| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Willie Brown was not just a mythical character of the blues. Willie Brown was a delta blues player, a musical and traveling partner of the King of the delta Blues, Charley Patton. Patton was one of the '1800 boys' at whose feet future greats like Robert Johnson first studied the blues. In his song, 'Crossroads', it is this Willie Brown who Robert Johnson refers to several times. When Robert wrote Crossroads, Charley Patton and Willie Brown were already delta blues legends.  -Thanks to Don SwancyThe Crossroads was always a place of great evil, from ancient times on. I can't remember why. It forms an X. X marks the spot, but you can't tell why! Cream's Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker both chose 'Crossroads' as their favorite song that the group recorded. (I disagree) -Thanks to Mike ZempterWillie Brown's deal with the Devil is alledgedly based on the rumor that actual bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil to have fame and success. Robert Johnson's songs were dark and mysterious, and so was his death... Apparently Robert Johnson never claimed to have sold his soul to the devil, even though he probably felt he had a working relationship with him. But Tommy Johnson (no relation), whom Robert knew, did. Tommy is the black guitar player picked up by the fugatives at the crossroads in "O Brother Where Art Thou". -Thanks to Mahlon MarrOh dear, sad blues muso stuff- Willie Brown did exist, but was a guitarist rather than a harp player. He was allegedly known for his fondness for anything liquid containing alchohol, a habit which I believe killed him in the 30's. And he was mates with Robert Johnson, with whom he hoboed on the railway, thus the line in the song "Tell my friend, boy, Willie Brown." These are vaguely remembered 'facts' from Robert Palmer's (the effeminate American blues expert, not the Brit singer) book, ""Deep Blues". -Thanks to John CrouchI always felt that his character name 'Martone' was in fact a musicians pun on the desire for 'more tone' - a little abstract maybe.... Legends or not, Crossroads only grossed $5.839 million... « Click here to add some Crossroads trivia Rediscover your favorites! If you like Crossroads or 80's Sci-Fi / Fantasy classics, then be sure to check out this list: ..... Empire Strikes Back ..... Night of the Comet ..... Aliens ..... Back To The Future ..... Last Starfighter ..... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ..... Circuitry Man ..... Brazil ..... Blade Runner ..... Thing ..... Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ..... Return to Oz ..... Starman ..... Somewhere In Time ..... Strange Invaders ..... Short Circuit .....[More] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
The crossroads on the cover of the movie poster and in the movie is located approx. 2 mi. south east of Buelah, Miss. [Thanks to Mike Weeks] The flashback scene where young Willie Brown sold his soul is on a farm outside Cleveland, Mississippi. The kids in the wagon and young Willie were all played by local students. [Thanks to Mark Caraway] Can you help? Do you know any of the Mississippi filming locations used for Crossroads ? [Please send them in] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Neoclassical ahoy! Terrific slide guitar and blues score from Ry Cooder whilst Steve Vai provides all the technical wizardry. Beware though, the dazzling Vai guitar solo pieces, including the crowning finale piece 'Eugene's Trick Bag' are not included on the soundtrack release. Steve Vai has added in his new solo album (Elusive Light and Sound 1) the entire guitar duel, plus some extra music that was never released. He says that he couldn't release the duel beacuse the Film company had the rights, but now he finally could. [Thanks to William] The classical piece used at the beginning of "Crossroads" is "Turkish March" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged for guitar and Performed by William Kanengiser. This is also not on the soundtrack CD but is available on his "Rondo alla Turka" CD. [Thanks to Bill Kanengiser himself for the correction] Track listing of the Crossroads soundtrack CD: 1. Crossroads 2. Down in Mississippi 3. Cotton Needs Pickin' 4. Viola Lee Blues 5. See You in Hell, Blind Boy 6. Nitty Gritty Mississippi 7. He Made a Woman Out of Me 8. Feelin' Bad Blues 9. Somebody's Callin' My Name 10. Willie Brown Blues 11. Walkin' Away Blues OK, without delay, lets get straight into the legend. Since the movie's release there has been much speculation and mis-information on the final guitar duel. Legendary guitarist Arlen Roth (no relation to David) was hired to coach Ralph on convincing guitar fakery. We were