Death Letter

E608847

"Death Letter" is a seminal Delta blues song, best known through Son House's powerful slide-guitar performance and anguished vocal delivery.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Death Letter canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (40)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Delta blues song
song
associatedWith Son House
associatedWithTheme betrayal
funeral
spiritual torment
composer Son House
countryOfOrigin United States
genre Delta blues
guitarStyle bottleneck slide guitar
guitarTuning open G or open D (slide)
hasCoverVersion Chris Thomas King
Gov’t Mule
James Blood Ulmer
The Derek Trucks Band
linked to: Derek Trucks Band

The Grateful Dead
linked to: Grateful Dead

The White Stripes
hasCulturalStatus blues standard
seminal Delta blues recording
hasPart call-and-response vocals and guitar
slide guitar introduction
influencedGenre blues rock
garage rock revival
inspiredByTradition Delta blues tradition
language English
lyricalPerspective first-person narrator
lyricist Son House
mainSubject death
grief
loss
narrativeFocus receiving a letter about a lover’s death
notableFor anguished vocal delivery
slide guitar performance
notablePerformanceBy Son House
performanceType solo voice and guitar
performer Son House
tempo slow to mid-tempo blues
typicalSetting rural American South
vocalRange raw, intense baritone
vocalStyle shouted blues vocal

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Son House notableWork Death Letter
My Black Mama influencedWork Death Letter
Step Back hasPart Death Letter
subject linked to: album "Step Back"