It seems to be generally agreed by blues writers that, like several other blues, Robert Johnson's 'Sweet Home Chicago' was inspired by - albeit a radical reworking of both the lyrics and guitar accompaniment - Kokomo Arnold's 'Old Original Kokomo Blues' which was recorded in 1934. Arnold's piece was only vaguely related to Scrapper Blackwell's 1928 recording 'Kokomo Blues' for which Jon W has provided a link to his transcription of the lyrics. David Harrison - 'World of the Blues' - suggests Arnold's song may have been inspired by Jabo Williams' 1932 record 'Ko Ko Mo Blues' (I have not heard this so I cannot comment). Anyhow, I provide my transcription of 'Old Original Kokomo Blues' which will complete the picture. It is most certainly the model for the tune and refrain of Fred McDowell's version. The mystery phrase is 'Eleven Light City', but more about that below.

OLD ORIGINAL KOKOMO BLUES

One and one is two, mama
Two and two is four
You mess around here, pretty mama
You know you got to go
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Now four and one is five, mama
Five and one is six
You mess around here, pretty mama
You're going to get me tricked
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Now six and one is seven, mama
Seven and one is eight
You mess around here, pretty mama
You're going to make me late
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Says I told you, mama
When you first fell across my bed
You been drinkin' your ole bad whiskey
And talkin' all out your head
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

I don't drink because I'm dry, mama
Don't drink because I'm blue
The reason I drink, pretty mama
I can't get along with you
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Now eight and one is nine, mama
Nine and one is ten
You mess around here, pretty mama
I'm going to take you in
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Now ten and one is eleven, mama
Eleven and one is twelve
You mess around here, pretty mama
You going to catch a lot of hell
Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go
Back to the Eleven Light City
To sweet old Kokomo

Source: Kokomo Arnold 'Blues Classics by Kokomo Arnold: Peetie Wheatstraw' Blues Classics 4. Recorded 10 September 1934 Chicago Decca De 7026. PS.

James 'Kokomo' Arnold was a left-handed slide guitarist from Georgia. He played the guitar laid flat across his knees - an unusual style for a Georgian bluesman. He moved to Chicago in about 1929 and his main pursuit was bootlegging. He did some early recordings under the name of Gitfiddle Jim. However, his 'Old Original Kokomo Blues' and its monumentally influential backing piece 'Milk Cow Blues', recorded for Decca in 1934, made him one of the most popular and influential blues artists of the thirties. Many versions of his 'Kokomo Blues' were recorded by other singers. Paul Oliver points out that Frank Busby's ''Leven Light City (Sweet Old Kokomo)' recording for Decca in 1937 was very similar to Arnold's but others, such as that recorded by Willie 'Boodle-It Wright', were quite different. Paul Oliver gives Arnold's version of the 'Eleven Light City' with reference to Arnold's only interview given to French blues historian, Jacques Demetre:

Generally, they [versions of Arnold's 'Old Original'] were recorded as 'Eleven Light City Blues' and in all instances the strange phrase of 'Eleven Light City', apparently unrelated to any of the listed nicknames for towns, remained. Arnold explained the significance of the words in part to Jacques Demetre, telling him that Eleven Light City was the name of a drugstore near 35th and State where a girl with whom he was consorting was working. The store sold a brand of coffee labelled 'Koko' and it was from this, with an alliteration of his own, that he devised the phrase 'sweet Kokomo'. Mayo Williams however saw the commercial possibilities in exploiting the association of the brand name with Arnold and dubbed him 'Kokomo Arnold' for this and his subsequent records. He thought that Big Bill Broonzy's belief that he owned a grocery store stemmed from this, for in fact he never owned nor worked in one. There still remain certain problems not wholly explained by this - not least of which is the significance of Eleven Light City as a name itself, or whether in fact a brand of coffee called 'Koko' was so marketed. [Paul Oliver 'Off The Record' The Baton Press 1984 pp 105-106]

In his quite extensive piece on Arnold, Oliver made no reference at all to the earlier Scrapper Blackwell piece. Obviously, he did not consider it important in this context. 'Old Original Kokomo Blues' was not the only Arnold song to inspire Robert Johnson. Johnson's 'I Believe I'll Dust My Broom' was adapted from Arnold's 'Sagefield Woman Blues'(De 7044) and, in turn, it was taken from Johnson by Elmore James.

--Stewie.