Stormy Monday Blues
"Stormy Monday Blues" is a jazz song first recorded in 1942 by Earl Hines and His Orchestra with Billy Eckstine on vocals. The song was a hit, reaching number one in Billboard magazine's "Harlem Hit Parade",[1] and was Hines' only appearance in the charts.
"Stormy Monday Blues" | |
---|---|
Single by Earl Hines | |
B-side | "Second Balcony Jump" |
Released | 1942 |
Recorded | March 19, 1942 |
Genre | Jazz |
Length | 3:11 |
Label | Bluebird |
Songwriter(s) | Earl Hines, Billy Eckstine, Bob Crowder |
Background
"Stormy Monday Blues" is performed in the style of a slow blues that "starts with Hines' piano and a walking bass for the introduction".[2] Billy Eckstine then enters with the vocal:
It's gone and started rainin', I'm as lonesome as a man can be
It's gone and started rainin', I'm as lonesome as a man can be
'Cause every time it rains, I realize what you mean to me
The lyrics "stormy" or "Monday" do not appear in the song. A trumpet solo by Maurice "Shorty" McConnell[3] with big band backing is featured in the second half of the song.[2] Eckstine later recorded "Stormy Monday Blues" in 1959 with Count Basie for their Basie/Eckstine Incorporated album.[4]
The song has sometimes been confused with T-Bone Walker's 1947 song "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", which is frequently shortened to "Stormy Monday" or "Stormy Monday Blues".[5]
See also
- List of number-one R&B singles of 1942 (U.S.)
References
- Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-89820-068-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Billboard (August 8, 1942). "Earl Hines – record review". Billboard. 24 (32): 68. ISSN 0006-2510.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Yanow, Scott (2001). Trumpet Kings: The Players Who Shaped the Sound of Jazz Trumpet. Backbeat Books. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-87930-640-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Nastos, Michael G. "Basie and Eckstine, Inc. – album review". AllMusic. Retrieved September 14, 2010.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Stormy Monday Blues". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. p. 472. ISBN 978-1-55728-252-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)