Love in Vain

In the late 1920s, Johnson began playing the guitar along with a rack-mounted harmonica.{{sfn|LaVere|1990|p=9}} One of his influences was Leroy Carr, whose "How Long–How Long Blues" (1928) was an early favorite.{{sfn|LaVere|1990|p=9}} Johnson later used the melody from Carr's "When the Sun Goes Down" (1935) as the basis for "Love in Vain". Both songs express a yearning and sorrow for the loss of a lover. Johnson also used some lyrics from "Flying Crow Blues" (1932) by the Shreveport Home Wreckers (a duo of Oscar "Buddy" Woods and Ed Schaffer) for the final verse of "Love in Vain".

{{Cite web

| url = {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p42456/biography|pure_url=yes}}

| title = Buddy Woods – Biography

| last = Lewis

| first = Uncle Dave

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = November 23, 2011

}} Sonny Boy Williamson II recorded a song with a similar title, "All My Love in Vain", but different lyrics.{{sfn|Hal Leonard|1995|pp=8–9}}

AllMusic's Thomas Ward describes the song as "heartbreakingly potent coming from an artist of Johnson's calibre".

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/song/love-in-vain-mt0000119564

| title = Robert Johnson: 'Love in Vain'{{snd}}Review

| last = Ward

| first = Thomas

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}} He adds:

{{blockquote|The song's opening verse is worth quoting in full, it's arguably the finest few lines that Johnson ever wrote "And I followed her to the station/with a suitcase in my hand/Well I followed her to the station/with a suitcase in my hand/Well it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell/When all your love's in vain". Never has Johnson's guitar been so subtle, so much in the background{{snd}}the song's success is from the artist's longing vocal, and as such it's devastatingly bleak.}}

During the final verses, Johnson calls out to his lover, Willie Mae Powell.{{sfn|Schroeder|2004|p=62}} Years later, when she heard "Love in Vain" for the first time, she was visibly moved upon hearing her name.{{sfn|Schroeder|2004|p=62}}

In 1939, Vocalion Records issued "Love in Vain Blues", backed by "Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)", on a ten-inch 78 rpm record. It was released after Johnson's death and was the last of his original singles. After the release of Johnson's first compilation album, King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961),

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/king-of-the-delta-blues-singers-mw0000312130

| title = Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers{{snd}}Review

| last = Koda

| first = Cub

| author-link = Cub Koda

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}} bootleg albums containing more of Johnson's 1930s singles were circulated. This was the first appearance of the song since its original release. Columbia Records responded by issuing King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II (1970), which included an alternate take of "Love in Vain".

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/king-of-the-delta-blues-singers-vol-2-mw0000318367

| title = Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2{{snd}}Review

| last = Greenberg

| first = Adam

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}} The original single version was finally reissued (along with the alternate) by Columbia on the box set The Complete Recordings (1990).

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-recordings-mw0000207084

| title = Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings{{snd}}Review

| last = Erlewine

| first = Stephen Thomas

| author-link = Stephen Thomas Erlewine

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}} A remastered version of the alternate take is also included on King of the Delta Blues: The Complete Recordings (1996).

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/king-of-the-delta-blues-the-complete-recordings-columbia-legacy-mw0000028690

| title = Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues: The Complete Recordings [Columbia/Legacy]{{snd}}Review

| last = Koda

| first = Cub

| author-link = Cub Koda

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Love in Vain

| artist = the Rolling Stones

| album = Let It Bleed

| released = {{Start date|1969|12|5}}

| recorded = May 1969

| genre = Country blues

| label =

• Decca (UK)
• London (US)

| length = {{Duration|4:22}}

| writer = Robert Johnson{{efn|The original Let It Bleed (1969) album notes list "Love in Vain – Written by Woody Payne".{{sfn|London Records|1969|loc=Inner sleeve}} "Woody Payne" was one of Johnson's pseudonyms.}}

| producer = Jimmy Miller

}}

The Rolling Stones recorded "Love in Vain" for their 1969 album Let It Bleed.

