"Moanin' at Midnight" is a blues song written and recorded by

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

in 1951. The recording was released on Chess Records as his debut single. It charted on '' Billboard'''s

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 ...

, but the B-side, "

How Many More Years "How Many More Years" is a blues song written and originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1951. Recorded at the Memphis Recording Service – which later became the Sun Studio – it was released by Chess Records and reached No. 4 on the '' Bill ...

," became the popular side of the record.

Recording and release

Chester Burnett began performing as blues musician Howlin' Wolf in 1948. He formed a band in

West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is ...

and performed locally. There he was discovered by Clarksdale native

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

. After Turner and his band the

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

recorded "

Rocket 88 "Rocket 88" (originally stylized as Rocket "88") is a song that was first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, in March 1951. The recording was credited to " Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", who were actually Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. T ...

" for

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

in 1951, he brought Howlin' Wolf to record for Phillips in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Howlin' Wolf recorded a session for Phillips at his

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 ...

in July 1951. The band consisted of Howlin' Wolf singing and playing harmonica with

on piano, Willie Johnson on guitar, and Willie Steele on drums. Phillips described "Moanin' at Midnight" as "the most different record I ever heard." Phillips had not yet founded

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny ...

, so he leased his recordings to Chess Records. Chess released "Moanin' at Midnight" in August 1951, with "How Many More Years" as the B-side. "Moanin' at Midnight" reached No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Most Played Juke Box R&B Records chart on November 10, 1951. "How Many More Years" grew in popularity and peaked at No. 4 on the Most Played Juke Box R&B Records chart in March 1952. Turner, who was also a talent scout for the

Bihari brothers The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers w ...

at Modern Records, took Howlin' Wolf to record another version of "Moanin' at Midnight" at radio station KWEM in West Memphis. It was released on the subsidiary RPM Records as "Morning at Midnight" in September 1951, the B-side to "Riding In The Moonlight." This caused a conflict between the Chess brothers and the Bihari brothers. Howlin' Wolf recorded a few more singles for RPM, but by 1952, he was recording exclusively for Chess. Howlin' Wolf is the credited songwriter on the RPM release, but the Chess single was originally credited to Carl Germany, who was a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

and dance promoter in

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. Later reissues of the recordings have been revised to credit to Chester Burnett. "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" later appeared on Howlin' Wolf's debut album ''

Moanin' in the Moonlight ''Moanin' in the Moonlight'' is a compilation album and the first album by American blues artist Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records in 1959. It contains songs previously issued as singles, including one of his best-known, "Smokestack Lightn ...

'' (1959). "Morning at Midnight" and "Riding in the Moonlight" appeared on the compilation ''

Howling Wolf Sings the Blues ''Howling Wolf Sings the Blues'' is a compilation album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, which was released by Crown Records in 1962.1951 songs 1951 singles Howlin' Wolf songs Chess Records singles