Advanced Guitar Player

Stormy Monday, originally titled Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad) and also known as Call It Stormy Monday, was written by T-Bone Walker and first recorded in 1947.

Confusingly, it is also sometimes referred to as Stormy Monday Blues, although that is the title of a 1942 song by Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine. T-Bone Walker originally used the full title song, Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad), in order to avoid confusion.

The song is based on the standard 12-bar blues format, and uses 9th chords and a chromatic progression - typical of T-Bone Walker's guitar style.

The lyrics portray a person who is separated from their love, and is suffering from guilt in some way because of what they have done.

The original recording produced by Ralph Bass came out on Black & White Records, and was one of Walker's breakthrough sides in pioneering the electric blues guitar.

The original Stormy Monday recording featured trumpet work from Teddy Buckner, and reached #5 on the R&B charts in 1948.

B.B. King once said that Call It Stormy Monday inspired him to begin playing electric guitar.

T-Bone Walker re-recorded the song with better sound quality and a different arrangement on his classic 1959 Atlantic Records album T-Bone Blues.

The song became a standard for blues and blues rock artists, and over the years has been recorded by Albert King, Eva Cassidy, Question Mark and the Mysterians, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, Shake Your Hips! and amongst others.

Trouble ensued when artists called it Stormy Monday Blues, however, as for instance Bobby Bland did on a well-known rendition - it was mis-credited and royalties went to the Hines-Eckstine song rather than T-Bone Walker's.

This may have also happened on some of the versions that were just called Stormy Monday.

The Allman Brothers Band recorded one of the best known versions on their live album At Fillmore East in 1971. It garnered considerable airplay on progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio formats during the 1970s.

The 1988 Mike Figgis film Stormy Monday was named after the song, and includes B. B. King's performance of it over the opening credits.