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/let-it-bleed-mw0000191519

| title = The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed{{snd}}Review

| last = Unterberger

| first = Richie

| author-link = Richie Unterberger

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}} Critic Richie Unterberger describes it as "as close to the roots of acoustic down-home blues as the Stones ever got". Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards recalled:

{{blockquote|For a time we thought the songs that were on that first album [King of the Delta Blues] were the only recordings (Robert Johnson had) made, and then suddenly around '67 or '68 up comes this second (bootleg) collection that included "Love in Vain". "Love in Vain" was such a beautiful song. Mick and I both loved it, and at the time I was working and playing around with Gram Parsons, and I started searching around for a different way to present it, because if we were going to record it there was no point in trying to copy the Robert Johnson style or ways and styles. We took it a little bit more country, a little bit more formalized, and Mick felt comfortable with that.{{sfn|LaVere|1990|p=22}}}}

In a 1995 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, Mick Jagger commented on the song's arrangement:

{{blockquote|We changed the arrangement quite a lot from Robert Johnson's. We put in extra chords that aren't there on the Robert Johnson version. Made it more country. And that's another strange song, because it's very poignant. Robert Johnson was a wonderful lyric writer, and his songs are quite often about love, but they're desolate.{{sfn|Wenner|1995|p=1}}}}

Live performances of the song appear on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (1970)

{{Cite web

| url = https://www.allmusic.com/song/love-in-vain-mt0006067105

| last = Unterberger

| first = Richie

| author-link = Richie Unterberger

| title = The Rolling Stones: 'Love in Vain'{{snd}}Review

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = September 15, 2022

}} and Stripped (1995).

{{Cite web

| url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/stripped-mw0000173022

| last = Parisien

| first = Roch

| title = The Rolling Stones: Stripped{{snd}}Review

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = September 15, 2022

}}

Source:Let It Bleed CD track numbering

• Mick Jagger - vocals
• Keith Richards - acoustic and electric slide guitar
• Bill Wyman - bass
• Charlie Watts - drums
• Ry Cooder - mandolin

"Love in Vain" (along with "Stop Breakin' Down Blues") was the subject of a lawsuit regarding the copyright for the song. In 2000, the court held that, according to US law, the songs were not in the public domain and that legal title belonged to the Estate of Robert Johnson and its successors.

{{Cite web

| url = http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/217/217.F3d.684.98-56145.html

| title = ABKCO Music v. Stephen LaVere

| publisher = U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

| date = June 26, 2000

| access-date = August 16, 2016

| url-status = dead

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120325093321/http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/217/217.F3d.684.98-56145.html

| archive-date = March 25, 2012

}}

Robert Johnson's original "Love in Vain" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame as part of the 2011 "Robert Johnson Centennial" celebrations.

{{Cite web

| url = https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/love-in-vain-robert-johnson-vocalion-1937/

| title = 2011 Hall of Fame Inductees: Love in Vain – Robert Johnson (Vocalion, 1937)

| website = Blues.org

| year = 2011

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}}

Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux adapted it for her 2011 album Standing on the Rooftop. An album review in The Guardian noted, "A major highlight is the echoing, gothic account of Johnson's 'Love in Vain'."

{{Cite web

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/07/madeleine-peyroux-cd-review

| date = July 7, 2011

| title = Standing on the Rooftop CD Review

| last = Fordham

| first = John

| website = Theguardian.com

| access-date = August 16, 2016

}}

Love in Vain: A Vision of Robert Johnson is the title of an unproduced screenplay by Alan Greenberg. In it, he explores both the known facts and the myth surrounding Johnson.{{sfn|Schroeder|2004|p=82}} Keith Richards commented, "Finally someone has captured the central feel of this master musician and his times, and that man is Alan Greenberg. Take my word for it."{{sfn|Greenberg|1994|loc=Back cover}}

Footnotes

{{Notelist}}

Citations

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{{Robert Johnson}}

{{Let It Bleed}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Love In Vain}}

Category:1937 songs

Category:Blues songs

Category:Songs written by Robert Johnson

Category:Robert Johnson songs

Category:The Rolling Stones songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller

Category:Song recordings produced by Don Law