Killing Floor
| Killing Floor | |
|---|---|
| Howlin 'wolf | |
| publication | 1964 |
| length | 2:48 |
| Genre (s) | Chicago blues |
| Author (s) | Chester Burnett (Howlin 'Wolf) |
Killing Floor is a blues song by Howlin 'Wolf , which the latter wrote himself and recorded for Chess Records for the first time in 1964 . Numerous cover versions made the piece one of the most important titles in the Chicago Blues . In 1991, Killing Floor was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as a "classic of blues recordings" .
content
According to guitarist Hubert Sumlin , Killing Floor is about a bad relationship in which the woman dominates the man and treats the man so badly that the man sometimes wishes he would rather be dead. Wolf sings at the beginning I should of quit you, a long time ago . So this form of unloved relationship has been going on for a long time. The lyrical I want to disappear to Mexico and wish he had followed his first instinct and left her ( If I had of followed, my first mind // I'd of been gone, since my second time ). Instead, he let her down to the floor, which gradually kills him ( But no I was foolin 'with ya, Baby, I let ya put me on the killin' floor ).
Musical line-up of Wolf's original recording
- Howlin 'Wolf, vocals
- Hubert Sumlin , electric guitar
- Buddy Guy , acoustic guitar
- Lafayette Leake , piano
- Sam Lay, drums
- Andrew MacMahon, bass
- Arnold Rogers, tenor saxophone
- Donald Hankins, baritone saxophone
Cover versions
Killing Floor has been covered by some bands. Jimi Hendrix played the song regularly; it was recorded repeatedly, first in October 1966 in Paris with his Jimi Hendrix Experience , live around June 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival ( Jimi Plays Monterey ), but only released posthumously. In 1967, Electric Flag combined the song with a speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson on human dignity that is drowned out in laughter and music. Also known are the versions by Albert King (1969) and Led Zeppelin , who formed their The Lemon Song from the piece , with Howlin 'Wolf (i.e. Chester Burnett) only co-authoring later editions of the Led Zeppelin II album after a trial was specified with. Elliott Sharp interpreted the song on his album Terraplane (1994)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ This recording was produced by Leonard and Phil Chess as well as by Willie Dixon .
- ^ Blues Hall of Fame - 1991 Inductees . In: Classics of Blues Recordings - Singles or Album Tracks . The Blues Foundation. 1991. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^ Debra Devi The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zulu. Guitar International 2012 (Billboard 2007) and Debra Devi The Real Story Behind Howlin 'Wolf's' Killing Floor' HuffPost March 4, 2012
- ↑ The Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin. In: songfacts.com. Accessed August 9, 2019 .
- ↑ As an example: Led Zeppelin II from 2000 at discogs
- ^ E. Sharp discography