes. The incident left him with serious injuries to his ankle and leg and there was fear that he might not recover completely. The group recorded Presence in November 1975 at the Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, while Plant was largely confined to a wheel chair.
Lyrics and composition
Lyrically, "Nobody's Fault but Mine" has been compared to Robert Johnson's "Hell Hound on My Trail". Johnson's 1937 Delta blues song tells of a man trying to stay ahead of the evil which is pursuing him, but it does not address the cause or lasting solution for his predicament. In Blind Willie Johnson's "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", the problem is clearly stated: he will be doomed, unless he uses his abilities to learn biblical teachings. Led Zeppelin retain Blind Willie's admission that he ultimately is to blame, but add Robert Johnson's sense of despair. However, they shift the focus from religion to a more contemporary one. Their lyrics include "that monkey on my back", a commonly used reference to addiction, and "the devil he told me to roll, how to roll the line tonight"; to overcome, Plant concludes "gonna change my ways tonight"."Nobody's Fault but Mine" follows a call-and-response structure, with Page's updated slide guitar adaptation. Page triple-tracked his guitar intro; playing one guitar an octave higher than the others and using a phaser. Plant adds a blues-style harmonica solo mid-song. Drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones maintain the rhythm of the song, adding some syncopated accents during repetitions of the introductory phrase. Record producer Rick Rubin described the song's structure as "A traditional blues, twisted through a trippy, psychedelic filter. They played with such precision, doing these odd arrangements that sound like loose jams but are really choreographed."