The Thrill Is Gone
"The Thrill Is Gone" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by B.B. King | ||||
from the album Completely Well | ||||
B-side | "You're Mean" | |||
Released | December 1969 (1969-12) | |||
Recorded | June 1969 | |||
Genre | R&B, soul blues | |||
Length |
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Label | Bluesway/ABC | |||
Songwriter(s) | Rick Darnell, Roy Hawkins[1] | |||
Producer(s) | Bill Szymczyk | |||
B.B. King singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"The Thrill Is Gone" (album version) on YouTube | ||||
"The Thrill Is Gone" is a slow minor-key blues song written by West Coast blues musician Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell in 1951.[1] Hawkins's recording of the song reached number six in the Billboard R&B chart in 1951.[2] In 1970, "The Thrill Is Gone" became a major hit for B.B. King. His rendition helped make the song a blues standard.[3]
B.B. King rendition
B.B. King recorded his version of "The Thrill Is Gone" in June 1969 for his album Completely Well, released the same year. King's version is a slow 12-bar blues notated in the key of B minor in 4/4 time.[4] The song's polished production and use of strings marked a departure from both the original song and King's previous material.
When BluesWay Records released "The Thrill Is Gone" as a single in December 1969, it became one of the most successful of King's career and one of his signature songs. It reached number three in the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart and number 15 in the broader Billboard Hot 100 chart.[5]
B.B. King's recording earned him a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1970[6] and a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1998.[7] King's version of the song was also placed at number 183 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Live versions of the song were included on King's albums Live in Cook County Jail (1971), Bobby Bland and B.B. King Together Again...Live (1976), and Live at San Quentin (1991).[8]
Aretha Franklin version
Aretha Franklin covered the song on her 1970 album, Spirit in the Dark.[9]
References
- ^ a b "The Thrill Is Gone — B.B. King (ABC Bluesway, 1969)". The Blues Foundation. November 10, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
Writers' credits on the first B.B. releases went to Arthur H. Benson and Dale Pettite, but are now filed under Hawkins and Rick Darnell.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 184. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.
- ^ Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Thrill Is Gone (The)". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. p. 454. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
- ^ Hal Leonard (1995). "The Thrill Is Gone". The Blues. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard. p. 220. ISBN 0-79355-259-1.
- ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 236.
- ^ "Grammy Award Results for B.B. King: 13th Annual Grammy Awards (1970) – Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male "The Thrill Is Gone"". The Recording Academy. 1970. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame – B.B. King: "The Thrill Is Gone" BluesWay (1969) (Single)". The Recording Academy. 1998. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ Greenwald, Matthew. "B.B. King: The Thrill Is Gone – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
- ^ Silver, Mark (July 1, 2011). "Aretha Franklin: Sweet, Bitter Blues". NPR. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- v
- t
- e
- 1960: My Kind of Blues
- 1968: Blues on Top of Blues
- Lucille
- 1969: Completely Well
- 1970: Indianola Mississippi Seeds
- 1971: B.B. King in London
- 1972: L.A. Midnight
- Guess Who
- 1973: To Know You Is to Love You
- 1974: Friends
- 1975: Lucille Talks Back
- 1977: King Size
- 1978: Midnight Believer
- 1979: Take It Home
- 1981: There Must Be a Better World Somewhere
- 1982: Love Me Tender
- 1983: Blues 'N' Jazz
- 1985: Six Silver Strings
- 1988: King of the Blues: 1989
- 1991: There Is Always One More Time
- 1993: Blues Summit
- 1994: Heart to Heart
- 1997: Deuces Wild
- 1998: Blues on the Bayou
- 1999: Let the Good Times Roll
- 2000: Riding with the King
- Makin' Love Is Good for You
- 2003: Reflections
- 2005: B. B. King & Friends: 80
- 2008: One Kind Favor
- 1965: Live at the Regal
- 1967: Blues Is King
- 1969: Live & Well
- 1971: Live in Cook County Jail
- 1974: Together for the First Time... Live
- 1976: Bobby Bland and B. B. King Together Again...Live
- 1980: Now Appearing at Ole Miss
- 1990: Live at San Quentin
- 1991: Live at the Apollo
- 1999: Live in Japan
compilations
- 1957: Singin' the Blues
- 1958: The Blues
- 1968: His Best – The Electric B. B. King
- 1983: Why I Sing the Blues
- 1992: King of the Blues
- 1995: Lucille & Friends
- 1999: His Definitive Greatest Hits
- 2005: The Ultimate Collection
- 2007: The Best of the Early Years
- 2012: Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. B.B. King
- 1951: "3 O'Clock Blues"
- 1952: "Shake It Up and Go"
- 1952: "You Know I Love You
- 1955: "Every Day I Have the Blues"
- 1956: "Sweet Little Angel"
- 1959: "Sugar Mama"
- 1961: "Someday Baby"
- 1962: "Goin' Down Slow"
- 1963: "Trouble in Mind"
- 1964: "How Blue Can You Get"
- "Rock Me Baby"
- "Please Send Me Someone to Love"
- 1965: "Blue Shadows"
- 1966: "Eyesight to the Blind"
- "Just Like a Woman"
- "Five Long Years"
- "Ain't Nobody's Business"
- 1970: "The Thrill Is Gone"
- "Worried Life"
- 1976: "Let the Good Times Roll"
- 1985: "Big Boss Man"
- 1988: "When Love Comes to Town"
- 1992: "Since I Met You Baby"
- 1961: "Driving Wheel
- 1974: "Black Night"
- 1977: "Don't You Lie to Me"
- 1985: "In the Midnight Hour"
- 1995: "You Shook Me"
- 1998: "Mean Ole' World"
- 1999: "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens"
- "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby"
- "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"
- "Buzz Me"
- "Saturday Night Fish Fry"
- "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
- "Early in the Mornin'"
- 2000: "Hold On, I'm Comin'"
- "Come Rain or Come Shine"
- "Since I Fell for You"
- 2005: "Need Your Love So Bad"
- "Early in the Morning"
- 2008: "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"
- "Sitting on Top of the World"