| "How Blue Can You Get" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byB.B. King | ||||
| B-side | "Please Accept My Love" | |||
| Released | 1964 (1964) | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 2:40 | |||
| Label | ABC-Paramount | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jane Feather,Leonard Feather[1] | |||
| Producer(s) | Sid Feller | |||
| B.B. King singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"How Blue Can You Get" (alternatively "Downhearted") is a blues song first recorded byJohnny Moore's Three Blazers in 1949. It is a slowtwelve-bar blues that jazz criticLeonard Feather and his wife, Jane Feather, are credited with writing.[1] The song has been recorded by several blues and other artists. It was a hit forB.B. King in 1964 and became a staple of his live shows.
In 1949, Johnny Moore with his brother,Oscar Moore, on guitars, Billy Valentine on piano and vocal, and Johnny Miller on bass recorded "How Blue Can You Get" in theWest Coast blues-style.[1] It was included on the jazz and blues compilation albumSingin' the Blues (1960).[2] Feather described the song as having "the type of intimate instrumental setting heard in so many best blues vocal performances of the 1940s".[2] In 1951,Louis Jordan recorded the song using a big band arrangement.[2]
B.B. King first recorded the song as "Downhearted", which was included on his 1963Blues in My Heart album.[1] The song is performed at "a steady, stately pace, its groove punctuated by B.B.'s stinging runs and wailing, sustained notes", according to King biographer David McGee.[3] King later re-recorded the song as "How Blue Can You Get" andABC-Paramount Records released it as a single in 1964.[1] It "stood out, thanks to the relative simplicity of its arrangement, and the caustic humor of the lyrics".[4] McGee adds that the remake featured "more propulsion from the horn section, and B.B. investing his vocal with far more outrage than can be detected on the laidback original".[3] It also added a "vehement stop-time interlude":[5]
I gave you a brand new Ford, you said 'I want a Cadillac'
I bought you a ten dollar dinner, you said 'Thanks for the snack'
I let you live in my penthouse, you said it was just a shack
I gave you seven children, and now you want to give them back
"How Blue Can You Get" reached number 97 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in 1964 (the magazine's R&B chart was suspended at the time).[6] The song became a fixture in King's live shows[3] "with enough good punchlines for B.B. to keep it in his act for decades".[1] A live version of the song first appeared on theLive at the Regal album recorded in Chicago in 1964;[7] King prefaced it with "pay attention to the lyrics, not so much to my singing or the band". Since then, live versions of the song have been included on several live B.B. King albums, such asLive in Cook County Jail,Live in Japan, and the expandedGet Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert.[8][9] In 1998, King, as "Malvern Gasperone", performed the song as part of a fictional group, the Louisiana Gator Boys, for the filmBlues Brothers 2000. The group included several well-known musicians, includingClarence Clemons,Isaac Hayes,Koko Taylor,Travis Tritt, andSteve Winwood. The song is included on thesoundtrack album.[10]
In 1996,Primitive Radio Gods sampled the line "I've been downhearted baby, ever since the day we met" for the chorus of their single "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand", which became a record chart hit.[11] In a review forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented "With its loping, unthreatening hip-hop beats and its looped B.B. King sample, 'Standing' had all the appeal of an adult novelty for most listeners – it was something that was out of the ordinary, to be sure, but not something that you would want to investigate much further."[11]
