3 O'Clock Blues
{{Short description|Blues song popularized by B.B. King}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Three O'Clock Blues
| cover = Three O'Clock Blues single cover.jpg
| type = single
| artist = Lowell Fulson
| B-side = I'm Wild About You, Baby
| released = {{Start date|1948}}
| recorded = Oakland, California, June 1946
| genre = Blues
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=05}}
| label = *Down Town
- Down Beat
| writer = Lowell Fulson
| next_title = Come Back Baby
| next_year = 1949
}}
"3 O'Clock Blues" or "Three O'Clock Blues"Sometimes referred to as "Three O'Clock in the Morning" after the opening lyrics, although that is the title of a different song. is a slow twelve-bar blues recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1946. When it was released in 1948, it became Fulson's first hit. When B.B. King recorded the song in 1951, it became his first hit as well as one of the best-selling R&B singles in 1952.
{{cite AV media notes
| title = B.B. King: The Vintage Years
| others = B.B. King
| year = 2002
| type = Box set booklet
| first = Colin
| last = Escott
| author-link=Colin Escott
| publisher = Ace Records
| id = Ace ABOXCD 8
| location = London
| pages = 40, 60, 68
}}
"3 O'Clock Blues" effectively launched King's career and remained a part of his concert repertoire throughout his life. The song was included on his first album, Singin' the Blues and since has appeared on several King albums, including a remake in 2000 with Eric Clapton for the Riding with the King album.
Original song
Lowell Fulson recorded "Three O'Clock Blues" during his first recording session for Oakland, California-based record producer Bob Geddins in 1946.In 1938 Monkey Joe recorded a different "Three O'Clock Blues" (Vocalion 04294). Fulson, who sang and played guitar, was accompanied by his brother Martin on second guitar. The duo produced several country blues-style songs after World War II.
{{cite AV media notes
| title = Lowell Fulson: Juke Box Shuffle
| others = Lowell Fulson
| year = 2004
| type = CD notes
| first = Joop
| last = Visser
| publisher = Proper Records
| id = Intro CD 2042
| location = London
| pages = 3–4
}}
According to music historian Ted Gioia, the song lyrics start out "as an insomniac's lament, but end up with a weepy farewell more suited to a suicide note":
{{poemquote|
Well now it's three o'clock in the morning, and I can't even close my eyes ...
Goodbye everybody, I believe this is the end}}
By the time of the record's release two years later in 1948, Fulson's style had already evolved into a West Coast blues style typified by his hit recordings for Downbeat and Swing Time Records, such as "Every Day I Have the Blues" and "Blue Shadows". Nonetheless, "Three O'Clock Blues", became a hit and reached number six in the R&B chart.
{{cite book
| last = Whitburn
| first = Joel
| author-link = Joel Whitburn
| title = Top R&B Singles 1942–1988
| year = 1988
| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
| publisher = Record Research
| isbn = 0-89820-068-7
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/238 238, 161]
| url = https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/238
}}
B.B. King rendition
{{Infobox song
| name = Three O'Clock Blues
| cover = BB-King-3-OClock-Blues.jpg
| type = single
| artist = B.B. King
| B-side = That Ain't the Way to Do It
| released = {{Start date|1951|12}}{{Cite magazine|date=December 1, 1951|title=Rhythm & Blues Record Releases|magazine=Billboard|volume=63|issue=49|page=74}}
| recorded = {{circa}} September 1951
| studio = YMCA, Memphis, Tennessee (makeshift)
| genre = Blues
| length = {{Duration|3:01}}Used duration from the 2002 box set; the original single and Singin' the Blues do not list times. Escott, Colin (2002). Disc 1, back cover.
| label = RPM
| writer = Lowell Fulson (credited to King)
| prev_title = She's a Mean Woman
| prev_year = 1951
| next_title = Fine Lookin' Woman
| next_year = 1952
}}
=Recording and composition=
B.B. King recorded "3 O'Clock Blues" for RPM Records around September 1951. The recording took place at an improvised studio in a room at the Memphis YMCA and the resulting audio quality was lower than recordings by Sam Phillips,
{{cite book
| last = Gioia
| first = Ted
| author-link = Ted Gioia
| title = Delta Blues
| edition = Norton Paperback 2009
| location = New York City
| publisher = W. W. Norton
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-0-393-33750-1
| page = [https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifeti00gioi/page/330 330]
| url = https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifeti00gioi/page/330
}} who had recorded King's previous singles. Nonetheless, writer Colin Escott notes that the song "clicked where the others hadn't [perhaps due to] the new found drama and urgency in B.B.'s singing [and] the interplay between his voice and guitar, heard for the first time on record". The mingling of these two elements was brought to the forefront by the distant, subdued sound of the accompanying musicians.
