The crossroads is the place where two or more roads intersect. It symbolizes the point at which one must call upon one’s resources and spiritual strength and face one’s demons. Stories of pacts made with the devil at midnight at the crossroads have appeared in African and European folklore for centuries.
Robert Johnson recorded “Cross Road Blues” in San Antonio, Texas, on November 27, 1936.
In the first verse, Johnson describes going to the crossroads and falling to his knees, crying out to God to save him. In the second verse, he stands and tries to flag a ride. A ride is both a slang term for a lover and a metaphor for divine possession. In Pentecostal churches, worshippers cry out “Ride on, King Jesus!”
By the third verse he expresses his fear of being caught in the dark on the crossroads with no rider, “no loving sweet woman that love and feel my care.” He asks the listener to run and tell his friend Willie Brown “that I’m standing at the cross roads, babe, I believe I’m sinking down.”
