"Smokestack Lightning" is a classic of the blues. In 1956, Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....

 recorded the song and it became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs and numerous artists later interpreted it.

Background

"Smokestack Lightning", in one form or another, "had been part of his [Wolf's] repertoire as far back as the early 1930s" when he was performing with Charley Patton in small Delta communities. The song, called "a hypnotic one-chord drone piece" draws on earlier blues, such as Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson was an influential American delta blues musician, who recorded in the late 1920s, and was known for his eerie falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing.-Early life:...

's "Big Road Blues" (1928 Victor 21279), the Mississippi Sheiks

Mississippi Sheiks

The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...

' "Stop and Listen Blues" (1930 OKeh 8807), and Charley Patton's "Moon Going Down" (1930 Paramount 13014). 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, Howlin' Wolf recorded the song as "Crying at Daybreak" (RPM 340). It contains the line "O-oh smokestack lightnin', shinin', just like gold, oh don't you hear me cryin' ..." similar to the Mississippi Sheiks "A-ah, smokestack lightnin', that bell shine just like gold, now don't you hear me talkin' ..."

Original song

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 notes 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 Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...

 takes credit for the distinctive guitar line. Backing Howlin' Wolf on vocals and harmonica were pianist Hosea Lee Kennard, guitarists Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin, bassist Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

, and drummer Earl Phillips.

In 1956, "Smokestack Lightning" reached #11 in the Billboard R&B chart. When it was released by Pye International Records

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...

 in the UK in 1964, it peaked at #42 in the singles chart. Later, the song was included on the albums Moanin' in the Moonlight

Moanin' in the Moonlight

Moanin' in the Moonlight was the first full-length album by American blues singer Howlin' Wolf. The album was a compilation of previously-issued singles by Chess Records. It was originally released by Chess Records as a mono-format LP record in 1959...

and The Howlin' Wolf Album

The Howlin' Wolf Album

-Personnel:*Howlin' Wolf – guitar, harmonica, vocals*Gene Barge – horn, electric sax*Pete Cosey – guitar, bowed guitar*Hubert Sumlin – guitar*Roland Faulkner – guitar*Morris Jennings – drums*Don Myrick – flute*Louis Satterfield – bass...

.

Other versions/References

"Smokestack Lightning" has been interpreted numerous times by a variety of artists. In the early to mid 1960s, it became a live staple of British beat groups, including The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds

- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...

, Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...

, The Animals

The Animals

The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

, The Groundhogs

The Groundhogs

Groundhogs are a British rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s and continued sporadically into the 21st century.-Career:...

 and The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 as well as American groups, such as Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

, Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...

, The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes are an American rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s. Their song "Kyrie Eleison" was featured on the soundtrack of Easy Rider...

, and The Wailers

The Wailers (rock band)

The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...

. The song has also been performed and/or recorded by Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

, Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...

, Fenton Robinson

Fenton Robinson

Fenton Robinson was an American blues singer and exponent of the Chicago blues guitar.-Biography:Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he recorded his first single "Tennessee Woman" in 1957. He settled in Chicago...

, Lucky Peterson

Lucky Peterson

Lucky Peterson is an American musician who plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He plays guitar and keyboards...

, John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...

, John Mayer

John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...

, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Soundgarden

Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...

, Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...

, moe.

Moe.

moe. is an American jam band, formed at the University at Buffalo in 1989. The band members are: Rob Derhak , Al Schnier , Chuck Garvey , Vinnie Amico , and Jim Loughlin ....

, Gov't Mule

Gov't Mule

Gov't Mule is a Southern rock jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project by Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.The band released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...

, Lester Butler

Lester Butler

Lester Butler was an American blues harmonica player and singer. He achieved fame as the singer and harmonica player for the Los Angeles, California, based blues roots band, The Red Devils-Biography:...

, George Thorogood

George Thorogood

George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...

, Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Big Head Todd & the Monsters is a rock band formed in 1986 in Colorado. The band has released a number of albums since 1989 with their 1993 album Sister Sweetly going platinum in the United States...

.

Elements of "Smokestack Lightning" are found in songs by: Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope (US band)

Kaleidoscope was an American psychedelic folk and ethnic band who recorded 4 albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970.-Formation:...

 used the riff and distinctive howl on the title track of their album A Beacon from Mars (1967); The Gun Club have an almost identical riff and howl in "Cool Drink of Water" from their debut album Fire of Love

Fire of Love

Fire of Love is the debut album of the American punk band The Gun Club, released in 1981 on Ruby Records. The album is considered groundbreaking in being the first of its kind to combine the hard, stripped-down sound of punk rock with American roots musics...

(1981); Soul Coughing

Soul Coughing

Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...

's "Down to This" features a sample of the original from Ruby Vroom

Ruby Vroom

Ruby Vroom was Soul Coughing's 1994 debut album. The album's sound is a mixture of sample-based tunes , guitar based tunes like...

(1994); Hubert Sumlin revisited his original riff for "Smokestack" from the album I Know You (1998); Beck

Beck

Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

 alludes to it in "Gamma Ray

Gamma Ray (song)

"Gamma Ray" is a song by Beck. It is seemingly inspired by the surf-rock songs of the 1960s, but with ghostly moans and lyrics on the state of the world. It was released as the second single from his album Modern Guilt on August 11, 2008. The single peaked at #19 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock...

" from Modern Guilt

Modern Guilt

Modern Guilt is the eleventh studio album by American alternative musician Beck. It was released on July 8, 2008. The album fulfills Beck's recording contract with Interscope Records...

(2008). The phrase "Smokestack Lightning" appears in the chorus of "Fire Woman" from the album "Sonic Temple" by The Cult.

Accolades

"Smokestack Lightning" received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999 honoring its lasting historical significance. It is ranked #285 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 1985, the song was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category. It is also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". In 2009 "Smokestack Lightning" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry

National Recording Registry

The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording...

 at the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

in the United States.