Smokestack Lightning
| Smokestack Lightning | |
|---|---|
| Howlin 'wolf | |
| publication | 1956 |
| length | 3:07 |
| Genre (s) | Blues , Chicago blues |
| Author (s) | Chester Burnett aka Howlin 'Wolf |
| Producer (s) | Leonard Chess , Phil Chess , Willie Dixon |
Smokestack Lightning is a blues song by Howlin 'Wolf , which he recorded for the first time in 1956 on Chess Records . It has become a blues standard or classic not only through the original version by Wolf, but also through numerous cover versions.
Background and origin
Wolf is said to have written the song back in the early 1930s and played it over and over again. a. also with the legendary blues musician Charley Patton .
The song is influenced and inspired by classic Delta blues pieces . Wolf himself commented on the genesis of the song as follows: "We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning." However, the influences of blues songs such as Big Road Blues by Tommy Johnson , Stop and Listen Blues by the Mississippi Sheiks group or Charley Patton's Moon Going Down are clear. In 1951, Wolf himself recorded a song called Crying at Daybreak whose opening verses are very similar to those with which Smokestack Lightning begins.
Recording and publication
The song is a simple blues in E minor , carried by just a single chord . In addition to Wolf (vocals and harmonica), Hubert Sumlin and Willie Johnson played on the guitars, Willie Dixon on bass, Hosea Lee Kennard on piano and Earl Phillips on drums on the 1956 recording .
When the song was first released as a single by Chess in 1956 , it was ranked 11th on the Billboard Hitparde in the rhythm and blues category . The song also appeared on Howlin 'Wolf's albums Moanin' at Midnight and The Howlin 'Wolf Album . It was also successful in the British charts in the 1960s and is one of Wolf's most famous songs.
Spelling of the title
When the song was released on Chess Records in 1956, it was written Smoke Stack Lightning . It was later listed as the Smokestack Lightning . New re-releases on compilation albums often lead the piece as Smokestack Lightnin ' .
Cover versions
Smokestack Lightning was by many musicians and bands gecovert that have grossed the piece in the studio and / or live played at concerts. Some of them had small chart successes with the song themselves. During the blues-rock explosion in England in the mid-1960s, many bands played the song in different versions. These versions were brought back to the States during the British Invasion , where bands themselves covered the piece.
These bands included Manfred Mann , The Yardbirds , The Animals , The Who , The Groundhogs , Grateful Dead , Quicksilver Messenger Service , The Delta Bombers , The Electric Prunes, and The Wailers . Musicians within the blues such as Muddy Waters , John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Rogers have also recorded the piece, as have Bob Dylan , Aerosmith and Creedence Clearwater Revival .
Awards
The original version of Howlin 'Wolf has garnered many honors over time. The Rolling Stone listed Smokestack Lightning in their list of the 500 best songs of all time in around 2003 at number 291. In 1985 the song was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the category for classics . He is also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll . In 2009 it was also included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress for preservation .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Segrest, James; Hoffman, Mark (2004). Moanin 'at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf. Pantheon Books. pp. 20, 126. ISBN 0-375-42246-3 .
- ↑ a b http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/howlin-wolf-smokestack-lightning-20110526
- ↑ http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-gj/ ( Memento from May 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )