Contact
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)
Artist: Mississippi Sheiks
Author: Walter Vinson/Lonnie Chatmon
Label: Okeh
Year: 1930
The arrangement leans on Tommy Johnson's Big Road Blues (see there), but lyrics, part of the melody and even Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack howl are rooted in this Mississippi Sheiks tune. In fact, Wolf was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers' yodel: "I wanted to yodel in the worst way, and all that I could do was make that howl".
Covers:
Howlin' Wolf [as Smokestack Lightnin', leaning heavily on his Crying At Daybreak ('51)]
Manfred Mann [as Smokestack Lightnin' and in '65 as LSD]
Yardbirds [idem; with Eric Clapton]
Kinks [as The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains]
Valerie Wellington [with Magic Slim & The Teardrops]
Lynyrd Skynyrd [all as Smokestack Lightnin']
John Hammond [as Crying At Daylight]
Chris Whitley [as Smokestack Lightning]
Chess Project [idem]
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)