Released 1928 (1928) Genre Blues | Format 10-inch 78 rpm record Length 3:03 | |
B-side "My Own Lonesome Blues" Recorded Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19, 1928 | ||
"How Long, How Long Blues" (also known as "How Long Blues" or "How Long How Long") is a blues song recorded by the American blues duo Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. The song became "an instant best-seller" and one of the first blues standards, inspiring many blues songs of the era. It has been recorded by many artists, not only in blues but also country and western, pop, and jazz.
Contents
Original song
"How Long, How Long Blues" is based on "How Long Daddy", recorded in 1925 by Ida Cox with Papa Charlie Jackson. Leroy Carr (vocal and piano) and Scrapper Blackwell (guitar) recorded the song in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 19, 1928, for Vocalion Records, shortly after they began performing together. It is a moderately slow-tempo blues with an eight-bar structure, notated in 4
4 or common time in the key of C. Carr is credited with the lyrics and music for the song, which uses a departed train as a metaphor for a lover who has left:
Carr's and Blackwell's songs reflected a more urban and sophisticated blues, in contrast to the music of rural bluesmen of the time. Carr's blues were "expressive and evocative", although his vocals have also been described as emotionally detached, high-pitched and smooth, with clear diction. Blackwell's single-string jazz guitar lines provided the role of a responsorial voice as well as rhythmic chording.
"How Long, How Long Blues" was Carr and Scrapwell's biggest hit. They subsequently recorded six more versions of the song (two of them, unissued at the time), as "How Long, How Long Blues, Part 2", "Part 3", "How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone", "New How Long, How Long Blues", etc. There are considerable variations in the lyrics, many of which have since fallen out of use in modern performances. Most versions begin with the lyric "How long, how long, has that evening train been gone?"
Legacy
"How Long, How Long Blues" became an early blues standard and "its lilting melody inspired hundreds of later compositions", including the Mississippi Sheiks' "Sitting on Top of the World" and Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen". Although his later style would not suggest it, Muddy Waters recalled that it was the first song he learned to play "off the Leroy Carr record".
In 1988, Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues" was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the category "Classics of Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks". In 2012, the song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, which "honor[s] recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance".
Carr's partnership with guitarist Blackwell combined his light bluesy piano with a melodic jazzy guitar that was a progenitor of urban blues. His vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistication and influenced such singers as T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Charles, amongst others. Blackwell's jazz single-string guitar lines helped pave the way for electric guitarists such as Eddie Durham and Charlie Christian.
Later renditions
It has been noted that "How Long, How Long Blues" "enjoyed such immense popularity that it as seized upon by numerous blues singers and jazz artists, its impact spreading way beyond the boundaries of the purely black community". Some of these artists include Pigmeat Markham, who recorded the song for Blue Note Records in 1945 with Oliver "Rev" Mesheux's sextet; James Crutchfield, who recorded the song in 1955 (released on the 2000 CD Biddle Street Barrelhousin'); Lonnie Donegan (1956, Lonnie Donegan Showcase); Big Joe Turner (1956, The Boss of the Blues); Johnnie Ray (1956, The Big Beat); Lou Rawls (1962, Black and Blue); Davy Graham (1963, The Guitar Player); Hot Tuna (1970, Hot Tuna); Grateful Dead, who performed it live once (February 12, 1989, at the Great Western Forum, with Spencer Davis as a guest); Eric Clapton (1994, From the Cradle); and Pinetop Perkins (1997, Born in the Delta).