thrilled and thought we'd finally got the real deal when Arlen himself originally wrote us here at the Rewind with the following inside track on the story, but as you'll see, not everyone was impressed - or convinced. Update- 7/31/2006 Arlen answers the critics! Read on below for yet more depth to the legend... "I worked on the music for Crossroads from day one. First of all, I wrote and played all of Macchio's parts right from the beginning, including teaching him 4 days a week, for 2 months even before we started filming. Almost all of his parts were played by me, and improvised on the spot, because I knew the "vocabulary" I had given him on the guitar, and what he could "fake" accurately. I directed the guitar scenes, and the original "duel" at the end was musically different. It was a slide guitar duel between myself and Ry Cooder (made much more sense than this heavy metal nonsense!), it was real blues! Cooder was also supposed to play the evil part on screen. When he found out he'd been dropped by Walter Hill, he really got pissed off! So, in walked Vai, and then we re-recorded the ending. They actively pursued him, it wasn't some receptionist's "find". We were all dead-set against this musical destruction of the film, but Walter Hill and Tim Zinneman had no idea what they were doing about music. That's why Walter let me sit in the Director's chair when the guitar scenes were shot! The blues band and bar scene were actual re-creations of what I did in real life while we were on location in Mississippi! Ralph saw me do that, and said he wanted to do that in the film! He also chose "Landslide", an original piece from my first Rounder album as the piece he plays when standing at the "Crossroads!" The end sequence actually features the playing of Vai (sped up sometimes) Bill Kanengiser (classical) Ry Cooder and me. Cooder only plays two parts for Ralph in the movie. The rest is all me, and the classical is played by Kanengiser (who has also made 2 instructional videos for my company, Hot Licks Video!) After coaching Ralph and directing the guitar scenes for Crossroads, I was approached by Oliver Stone to do the same for "The Doors" movie. I turned it down though, the money was lousy, and Frank Whaley didn't want to bother with learning the guitar for his part of playing Robbie Krieger!" -Thanks to Our eternal thanks to Arlen RothHowever, Gary Cox wrote to say: I have absolutely no doubt that the Arlen Roth letter is completely fake. I've personally spoken to Ry Cooder and Steve Vai about this and what is said here is provable falacy. Standing at the crossroads, Ralph does not play an Arlen Roth song. It's Vigilante Man performed by Ry Cooder. There was a different ending recorded, but not with Arlen Roth, it was with Shuggy Otis, and is available in the Steve Vai boxed set. Yes, Arlen Roth coached Ralph, but didn't write or perform any music for the film. He was only the guitar teacher. Ry Cooder was never the evil guitarist, and Vai was wanted right from the start. There was no conspiracy. Vai and Ry Cooder are very happy with each other. -Thanks to Gary CoxFurther info comes from Bryan Smith: I listened to a radio interview with Steve Vai, when he was asked who it was that played the classical parts for Ralph Macchio, he said it was him. He wrote that whole piece (called "Eugene's Trick Bag") which Steve Vai is credited with writing and owns the copyright to. In fact, Steve Vai released a compilation CD that includes the guitar duel from beginning to end. Another important fact is that there were guitar duels that were cut from the film. Ralph Maccio's character was supposed to come in to the bar as Vai's character was 'head cuttin' with someone else. The piece can be found on the same CD that Vai released. I believe Arlen Roth may have been a bit presumptous in his statement about Vai. Just my two cents, but the reviewer stated that he felt the philosophy of the movie was lost when they used the classical piece as the winning 'trick' to win against Vai's character. I have to completely disagree with him in this assessment. The beginning of the film, Macchio's character is playing the piece on an acustic guitar, and then goes into a blues riff. Your reviewer forgot to mention that 'Jack Butler' was the one who deviated from the blues stuff and began to try to 'run' all over Macchio's character. I thought it was fitting to use the classical piece to win because it was a testament to the fact that you don't need anything but talent, skill, and practice to play, whereas 'Butler' sold his soul to achieve his, thereby not being able to follow 'lightnin' boy'. Anyway, just thought I would clear that up for you and add my thoughts. -Thanks to Bryan SmithBut, our thanks to