It's Nobody's Fault but Mine

Lyrics and composition

"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" tells of a spiritual struggle, with reading the Bible as the path to salvation, or, rather, the failure to read it leading to damnation.

I have a Bible in my home, I have a Bible in my home If I don't read my soul will be lost ... nobody's fault but mine

Blind Willie Johnson recorded the song in a time when illiteracy was common in the rural South. Blinded as a young child, Johnson was singing this song as a warning to those who had learned to read, but concerned themselves too much with earthly matters, but Johnson tries to point the way to salvation. He admits to having fault, and he blames himself for not taking advantage of the skill he has, reading, and saving himself. The context of this song is strictly religious. It is a melancholy expression of his spirit, as the blues style echoes the depths of his guilt and his struggle.

An early review called the song "violent, tortured and abysmal shouts and groans and his inspired guitar playing in a primitive and frightening Negro religious song". In performing this song, Johnson alternated between vocal and solo slide-guitar melody lines, using a bottleneck (or sometimes a jackknife) on the first and second or sometimes third and fourth strings. He also provided an alternating bass figure with his thumb.

Other recordings

"It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" has been interpreted and recorded by numerous blues and other musicians, usually using the title "Nobody's Fault but Mine" and often with variations in the lyrics or music. English rock band Led Zeppelin recorded "Nobody's Fault but Mine", which is credited to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, for their Presence album. The following lists those versions credited as "Traditional" or to Johnson.

1944 – Bunk Johnson with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band as a single (Good Time Jazz Records 37)

1949 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "Nobody's Fault but Mine" (Decca single 48089)

1961 – Pearly Brown on the album Georgia Street Singer

1965 – The Staple Singers from the album Freedom Highway

1967 – John Renbourn from Another Monday

1969 – Nina Simone from Nina Simone and Piano

1973 – Paul Butterfield (with Better Days) from Better Days

1977 – David Bromberg from Reckless Abandon

1977 – Doc Watson and Merle Watson on Lonesome Road

1977 – Van Morrison from The Wonderland Tapes

1986 – Martin Simpson from Nobody's Fault But Mine

1990 – "Nobody's Fault But Mine", Glenn Kaiser and Darrell Mansfield on the album Trimmed and Burnin'

1991 – Johnny Shines from Traditional Delta Blues

1993 – Grateful Dead from Dick's Picks Volume 1

1999 – Dream City Film Club from Stranger Blues

2000 – Ben Harper from Burn to Shine (additional live material)

2000 – Glenn Kaiser Band from Winter Sun

2001 – Blind Boys of Alabama from Spirit of the Century

2003 – Joan Osborne with The Holmes Brothers from Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe

2003 – Kelly Richey from Kelly Richey Live...As It Should Be

2005 – Abigail Washburn from Song of the Traveling Daughter

2006 – Kenny White from Yonder Comes the Blues

2006 – Rising Appalachia from Leah & Chloe

2007 – Paul Jones & Dave Kelly from An Evening with Paul Jones & Dave Kelly (DVD)

2007 – Alvin Youngblood Hart & the Carolina Chocolate Drops from The Great Debaters (soundtrack)

2008 – Martin Harley from Grow Your Own

2008 – Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet with Bela Fleck from Live at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2008 (EP)

2008 – Beth Rowley from Little Dreamer

2010 – Nina Hagen from Personal Jesus

2010 – Willie Nelson from Country Music

2010 – Eric Bibb from Booker's Guitar

2010 – Tom Jones from Praise & Blame

2012 – Meshell Ndegeocello featuring Lizz Wright from Pour une âme souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone (2012)

2015 – Pops Staples from Don't Lose This

2016 – Lucinda Williams on God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson