"How Many More Years" is a

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 ...

song written and originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1951. Recorded at the

Memphis Recording Service Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

– which later became the Sun Studio – it was released by

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

and reached No. 4 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. Musician and record producer T-Bone Burnett has described "How Many More Years" as "in some ways... the first rock’n’roll song". Alastair Mackay, "Cosmic Ceiling Tiles, Elvis Presley, and the Abiding Genius of Sam Phillips: What Made Sun the Crucible of Rock'n'Roll?", ''Alternatives to Valium'', August 2, 2012
Retrieved February 20, 2014 It was a double-sided hit with " Moanin' at Midnight", which reached No. 10 on the R&B chart.

Recording and release

After military service, Chester Burnett performed as a blues singer and formed his own band in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948, billing himself as "The Howlin' Wolf". He began broadcasting on radio station KWEM in West Memphis, and was brought by Ike Turner to record for Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded "How Many More Years" at the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, in or about July 1951, singing and playing

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

with a band consisting of Ike Turner (piano), Willie Johnson (guitar), and Willie Steele (drums).706 Union Avenue Sessions
Retrieved 20 February 2014 The repetitious bass-string boogie line resembles the one played in the traditional blues standard " Forty-Four". Phillips had not yet set up Sun Records and regularly leased his recordings to the Chess label in Chicago. The record was issued as Chess 1479 on 15 August 1951, with "Moanin' at Midnight" as the A-side and "How Many More Years" as the B-side. "Moanin' at Midnight" entered the ''Billboard'' R&B chart at No. 10 in November 1951, and was followed four weeks later by "How Many More Years", which became the more popular side. It rose to No. 8 on the Best Selling R&B Records chart in December 1951, and No. 4 on the Most Played Juke Box R&B Records chart on March 1, 1952. The songwriting for both sides of the record was originally credited to Carl Germany, who was a disc jockey and dance promoter in Chicago. The Chess label occasionally used composer credits on their records to repay favors to local businessmen who had helped their record sales. Later reissues of the recordings have given the songwriting credits to Chester Burnett. Following the record's success, Burnett moved to Chicago in late 1952, and developed his career further in clubs and through recordings there, with a new band.

Influence

Writer

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...

has cited Willie Johnson's electric guitar work on the track as the first use of the power chord.

, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13–38 in Anthony DeCurtis, ''Present Tense'', Duke University Press, 1992, pp. 24–27. . T-Bone Burnett said of the recording:

References

{{authority control 1951 songs 1951 debut singles Chess Records singles Howlin' Wolf songs