Arlen who returns to the debate!.. Well, Arlen Roth here again, and everyone gets it wrong about this film. I'm the ONLY one who was there from the start, and knows EXACTLY what went down. I played almost ALL the scenes in the film on electric and acoustic guitar, and the original ending, (which I have on tape) was Ry and I having a slide duel. The original script had nothing to do with all this Heavy Metal junk that was added to the ending. The Shuggie Otis scene was shot and was what you saw taking place just BEFORE Ralph walked in... They cut it, because they didn't want to portray a white man beating a black man. Felt bad for Shuggie, it would've really helped his career. The ending contained alot of classical guitar played by Bill Kanengiser on electric guitar, and in many cases, sped up. The piece he plays at the Crossroads is from my first album, and it's called " Landslide". Cooder overdubbed parts of it artfully to sound like "Vigilante Man"(when the camera was off Ralph's hands) a WOODIE GUTHRIE song, so he could try to deflect a lawsuit I was about to lay on Columbia for stealing my music and breaching my contract, which by the way, they never even signed, so they never gave me the credits I was supposed to get! Vai fans... Steve backs this up in his Guitar World interview about Crossroads. If you folks wanna know more, go to my website. Cheers, AR -Thanks to Arlen RothI also hated the classical music used for the final duel, but I stayed after to watch the credits, to find out who the devil's guitarist was. I figured he must be a real hotshot, probably a studio session man, to get that role. I saw it was Steve Vai, whose work I never liked, but then I saw 'Steve Vai instructed by Mr.Joe Satriani of Berkeley, California.' Satriani in my opinion is the greatest rock guitarist of all time, a real summary figure. I'd like to add, if you hunt up any of Satriani's music, please consider listening to 'The Headless Horseman' on the CD "Not of this Earth" and 'Lords of Karma' on "Surfin' with the alien" CD. This latter has the most complex, masterful rock guitar solo (not classical) I have ever heard. the speed puts even 'Eruption' by Van Halen to flight. -Thanks to Mike ZempterThe legend, as reported in an interview in a guitar magazine, stated that Steve Vai was originally only supposed to do the soundtrack. The part of Jack Butler had already been cast. When Vai showed up at the studio to meet with the producers, the receptionist took one look at him, ran out of the room and brought the executive producer and director with her. They all looked at him and said "Yes... he's perfect". They then asked him if he would be interested in actually playing the part on screen. The rest is history... The reality, according to Arlen Roth is that the producers "Actively Pursued him". Shame. The legend is much more interesting! -Thanks to Mike EmmersonIn truth, it would be almost impossible to pull off the final classical/rock performance on the guitar that Macchio plays (A Fender Telecaster set up for slide playing). In addition to the guitar solo played by Macchio being nearly impossible to be played on a Fender Telecaster, the last note of the performance would actually be impossible to play on any ONE guitar without the use of effects... it has been multi-tracked and the effect is of many guitars playing at once... listen carefully! -Thanks to Dominic MaherTommy Johnson also wrote 'Canned Heat' (he liked Sterno). He was not related to Robert but both had worked on the same plantation (along w/ Charlie Patton another great old time bluesman). This may have been the Dickerson Plantation located of course in the Miss. delta. Tommy left 2-3 recordings, Patton 15-20. all of them great bluesmen. r&r, hardrock, acid, you name it. -Thanks to David« Click here to add new music trivia for Crossroads Soundtrack Available: On CD | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
If
you enjoy this site, please help to support us and keep us
POP UP & SPAM FREE by ordering your stuff through our services.
As you probably already know, we
are not a corporation, but just 80's fans like you... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 March 3, 2008: Commando USA / UK Blu-ray Coming Soon. February 28, 2008: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Soundtrack Update. 
Previous
additionsWe're always updating and improving, so please and check back with us regularly...
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Don't forget that Crossroads is now available to order on 
![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif){kind=small}
![[STEREO or SURROUND]](dd2.gif){kind=small}
"The Kid keeps the legend alive.... "
|
Page
Updated: 5/04/2008 |  | v0.927 |