Robert Johnson probably had not visited Chicago when he recorded what became our city’s unofficial anthem in 1936. “Oh, baby, don’t you want to go,” the Mississippi blues legend croons, “back to the land of California, to my sweet home, Chicago.”

Huh? Last time we checked, Chicago was not located in California. Perhaps to avoid geographic confusion, when Chicago-based pianist Roosevelt Sykes covered the song in 1955, he changed the lyric to “that bright light city, sweet old Chicago.” The Blues Brothers, of course, sang it differently: “back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago.”

So where was Johnson really encouraging his baby to go? Blues historians disagree. Mack McCormick claims Johnson had a cousin in Port Chicago, California, which would make the song about California. But Max Haymes says Johnson was singing about both places. Haymes sees “Sweet Home Chicago” as a generalized invitation for Blacks to flee the Jim Crow South for opportunity elsewhere — not just in Northern metros like Chicago but also in California.

If that’s the case, “Sweet Home Chicago” is an anthem of the Great Migration, the movement that brought the blues to Chicago. That would make it a Chicago song — even if it’s not.

Send your questions about the Chicago area to emcclelland@chicagomag.com.