Artista: Howlin’ Wolf
Canzone: Evil (Willie Dixon 1954)
“Evil”, sometimes listed as “Evil (Is Going On)”, is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon.[2] Howlin’ Wolf recorded the song for Chess Records in 1954.[3] It was included on the 1959 compilation album Moanin’ in the Moonlight. When he re-recorded it for The Howlin’ Wolf Album in 1969, “Evil” became Wolf’s last charting single (#43 Billboard R&B chart).[4]
The 1954 song features sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams (guitars), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (double-bass), and Earl Phillips (drums). Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto.[5] The song, a twelve-bar blues, is punctuated with a syncopated backbeat, brief instrumental improvisations, upper-end piano figures, and intermittent blues harp provided by Wolf.[5] The lyrics caution about the “evil” that takes place in a man’s home when he is away, concluding with “you better watch your happy home”.[5] (Wikipedia)
Evil
Willie Dixon 1954
If you’re a long way from home
Can’t sleep at night
Grab your telephone
Somethin’ just ain’t right
That’s evil, evil is goin’ on wrong
I am warnin’ you brother
You better watch your happy home
Well, long way from home and
Can’t sleep at all
You know another mule
Is kickin’ in your stall
That’s evil, evil is goin’ on wrong
I am warnin’ you brother
You better watch your happy home
You better catch him
‘Cause somethin’ wrong
In your home
Well, if you call her on the telephone
And she answers awful slow
Grab the first train smokin’
If you have to hobo
That’s evil, evil is goin’ on wrong
I am warnin’ you brother
You better watch your happy home
If you make it to your house
Knock on the front door
Run ’round to the back
You’ll catch him just before he go
That’s evil, evil is goin’ on
I am warnin’ you brother
You better watch your happy home
Video
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