'I'd ask for water, and she gave me gasoline'

The lines come from 'Cool Drink of Water', recorded by Delta bluesman Tommy Johnson in 1928. Whether to 'enhance his fame', as it has been suggested, or as a bitter, very personal in-joke, Tommy Johnson, a die-hard alcoholic, cultivated the rumour that he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his gifted playing of the guitar.