"Smokestack Lightning" (also "Smoke Stack Lightning" or "Smokestack Lightnin'") 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 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 1956. It became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists later interpreted it.

Background

Wolf had performed "Smokestack Lightning" in one form or another at least by the early 1930s, when he was performing with

Charley Patton Charley Patton (April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934), also known as Charlie Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of American mus ...

in small Delta communities. The song, described as "a hypnotic one-chord drone piece", draws on earlier blues, such as Tommy Johnson's "Big Road Blues", the

Mississippi Sheiks The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential American guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues but were adept at many styles of popular music of the time. They recorded around 70 tracks, ...

' "Stop and Listen Blues", and Charley Patton's "Moon Going Down". Wolf said the song was inspired by watching trains in the night: "We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning." In 1951, he recorded the song as "Crying at Daybreak". It contains the line "O-oh smokestack lightnin', shinin', just like gold, oh don't you hear me cryin'", similar to the Mississippi Sheiks' lyric "A-ah, smokestack lightnin', that bell shine just like gold, now don't you hear me talkin'".

Original song

At Chess' studio in Chicago in January 1956, Howlin' Wolf recorded "Smokestack Lightning". The song takes the form of "a propulsive, one-chord vamp, nominally in E major but with the flatted

blue note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

s that make it sound like E minor", and lyrically it is "a pastiche of ancient blues lines and train references, timeless and evocative". Longtime Wolf guitarist

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

is credited with the distinctive guitar line. Howlin' Wolf sang and played harmonica, backed by pianist Hosea Lee Kennard, guitarists Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin, bassist

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

, and drummer Earl Phillips. In 1956, "Smokestack Lightning" reached number 11 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. As the UK experienced an R&B boom in the early 1960s, British R&B groups regularly covered "Smokestack Lightning" in their live acts. Due to the song's renewed popularity,

Pye International Records Pye International Records was a record label founded in 1958, as a subsidiary of Pye Records. The company distributed many American labels in the UK, including Chess, Kama Sutra, Buddah, Colpix and King. (There was also an American label of th ...

issued it in the UK on a moderately successful EP in late1963 and then on a single the following year, where it peaked at number 42 in the singles chart. It was later included on the albums ''

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 ...

'' and ''

The Howlin' Wolf Album ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' is the first studio album by Howlin' Wolf, released in 1969. It features members of Rotary Connection as his backing band. The album mixed blues with psychedelic rock arrangements of several of Wolf's classic songs. Howli ...

''.

Recognition

In a song review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Bill Janovitz described "Smokestack Lightning" as "almost like a distillation of the essence of the blues... a pleasingly primitive and raw representation of the blues, pure and chant-like. Wolf truly sounds like a man in otherwise inexpressible agony, flailing for words." In 1999, the song received a

Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

, honoring its lasting historical significance. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine ranked it at number 291 in its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

included it in its list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". In 1985, the song 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 in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category and, in 2009, it was selected for permanent preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

of the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. Janovitz also identifies "Smokestack Lightning" as a blues standard "open to varied interpretation, covered by artists ranging from

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...

, all stamping their personal imprint on the song". Clapton identifies the Yardbirds' performances of the song as the group's most popular live number. They played it almost every show, and sometimes it could last up to 30 minutes. One version lasting 5:35 is included on the Yardbirds UK debut album, ''

Five Live Yardbirds ''Five Live Yardbirds'' is the live debut album by English rock band the Yardbirds. It features the group's interpretations of ten American blues and rhythm and blues songs, including their most popular live number, Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Li ...

'' (1964) and the US split studio/live album '' Having a Rave Up with The Yardbirds'' (1965). Howlin' Wolf reportedly referred to the group's interpretation as "the definitive version of his song".

References

{{Authority control 1956 songs Blues songs 1956 singles Howlin' Wolf songs The Yardbirds songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients United States National Recording Registry recordings Chess Records singles Songs about trains