Singin' the Blues

Singin' the Blues
Studio album by B. B. King
Released	1956
Genre	Blues
Label	Crown
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
B. B. King chronology
Singin' the Blues (1956) The Blues (1958)

Singin' the Blues is the 1956 compilation album of legendary blues performer B. B. King on the Bihari brothers' Crown label.^[1] Among its tracks, the album gathered together five charting singles. "Bad Luck" was the highest charting single, reaching #3 on Billboard's "Black Singles" chart.^[2] Other charting singles include "Every Day I Have the Blues" (#8), "Ten Long Years" (#9), "Crying Won't Help You" (#15) and "Sweet Little Angel" (#6). The album was originally released on the Crown subsidiary of Modern Records and has been reissued several times, as part of a two-album combined CD alongside King's second release The Blues^[3] and with bonus tracks by Japanese label P-Vine Records and U.K. label Ace Records (UK).^[4][5] On "Please Love Me", King combines T-Bone Walker's hard-picking, distorted guitar style with his own mournful singing.^[6]

Track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by B. B. King and Jules Taub.^[7]

Side one

1. "Please Love Me" – 2:51
2. "You Upset Me Baby" – 3:04
3. "Every Day I Have the Blues" (Memphis Slim) – 2:49
4. "Bad Luck" (Ivory Joe Hunter) – 2:54
5. "3 O'Clock Blues" (Lowell Fulson) – 3:03
6. "Blind Love" – 3:06

Side two

1. "Woke Up This Morning" – 2:59
2. "You Know I Love You" – 3:06
3. "Sweet Little Angel" (Lucille Bogan, ? Smith) – 3:00
4. "Ten Long Years" – 2:49
5. "Did You Ever Love a Woman" (D. Moore) – 2:34
6. "Crying Won't Help You" (Hudson Whittaker) – 3:00

CD re-release bonus tracks

Bonus tracks on both the re-releases by P-Vine and Ace. Except where otherwise noted, all songs by King and Taub.

1. "Whole Lotta Meat" (King) – 2:32
2. "I'm Cracking Up Over You" – 3:23
3. "I Stay in the Mood" (Joe Josea, King) – 2:55
4. "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer 'Million Years Blues'" (John Williamson) – 2:58
5. "Jump with You Baby" – 2:14
6. "Lonely and Blue" (John Costa Jr., John Erby) – 2:58
7. "Dark is the Night, Pt. 'the Blues Has Got Me'" (Maxwell Davis, King, Taub) – 2:41
8. "Ruby Lee" – 3:01

Personnel

Performance

• Red Callender – bass^[8]
• Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis – sax (tenor)
• Jewell L. Grant – sax (alto)
• Billy Hadnot – bass
• Ralph Hamilton – bass
• Lorenzo Holden – sax (tenor)
• B. B. King – guitar, vocals
• Willard McDaniel – piano
• Jack McVea – sax (tenor)
• Bumps Myers – sax (tenor)
• Jake "Vernon" Porter – trumpet
• Jesse Price – drums
• Jesse Sailes – drums
• Maurice Simon – sax (tenor)
• Floyd Turnham – sax (alto), sax (baritone)
• Charles Waller – sax (tenor)

Production

• Roger Armstrong – tape archivist
• Jon Broven – compilation, annotation
• Brian Burrows – package design
• Duncan Cowell – mastering, mixing, restoration
• Cy Schneider – liner notes

References