Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)

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Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)

"Evil", sometimes listed as "Evil (Is Going On)", is a Chicago blues song written by Willie Dixon.[1] Howlin' Wolf recorded the song in Chicago for Chess Records in 1954.[2] 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, reaching number 43 Billboard R&B chart.[3]

Quick Facts Single by Howlin' Wolf, from the album Moanin' in the Moonlight ...
"Evil Is Goin' On"
Thumb
Single by Howlin' Wolf
from the album Moanin' in the Moonlight
B-side"Baby How Long"
Released1954 (1954)
Recorded1954
StudioChess, Chicago
GenreChicago blues
Length2:55
LabelChess
Songwriter(s)Willie Dixon
Producer(s)Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon
Howlin' Wolf singles chronology
"Baby How Long"
(1954)
"Evil Is Goin' On"
(1954)
"Forty Four"
(1954)
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Howlin' Wolf first recorded the song at Chess' studio in Chicago on May 25, 1954,[4] with sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams on guitars, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on double-bass, and Earl Phillips on drums.[5] Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto.[6] 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.[6] 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".[6]

References

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