This is one of the most unusual number 1 song stories ever. You see, “Stormy Monday Blues” was a No. 1 R&B hit in 1942 by jazz greats Earl “Fatha” Hines and Billy Eckstein.
But the song “Stormy Monday” or “They Call It Stormy Monday,” written by blues guitar legend T-Bone Walker and first recorded in 1947, is a much more famous and covered song, and is known like “Stormy Monday.” Blues.” While both are structurally blues compositions, they are not the same song at all.
Here is the first verse of the Hines-Eckstein song:
stormy monday blues letter
(Words and music by Earl Hines, Billy Eckstein and Bob Crowder)
He left and it started to rain
I’m as lonely as a man can be
He left and it started to rain
I’m as lonely as a man can be
Cause every time it rains
I realize what you mean…
It’s the T-Bone Walker song that begins: “They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday is just as bad…”.
Among music lovers, there apparently isn’t much confusion about the songs because most simply don’t know the 1942 song “Stormy,” even though it was a No. 1 hit.
But “They Call It Stormy Monday” is universally known even though it only peaked at #5 on the R&B charts in 1948!
Although the confusing titles are a moot point for audiences, since “They Call It Stormy Monday” is clearly the definitive song on “Stormy Monday,” the similarity of the song titles has been a nightmare for songwriters and editors. songs, since performance royalties have often been misapplied.
“There were problems when the artists named [“They Call It Stormy Monday”] “Stormy Monday Melancholy” [on records]…as, for example, Bobby Bland did in a well-known rendition, since it wasn’t properly credited and the royalties went to the Hines-Eckstine song instead of Walker’s. This may also have happened in some of the treatments that were simply called “Stormy Monday.” —Wikipedia
“They Call It Stormy Monday” has been recorded hundreds of times by a wide range of artists, most notably by Bobby “Blue” Bland in the ’60s and the Allman Brothers in 1971 on their acclaimed classic album. In East Fillmore.
“The original recording appeared on Black & White Records, produced by Ralph Bass, and was one of the [T-Bone] The revolutionary sides of Walker in pioneering the idiom of electric blues guitar… BB King has said that ‘Call It Stormy Monday’ inspired him to take up electric guitar.” —Wikipedia
SIDEBAR: stormy monday is also the title of a 1988 film starring Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, and Melanie Griffith.
(They call it) Stormy Monday letter
(Word and music by T-Bone Walker)
They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday is just as bad
They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday is just as bad
Wednesday worse, and Thursday also sad
Yes, the eagle flies on Friday and on Saturday I go out to play.
Eagle flies on Friday, and on Saturday I go out to play
Sunday I go to church, then I kneel down and pray
Lord have mercy Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy, my heart is in misery
Crazy for me baby yeah send it back to me