{{cite book
| last = Shirley
| first = David
| title = Every Day I Sing The Blues: The Story of B.B. King
| year = 1995
| publisher = Grolier Publishing
| location = New York
| isbn = 0-531-11229-2
| page = [https://archive.org/details/everydayisingblu00shir/page/53 53]
| url = https://archive.org/details/everydayisingblu00shir/page/53
}}
King's version is a slow (65 beats per minute) twelve-bar blues notated in 12/8 time in the key of C.
{{cite book
| author = Hal Leonard
| title = The Blues
| year = 1995
| location = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| publisher = Hal Leonard
| isbn = 0-79355-259-1
| pages = 218–19
}} Blues historian Robert Palmer sees King's guitar work on the song as showing his T-Bone Walker influences, "though his tone was bigger and rounder and his phrasing somewhat heavier".
{{cite book
| last = Palmer
| first = Robert
| author-link = Robert Palmer (American writer)
| title = Deep Blues
| year = 1982
| location = New York City
| publisher = Penguin Books
| isbn = 0-14006-223-8
| page = [https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/230 230]
| url = https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/230
}} He borrowed Walker's technique of repeating a pitch on neighboring strings by sounding a note then sliding up to the same pitch on the successive lower string. This method allows the player to shift to higher position while creating a unique effect that emphasizes "tonal contrast".
{{cite book
| last = Kostelanetz
| first = Richard
| author-link = Richard Kostelanetz
| title = The B.B. King Companion
| year = 1997
| publisher = Schirmer Books
| location = New York
| isbn = 0-02-864619-3
| page = [https://archive.org/details/bbkingcompanionf00kost/page/178 178]
| url = https://archive.org/details/bbkingcompanionf00kost/page/178
}} King also used melisma, a vocal technique found in gospel music, in which he bends and stretches a single syllable into a melodic phrase. Unlike Fulson, King used a full backing arrangement, including a horn section (including Evelyn Young on saxophone) and Ike Turner on piano.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bbkingthereisalw0000mcge/page/75|title=B.B. King: There is Always One More Time|last=McGee, David|publisher=Backbeat Books|year=2005|isbn=0879308435|location=San Francisco|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bbkingthereisalw0000mcge/page/75 75]|oclc=60393501}}
=Charts and recognition=
"3 O'Clock Blues" was released by RPM Records in December 1951, and by December 29 it had entered Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues charts. The single spent a total of 17 weeks on the charts, including five weeks at number one.
"3 O'Clock Blues" launched B.B. King's career and gave him his first opportunity to perform in front of a national audience. Due to the song's success, he began performing in the big theaters, such as the Howard Theater in Washington and the Apollo in New York, with a significant increase in his weekly earnings, from about $85 to $2,500.Kostelanetz 1997, p. 146. It sparked a touring schedule that continued throughout King's career.
{{cite journal
| last = Adelt
| first = Ulrich
| title = Black, White, and Blue: Racial Politics in B.B. King's Music from the 1960s
| journal = Journal of Popular Culture
| year = 2011
| volume = 44
| issue = 2
| pages = 195–216
| doi = 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00828.x
}} In 1956, the song was included on King's first album, Singin' the Blues. It has remained in King's repertoire and he has recorded several versions of the song, including a 2000 release with Eric Clapton for their Riding with the King album.
In 2014, the 1951 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award|title=GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists|website=Grammy.com}}
In 2020, the Blues Foundation inducted "3 O’Clock Blues" into the Blues Hall of Fame as a "Classic of Blues Recording".
{{cite web
| url = https://blues.org/news-blues-hall-of-fame-2020-inductees-named-bettye-layette-syl-johnson-victoria-spivey-eddie-boyd-george-smith-billy-branch-ralph-peer/
| author = Blues Foundation
| date = December 9, 2019
| title = 2020 Hall of Fame Inductees: "3 O'Clock Blues"{{snd}}B.B. King (RPM, 1951)
| website = The Blues Foundation
| access-date = March 15, 2020
}} The induction statement described it as "the first record to amply capture the emerging brilliance of both his [King's] singing and guitar playing talents".
References
{{reflist}}
{{Lowell Fulson}}
{{B.B. King}}
{{Ike Turner}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:3 O'clock Blues}}