"Love Struck Baby" is a

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

song performed by

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

and Double Trouble. Vaughan wrote the song about the night that he moved in with his then-wife, Lenny. The track was produced by Vaughan for the band's debut album ''

Texas Flood ''Texas Flood'' is the debut studio album by the American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, released on June 13, 1983 by Epic Records. The album was named after a cover featured on the album, " Texas Flood", which was first ...

'', recorded in Los Angeles. "Love Struck Baby" was the first single from ''Texas Flood'', released by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in the United States and United Kingdom. In the song's accompanying music video,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Tommy Shannon and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Chris Layton are shown relaxing at a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

before Vaughan enters and starts performing the song for a crowd. "Love Struck Baby" was a concert favorite for fans of the band; Vaughan would frequently play the guitar behind his head for part of the solo.

Background, recording, and composition

Vaughan and Double Trouble had performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1982, which caught the attention of musician

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

. He offered the band free use of his personal

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

. During Thanksgiving weekend, they accepted Browne's offer and recorded a demo. It was heard by

John H. Hammond John Henry Hammond II (December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most infl ...

, a talent scout who had discovered artists such as

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, Bob Dylan, and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

among many others. He presented the demo to Greg Geller, head of A&R at

, and arranged a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. As a result, the demo was mixed and Epic released ''Texas Flood'' in June 1983. "Love Struck Baby" was recorded on November 24, 1982. The song was engineered and co-produced by Richard Mullen. In early 1983, Vaughan's vocals were recorded at Riverside Sound in Austin, Texas. "Love Struck Baby" is 2 minutes 19 seconds long and cited as a

song on the sheet music published on Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing, composed in the key of A♭. It consists of a

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

chord progression which is repeated for the first verse and guitar solos; the second, third, and fourth verses are played with a D♭–A♭–D♭–E♭ progression, while the choruses are played with a A♭–D♭–A♭–E♭ progression. The lyrics were written about the night that Vaughan and his then-wife, Lenny, moved in together. The song was performed in common time, with a moderately fast tempo of 170 beats per minute. A train-style drum beat played by Chris Layton carries through the track, over which Vaughan plays a driving rhythm guitar figure similar to Chuck Berry. He combines the influences of Berry and T-Bone Walker in the guitar solos.

Music video

The music video for "Love Struck Baby" was filmed at the Rome Inn in Austin, Texas, and was directed by Dale Ward. In the video, a man is shown playing a game of pool in a bar, while other people are casually seated and relaxed. Shannon and Layton sit at the bar before Vaughan enters, giving them a head cue to follow him to the stage. The band starts playing the song, with various crowd members beginning to dance. The video ends with the audience applauding to the performance. The video is included on the '' Pride and Joy'' music video compilation DVD released in 2007.

Citations

References

* * * {{authority control 1983 singles CBS Records singles Epic Records singles Stevie Ray Vaughan songs Songs written by Stevie Ray Vaughan 1983 songs