Robert Johnson “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” (3:02)
(November 23, 1936)
“I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” is the second of eight songs recorded by Robert Johnson on the first day of his first recording session in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, November 23, 1936.
Robert Johnson adopted this song from traditional sources, and unlike the many versions by other musicians, Johnson’s original accompaniment was finger picked, and not played as a bottleneck or slide guitar. Leroy Carr’s original hit was “I Believe I’ll Make A Change” recorded in August 1934. The popular bottleneck guitar player and singer Kokomo Arnold used the tune for two records: “Sagefield Woman Blues” recorded in September 1934 and “Sissy Man Blues” recorded in January 1935. It seems likely that Johnson owned and studied both of Arnold’s records. Another possibility is that Johnson heard Arnold in person performing a number of verses to this melody. However, Edward Komara suggests that Johnson may have begun developing his version of the song as early as 1933, since it had already been recorded by the Sparks Brothers as “I Believe I’ll Make A Change” in 1932 and by Jack Kelly as “Believe I’ll Go Back Home” in 1933.
