Terraplane Blues

"Terraplane Blues" is a blues song recorded in 1936 in San Antonio, Texas, by bluesman Robert Johnson.^[1] Vocalion issued it as Johnson's first 78 rpm record, backed with "Kind Hearted Woman Blues", in March 1937.^[1] The song became a moderate regional hit, selling up to 10,000 copies.^[2]

"Terraplane Blues"
Original 78 record label
Single by Robert Johnson
Released	March 1937 (1937-03)
Recorded	November 23, 1936[1]
Studio	Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas
Genre	Blues
Length	3:01
Label	Vocalion[1]
Songwriter(s)	Robert Johnson
Producer(s)	Don Law

Johnson used the car model Terraplane as a metaphor for sex. In the lyrical narrative, the car will not start and Johnson suspects that his girlfriend let another man drive it when he was gone. In describing the various mechanical problems with his Terraplane, Johnson creates a setting of thinly veiled sexual innuendo.^[3]