"How Many More Years" is a blues song written and originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf (born Chester Burnett) in July 1951. Recorded at the Memphis Recording Service – which later became the Sun Studio – it was released by Chess Records and reached no.4 on the Billboard R&B chart. Musician and record producer T-Bone Burnett has described "How Many More Years" as "in some ways... the first rock’n’roll song...". It was a double-sided hit with "Moanin' at Midnight", which reached no.10 on the R&B chart.

After military service, Chester Burnett performed as a blues singer and formed his own band in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948, billing himself as "The Howlin' Wolf". He began broadcasting on radio station KWEM in West Memphis, and was heard by Sam Phillips who signed him for Memphis Recording Service.

He recorded "How Many More Years" at the MRS studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, in or about July 1951, singing and playing harmonica with a band comprising (probably) Ike Turner (piano), Willie Johnson (guitar), and Willie Steele (drums). The repetitious bass-string boogie line resembles the one played in the traditional blues standard "Forty-Four". The record's original A-side, "Moanin' at Midnight", described by Phillips as "the most different record I ever heard", was probably recorded at a different session.

Phillips had not yet set up Sun Records and regularly leased his recordings to the Chess label in Chicago. The record was issued as Chess 1479 on 15 September 1951, with "Moanin' at Midnight" as the A-side and "How Many More Years" as the B-side. "Moanin' at Midnight" entered the R&B chart on 10 November 1951, and was followed four weeks later by "How Many More Years", which became the more popular side and rose to no.4 on the chart.

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