Everyday I Have the Blues
| "Every Day I Have the Blues" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by Pinetop Sparks as Pine Top | |
| A-side | (not on A-side) |
| Released | 1935 |
| Format | 10" 78 rpm record |
| Recorded | July 28, 1935, Chicago, Illinois |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 3:03 |
| Label | Bluebird (no. B6125) |
| Writer(s) | Aaron Sparks and Milton or Marion Sparks. |
"Every Day I Have the Blues" is a blues song that has been performed in a variety of styles. An early version of the song is attributed to Pinetop Sparks and his brother Milton or Marion. It was first performed in the taverns of St. Louis by the Sparks brothers and was recorded July 28, 1935 by Pinetop with Henry Townsend on guitar. The song is a twelve-bar blues that features Pinetop's piano and falsetto vocal. The opening verse includes the line "Every day, every day I have the blues."
After a reworking of the song by Memphis Slim in 1949, it became a blues standard with renditions recorded by numerous artists. Four different versions of "Every Day I Have the Blues" have reached the Top Ten of the Billboard R&B chart and two—one by the Count Basie Orchestra with Joe Williams and one by B.B. King—have received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.
In 1949, Memphis Slim recorded the reworked song as "Nobody Loves Me". Although he used the Sparks brothers' opening verse, he rewrote the remainder of the lyrics, and sang the melody in a normal vocal range:
"Nobody Love Me" was released as the B-side to Memphis Slim's "Angel Child" single (Miracle M-145)." Although "Angel Child" became a hit (number six Billboard R&B chart), "Nobody Loves Me" did not enter the charts. However, when Lowell Fulson with Lloyd Glenn adapted Memphis Slim's arrangement, but used Sparks' earlier title, it became a hit and spent twenty-three weeks in the R&B chart, reaching number three in 1950. Fulson's "slow grooving" version, with sax and guitar solos, influenced B.B. King's later rendition of the song.
Jazz singer Joe Williams had hits with two different recordings of the song. The first version, recorded with the King Kolax Orchestra in 1952, reached number eight in the R&B chart (Checker 762). In 1955 in New York, he recorded a second and perhaps the most famous version of the song with the Count Basie Orchestra, titled "Every Day" (Clef 89149). It featured a big-band arrangement and spent twenty weeks in the R&B chart, reaching number two. Despite Sparks' earlier song, most versions of "Every Day I Have the Blues" are credited to Memphis Slim (to his real name, John Chatman, or to his pseudonym, Peter Chatman). Because of their success, Memphis Slim's composer royalties from the later hits by other artists "were sufficient to buy a Rolls Royce with which to squire himself around Paris," according to writer Colin Escott.
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Wikipedia