Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)

Infobox Single
Name = Evil
Artist = Howlin' Wolf
Released = May 25, 1954
Format = 7" 45rpm
Recorded = 1954
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genre = Chicago blues
Length = 2:55
Label = Chess (Cat. No. 1575)
Writer = Willie Dixon
Producer = Phil and Leonard Chess and/or Willie Dixon
Last single =
This single =
Next single = "Evil" (sometimes referred to as "Evil (Is Going On)") is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf, first released on Chess Records on May 25, 1954.Herzhaft, Gérard (1997). "Encyclopedia of the Blues". University of Arkansas Press. p. 268. ISBN 1557284520] The song was also a hit for Muddy Waters, released in June 1977 on Chess records.

The single features the sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams (guitar), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (double-bass), and Earl Phillips (drums). Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto.Floyd, Samuel A. (1995). "The Power of Black Music". Oxford University Press. pp. 176-177. ISBN 0195082354] 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. The music heightens the meaning of the lyrics, that of the "evil" that takes place in a man's home when he is away: "you better watch your happy home", Wolf warns.

The song has been recorded by numerous artists, including: Canned Heat, Captain Beefheart, Derek and the Dominos, Gary Moore, Cactus, The Faces, Monster Magnet, and Steve Miller. Koko Taylor's version of the song appeared in the 1987 film "Adventures in Babysitting".

References