Black Angel Blues

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This article is about the blues standard. For the Rolling Stones song, see Sweet Black Angel.
"Black Angel Blues"
Single by Lucille Bogan
B-side"Tricks Ain't Walking No More"
ReleasedDecember 1930 (1930-12)–1931
RecordedDecember 17, 1930
GenreBlues
Length3:11
LabelBrunswick (no. 7186)
Songwriter(s)Unknown

"Black Angel Blues", also known as "Sweet Black Angel" or "Sweet Little Angel", is a

blues standard that has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists.[1] The song was first recorded in 1930 by Lucille Bogan, one of the classic female blues singers.[2]
Bogan recorded it as a mid-tempo, twelve-bar blues, featuring her vocal with piano accompaniment.

In 1934, Tampa Red recorded "Black Angel Blues" for Vocalion Records. The song was performed at a slower tempo and featured prominent slide-guitar lines by Tampa Red. These early songs were released before Billboard or a similar reliable service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which version was more popular, although subsequent versions showed Tampa Red's influence. Robert Nighthawk recorded "Black Angel Blues" in 1949.[3] Accompanying Nighthawk on vocal and electric slide guitar were bassist Willie Dixon, and pianist Ernest Lane (the single, with its flip side "Annie Lee Blues", listed the performers as "The Nighthawks"). The following year Tampa Red recorded an updated version of the song, substituting a lyric and calling it "Sweet Little Angel";[4] in 1953, Earl Hooker recorded it as "Sweet Angel".[5]

In 1956,

Billboard R&B chart.[7] In 1957, he re-recorded "Sweet Little Angel" for his first album Singin' the Blues. Both versions prominently feature B.B. King's guitar work, with his note-bends "sounding almost like a lap steel in places."[8]

After B.B. King's success, many blues and other artists recorded their versions of "Sweet Little Angel". Robert Nighthawk's "Black Angel Blues" was inducted in 2007 into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame "Classics of Blues Recordings" category[9] and B.B. King's "Sweet Little Angel" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".[10]

References

  1. ^ Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Sweet Little Angel". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas:
    ISBN 1-55728-252-8
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-87930-424-3
    .
  3. ^ Aristocrat Records 2301;
  4. ^ Victor Records 22-0107
  5. ^ Rockin' Records 513
  6. ^ Danchin, Sebastian (1998). Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B.B. King. Jackson, Mississippi:
    ISBN 1-57806-017-6
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-89820-068-7
    .
  8. ^
    B.B. King. London: Ace Records
    . p. 42. Ace ABOXCD 8.
  9. ^ Blues Foundation (November 10, 2016). "2007 Hall of Fame Inductees: Black Angel Blues – Robert Nighthawk (The Nighthawks) (Aristocrat, 1949)". The Blues Foundation. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  10. ^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 1995. Archived from the original on 2007-05-02. Retrieved April 6, 2014.


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