Singin' the Blues

Singin' the Blues
Studio album by B.B. King
Released	1956[1]
Genre	Blues, rock and roll
Label	Crown
Producer	Florette Bihari
B.B. King chronology
Singin' the Blues (1956) The Blues (1958)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Singin' the Blues is the 1956 debut album by blues performer B.B. King on the Bihari brothers' Crown label.^[3] Among its tracks, the album gathered together five charting singles. "You Upset Me, Baby" was the highest charting single, reaching #1 on Billboard's "Black Singles" chart.^[4] Other charting singles include "Every Day I Have the Blues" (#8), "Ten Long Years" (#9), "Crying Won't Help You" (#15), "Bad Luck" (#3) and "Sweet Little Angel" (#6). The album was originally released on the Crown subsidiary of Modern Records and has been reissued several times, as part of a two-album combined CD alongside King's second release The Blues^[5] and with bonus tracks by Japanese label P-Vine Records and U.K. label Ace Records (UK).^[6][7] On "Please Love Me", King combines T-Bone Walker's hard-picking, distorted guitar style with his own mournful singing.^[8]

Track listing

All songs by B.B. King and Jules Taub, unless otherwise noted.^[9]

Side one

1. "Please Love Me" – 2:51
2. "You Upset Me Baby" – 3:04
3. "Every Day I Have the Blues" (Aaron Sparks, credited to Peter Chatman) – 2:49
4. "Bad Luck" (Ivory Joe Hunter, credited to King, Taub) – 2:54
5. "3 O'Clock Blues" (Lowell Fulson, credited to King, Taub) – 3:03
6. "Blind Love" – 3:06

Side two

7. "Woke Up This Morning" – 2:59
8. "You Know I Love You" – 3:06
9. "Sweet Little Angel" (Traditional, credited to King, Taub) – 3:00
10. "Ten Long Years" – 2:49
11. "Did You Ever Love a Woman" (Dwight Moore, credited to King, Taub) – 2:34
12. "Crying Won't Help You" (Hudson Whittaker, credited to King, Taub) – 3:00

CD re-release bonus tracks

Bonus tracks on both the re-releases by P-Vine and Ace. Except where otherwise noted, all songs by King and Taub.

13. "Whole Lotta Meat" (King) – 2:32
14. "I'm Cracking Up Over You" – 3:23
15. "I Stay in the Mood" (Joe Josea, King) – 2:55
16. "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer 'Million Years Blues'" (John Williamson) – 2:58
17. "Jump with You Baby" – 2:14
18. "Lonely and Blue" (John Costa Jr., John Erby) – 2:58
19. "Dark Is the Night, Pt. 'the Blues Has Got Me'" (Maxwell Davis, King, Taub) – 2:41
20. "Ruby Lee" – 3:01

Personnel

Performance

• Red Callender – bass^[10]
• Maxwell Davis – tenor saxophone
• Jewell L. Grant – alto saxophone
• Billy Hadnot – bass
• Ralph Hamilton – bass
• Lorenzo Holden – tenor saxophone
• B. B. King – guitar, vocals
• Willard McDaniel – piano
• Jack McVea – tenor saxophone
• Bumps Myers – tenor saxophone
• Jake "Vernon" Porter – trumpet
• Jesse Price – drums
• Jesse Sailes – drums
• Maurice Simon – tenor saxophone
• Floyd Turnham – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
• Charles Waller – tenor saxophone

Production

• Roger Armstrong – tape archivist
• Jon Broven – compilation, annotation
• Brian Burrows – package design
• Duncan Cowell – mastering, mixing, restoration
• Cy Schneider – liner notes

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Allmusic review
3. Danchin, Sebastian (1998). Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B.B. King. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 57. ISBN 1-57806-017-6.
4. Singin' the Blues (Crown) Billboard at AllMusic
5. Singin' the Blues/The Blues at AllMusic
6. Singin' the Blues (P-Vine) at AllMusic
7. Singin' the Blues (Ace) at AllMusic
8. Brackett, Nathan (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 452. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
9. Track list order from album back cover; times and additional composer information from Singin' the Blues (Ace) at AllMusic
10. Personnel for the original and re-release are combined.