Misogyny and Respect in Robert Johnson Songs by: Anne Lemon Robert Johnson displays two attitudes toward the women in his songs. In songs such as "Terraplane Blues," Johnson shows a misogynist attitude when he uses the sexual metaphor of a car as a woman' body. In other songs such as "When You Got a Good Friend," Johnson shows a high degree of respect for the woman about whom he is singing, by deferring to her judgment and appealing to her mercy. In "Terraplane Blues," Robert Johnson has stripped a woman of her humanity and likened her to a machine for his sexual use. One of the differences between Johnson's treatment of the woman in "Terraplane Blues" and the woman in "When You've Got a Good Friend" is the degree of autonomy he acknowledges. In "Terraplane Blues" Johnson speaks of all the things he plans to do to this woman, even though it appears that she is not interested in doing anything with him. Even though Johnson acknowledges that "your horn won't even blow," that doesn't deter him in his plans: "I'm bound to check your oil"; "I'm 'on' get deep down in this connection, keep on tanglin' with these wires." In "when You Got a Good Friend," Johnson grants this woman a high degree of autonomy. Even though she has left him, Johnson is not bound and determined to make her take him back. He is in fact hesitant about approaching her ("Wonder could I bear apologize / or would she sympathize with me") and acknowledges that it's her decision: ("babe, I may be right ay wrong / Baby it's yo'y opinion"). | |
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