𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧

"(𝑻𝒉𝒆) 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒏" is a gospel blues song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930. As with most of Johnson's songs, it deals with a spiritual theme within a blues musical framework. Accompanying Johnson (vocal and guitar) is Willis B. Harris, sometimes identified as his first wife, who sang harmony on the refrain:

Well won't somebody tell me
Answer if you can!
I want somebody to tell me
Just what is the soul of a man?

The song was released during the Depression "when the mood of the country had darkened" and in 1930, Johnson's records, with their religious themes, were "selling almost twice as many copies as Bessie Smith, and three and four times as many as most of the country blues artists". Many notable artists have covered this over the past 50 years, including: Bruce Cockburn, Eric Burdon, Irma Thomas, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Tom Jones, Tom Waits.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒏" 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔.

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫(𝐬) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 /𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜” 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲, 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲.