Stormy Monday

[charlyg]

I want to try something, and if there is any interest we'll do it on more tunes. I want to analyze some of the standard blues tunes. This means anything about the song that you would like to discuss, let er rip!


To kick it off, here's T-Bone doing it.I must have 50 versions by different folks, and I pretty much like em all!

[charlyg]

From Wiki

"Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)", also known as "Call It Stormy Monday", or just "Stormy Monday", is a blues song written by T-Bone Walker and first recorded in 1947. Confusingly, it is also sometimes referred to as "Stormy Monday Blues", although that is actually the title of a different song, a #1 R&B hit recorded in 1942 by Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine; Walker titled his song as he did to avoid the name collision.

The original recording appeared on Black & White Records, produced by Ralph Bass, and was one of Walker's breakthrough sides in pioneering the idiom of electric blues guitar. This recording also featured smoky trumpet work from sideman Teddy Buckner. It reached #5 on the R&B charts in 1948. B.B. King has said that "Call It Stormy Monday" inspired him to begin playing electric guitar.

Walker re-recorded the song with better fidelity and a somewhat different arrangement on his classic 1959 Atlantic Records album T-Bone Blues.

The song became a standard for blues and blues rock artists, and over the years was recorded by Albert King, Eva Cassidy, Question Mark and the Mysterians, Jethro Tull, and others. Trouble ensued when artists named it "Stormy Monday Blues", however, as for instance Bobby Bland did on a well-known rendition, as it was mis-credited and royalties went to the Hines-Eckstine song rather than Walker's. This may have also happened on some of the treatments that were just called "Stormy Monday".

The song was most popularized by The Allman Brothers Band, who included a sterling live performance (as "Stormy Monday") on their classic album At Fillmore East in 1971. It garnered considerable airplay on progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio formats during the 1970s.

The 1988 Mike Figgis film Stormy Monday was named for the song, and includes B. B. King's performance of it over the opening credits.

[charlyg]

Structure

"Stormy Monday", in the key of G major, follows the structure of an altered 12-bar blues, using the following chord progression:

G9 | C9 | G9/A♭9 | G9 | C9 | C9 | G9 / A minor7 | B minor7 / B♭ minor7 | A minor7 | C minor7 | G9 / C9 | G9 / D augmented

The Allman Brothers instrumentation of the song is typical of the group, consisting of vocals, two guitars, bass guitar, organ, and drums. It demonstrates a different style of music, however, from most Allman Brothers pieces, with a very slow tempo and softer feel, running at only 60 beats per minute. Duane Allman's virtuosic guitar playing can be heard at this slower tempo, in the first of three solos, Gregg Allman's organ solo shifted to a jazz-waltz feel, Dickey Bett's guitar solo ending it, and with a careful tape edit a harmonica solo by Thom "Ace" Doucette omitted from the issued version

[charlyg]

Here's the "new" kids on the block!!!

[winston]

This song is a classic IMO Charly.

It's a song that I played during live performances for years, utilizing a few different arrangements over time to slightly alter the feel. I love it obviously. The chord structure is perfect for a lead player to rip out a great sounding solo if he or she feels so inclined.

[charlyg]

I am learning lead on My Dot Studio, and I have chosen this song to work on licks. Just getting started tho, so nothing in the can.........

[ozover50]

Thanks for that, Charly......... a great blues standard that will always stand the test of time. Interesting that T-Bone's version is in G# and Clapton's is in C.

I did a gig in December 15th and the band that was on before us absolutely nailed Stormy Monday...... and these kids were only 18 and 19 years old!! Awesome vocals and lead guitar!! Just goes to show there are no age limits when it comes to the blues. This bunch of kids won the national school band title two years running!

I'm guessing your preferred key would be A, Brian????

[winston]

I'm guessing your preferred key would be A, Brian????

Spot on mate, but only because it suits my vocal range better in that key.

[ozover50]

I knew that! Silly question, I guess................

[charlyg]

Cool guys! I love this stuff! I am looking up Love in Vain for the next one. I never was a fan of the Robert Johnson version, and the Stones was a little too country, but Eric's version on Me and Robert Johnson is just about right!

[johneek]

Great stuff Charly. One of the first times I ever heard that song was a Friday night in the French Quarter at some alleyway dive. The band covered it beautifully. They were so good I went back to that bar for the next two nights, just to hear them play that song again.

[ozover50]

I downloaded the Allman Brothers version this morning and have been driving my son Pat nuts.......... I must have played it at least 25 times!! The cat seems to have found a new place to hide too!!

I'm only a rhythm player but I'm having a heap of fun mucking around with some chord variations and fills.

Thanks again for bringing this one up, Charly. By the time I get back to Brian's home in August I reckon I'll have it licked..... in three keys - G, A and C.......... just in case!

[johneek]

....I'm only a rhythm player but I'm having a heap of fun mucking around with some chord variations and fills....

ONLY a rhythm player?

[charlyg]

I am having some difficulty with the "9" chords...... My fingers don't want to do that shape!

[peewee]

If I had a dollar for everytime I've played this song

When I was the house guitarist at a well known weekly Blues Jam in DC, I must have played 'Stormy Monday' 1,000 times behind those performing during the open mic segment. T-Bone's is the definitive version and a great introduction to playing post-war electric Texas Blues; you learn that version and you've unlocked close to 1/2 of 'Bone's catalog. Another favorite version of mine is Bobby "Blue" Bland's take with the monsterous Wayne Bennett on guitar when Bobby was signed to Duke Records out of Houston and still in his prime - classic!

An interesting side note - Both T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian had the same guitar teacher when they were coming up in Dallas. If you give a listen to Christian's work with the Benny Goodman Orchestra from '39-'41 and then listen to 'Bone during his prime in the early '40s through the early '50s, you can hear the similarities in their playing.