"Five Long Years" is a song written and recorded by
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
vocalist and pianist
Eddie Boyd
Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was an American blues pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the ...
in 1952. Called one of the "few postwar
blues standards
Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...
hat hasretained universal appeal",
[
] Boyd's "Five Long Years" reached number one on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
R&B chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
.
[
] Numerous blues and other artists have recorded interpretations of the song.
Original song
"Five Long Years" is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues notated in 12/8 time in the key of C. It tells of "the history of the metal worker who, for five years, worked hard in a factory and who gave his check every Friday night to his girlfriend, who nevertheless dumped him".
[
] Backing Boyd on vocal and piano are Ernest Cotton on tenor sax,
L. C. McKinley on guitar, Alfred Elkins on bass, and Percy Walker on drums. "Five Long Years" was revisited by Boyd several times during his career, with additional studio and live recordings.
Recognition and legacy
In 2011, Eddie Boyd's original "Five Long Years" was inducted into the
Blues Foundation
The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world.
Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
, who called it "a true-to-life blues in 1952 that hit home with many a working man".
[
]
A variety of artists have recorded "Five Long Years", including
, whose version reached number thirteen in the R&B chart in 1959.
References
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1952 singles
Blues songs
1959 singles
Junior Parker songs
Ike & Tina Turner songs
1952 songs