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Killing Floor (Howlin' Wolf song)

"Killing Floor"
Killing Floor single cover.jpg
Single by Howlin' Wolf
B-side "Louise"
Released 1964 (1964)–1965
Format Seven-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded Chicago, August 1964
Genre Blues
Length 2:48
Label Chess (no. 1923)
Writer(s) Howlin' Wolf a.k.a. Chester Burnett
Producer(s) Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon
Howlin' Wolf singles chronology
"My Country Sugar Mama"/ "Love Me Darlin'"
(1964)
"Killing Floor"
(1964)
"Tell Me What I Have Done"/ "Ooh Baby"
(1965)

"Killing Floor" is a 1964 song by American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Howlin' Wolf. Called "one of the defining classics of Chicago electric blues", "Killing Floor" has been recorded by various artists and has been acknowledged by the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

Howlin' Wolf recorded "Killing Floor" in 1964 and it was released as a single. According to blues guitarist and longtime Wolf associate Hubert Sumlin, the song refers to male-female relationships: "Down on the killing floor – that means a woman has you down, she went out of her way to try to kill you. She at the peak of doing it, and you got away now ... You know people have wished they was dead – you been treated so bad that sometimes you just say, 'Oh Lord have mercy.' You’d rather be six feet in the ground."

"Killing Floor" is an upbeat twelve-bar blues with an "instantly familiar" guitar riff provided by Sumlin. Backing Howlin' Wolf (vocals) and Sumlin (electric guitar) are Lafayette Leake (piano), Buddy Guy (acoustic guitar), Andrew McMahon (bass), Sam Lay (drums), Arnold Rogers (tenor sax), and Donald Hankins (baritone sax). The song appears on several Howlin' Wolf compilation albums, including his 1966 album The Real Folk Blues. In 1991, "Killing Floor" was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category.

Jimi Hendrix performed "Killing Floor" early in his career, including early vocal performances with Curtis Knight and the Squires in 1965 and 1966. Shortly after arriving in England in September 1966, Hendrix performed the song when he sat in with Cream. "Killing Floor" was included in the set list of the newly formed Jimi Hendrix Experience. The song was often a set opener, and Hendrix played the song at a faster tempo, with a different rhythm guitar and bass line. Early recordings include live versions from October 1966 in Paris (The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set), March 1967 in the BBC studios (BBC Sessions), and June 1967 at the Monterey International Pop Festival (Jimi Plays Monterey).


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