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"Good Morning, School Girl" is a
blues standard 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 ...
that has been identified as an influential part of the
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
canon. Pre-war Chicago blues vocalist and harmonica pioneer John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson first recorded it in 1937. Subsequently, a variety of artists have recorded versions of the song, usually calling it "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl".


Original song

Sonny Boy Williamson I recorded "Good Morning, School Girl" in 1937 during his first recording session for
Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...
. The song is an uptempo blues with an irregular number of bars. Although identified with Chicago blues, a write-up in the Blues Hall of Fame notes "it was a product of Sonny Boy’s west Tennessee roots and his pre-Chicago ensemble work". The melody has been traced to “Back and Side Blues”, a 1934 blues song recorded by Son Bonds. "Good Morning, School Girl" features Williamson's vocal and harmonica with accompaniment by
Big Joe Williams Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the songs "Baby, Pl ...
and Robert Lee McCoy (also known as Robert Nighthawk) on guitars.


Blues renditions

In October 1948, Leroy Dallas recorded a version of the song, titled "Good Morning Blues". Texas bluesman Smokey Hogg recorded his version, calling it "Little School Girl". In 1950, the song reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Best-Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records chart and number five on the magazine's Most Played Juke Box R&B chart. Memphis one-man-band
Joe Hill Louis Lester Hill (September 23, 1921 – August 5, 1957), known professionally as Joe Hill Louis, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band. He was one of a small number of one-man blues bands (along with fellow Memphis bl ...
recorded an electric version titled "Good Morning Little Angel" in February or March 1953. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, several versions of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" were recorded as acoustic country-style blues, including versions by
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...
,
Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...
,
Mississippi Fred McDowell Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist of hill country blues music. Career McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee. His parents we ...
,
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...
, and
Doctor Ross Isaiah Ross (October 21, 1925 – May 28, 1993), known as Doctor Ross, was an American blues musician who usually performed as a one-man band, simultaneously singing and playing guitar, harmonica, and drums. Ross's primal style has been ...
. In 1965,
Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...
with
Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...
recorded it as a
Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...
, with a distinctive guitar and bass line, for their influential '' Hoodoo Man Blues'' album. McDowell included a 1971 performance on '' Live in New York'' and in 1978, Muddy Waters recorded an updated rendition for '' I'm Ready''.


Rock and R&B adaptations


Larry Williams version

Early
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
singer and pianist
Larry Williams Lawrence Eugene Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to ...
recorded "Little School Girl" on January 6, 1958 at
Radio Recorders Radio Recorders, Inc. was an American recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. During the 1940s and 1950s, Radio Recorders was one of the largest independent recording studios in the world. Notable musicians recorded at Radio Recorde ...
in Hollywood, California. Although it uses some of Williamson's lyrics and melody, music writer
Gene Sculatti Eugene Paul Sculatti (born January 30, 1947) is an American music journalist who compiled and edited the book ''The Catalog of Cool'' (1982). In 1966, he became the first journalist to write about the nascent San Francisco music scene in a nati ...
notes the more dance-inspired version.
Specialty Records Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe. It was known for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock and roll, and recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd P ...
released the song as the B-side to "Ting-A-Ling", with the writer credit listed as "L. Williams".


Don and Bob/Yardbirds version

In 1961, Don Level and Bob Love, as the
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
duo "Don and Bob", recorded a different version of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" for
Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 in music, 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint w ...
, a
Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
subsidiary. Although they use the phrase "good morning little schoolgirl", the song has different chord changes and lyrics, including references to popular dance styles of the time. When
the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...
were looking for a song to follow up to their first single, " I Wish You Would", they chose the Don and Bob tune. The group's guitarist
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
explained in an early interview: The single was released on October 20, 1964, in the UK, where it reached number 44 in the
singles chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...
, the band's first record to do so.
Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
, the Yardbirds' American label, did not issue the single in the US, but in 1965 included the song on their first U.S. album, ''
For Your Love "For Your Love" is a rock song written by Graham Gouldman and recorded by the English group the Yardbirds. Released in March 1965, it was their first top ten hit in both the UK and the US. The song was a departure from the group's blues roots ...
''. Later, in his autobiography, Clapton described the early recordings: The group recorded a live version at the
Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End of London, West End. It was the location of the first ...
in London, which was released on the British debut album, ''
Five Live Yardbirds ''Five Live Yardbirds'' is the live debut album by the 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 " Smokesta ...
'', in December 1964. On the live version, Clapton and bassist
Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul G. Smith, 8 May 1943, in Brentford, West London, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched ...
provided the vocals instead of lead singer
Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, the Yardbirds ex-drummer ...
. The Yardbirds single version was credited to "Demarais" or "H.G. Demarais" (Dee Marais, a Shreveport, Louisiana, record label owner/distributor and business associate of
Leonard Chess Leonard Samuel Chess (born Lejzor Szmuel Czyż; March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969) was a Polish-American record company executive and the founder of Chess Records alongside his brother Phil. He was influential in the development of the recor ...
), although some later reissues list Sonny Boy Williamson as the songwriter. Album credits for live version are either listed as Demarais or "Level–Love".


Other versions

Numerous artists have recorded or performed the song through the years, usually with the title "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". In 1964,
Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...
released his version as his debut solo single for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
. In 1967, the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
recorded a version for their self-titled debut album based on Wells' arrangement.
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...
provided the vocal and harmonica, which an
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
reviewer called a "greasy harp-fuelled take". The song was a staple of their early live performances. English group
Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British blues rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Bi ...
updated the song with a blues-rock arrangement for their 1969 album '' Ssssh''. In an album review, Jim Newsom noted the seven-minute version included "reworked lyrics leaving little doubt as to what the singer had in mind for the title character".


Recognition and legacy

In 1990, Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning, School Girl" 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 t ...
Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings – Single or Album Track" category.


References

{{authority control 1937 songs 1937 singles 1950 singles 1961 singles Sonny Boy Williamson I songs Muddy Waters songs Junior Wells songs Grateful Dead songs Ten Years After songs Rod Stewart songs Songs with unknown songwriters Bluebird Records singles Blues songs