Predating Willie Nelson's song with the same title by 12 years, Canned Heat's "On The Road Again" is a forlorn bluesy tune about a lonely traveler. One of the group's most popular songs, it actually outcharted Nelson's song, climbing to #16 in the US (Nelson's went to #20).
"On The Road Again" shares a lineage with "Big Road Blues" (1928) by Tommy Johnson (originator of the legend of great bluesmen selling their souls to the Devil at crossroads) and "Dark Road" (1951) by Floyd Jones. Jones built upon Johnson's original with "Dark Road" and then took that another step further when he tweaked and renamed it "On The Road Again." Canned Heat took the baton with their own version in 1968.
This song is based on a simple E/G/A chord progression, also called "guitar boogie." Canned Heat is often credited with bringing that chord progression to the awareness of the era's rock acts, who started using the pattern regularly from that point on.
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