I Hear You Knocking#Dave Edmunds rendition
{{Short description|Song first recorded by Smiley Lewis}}
{{Distinguish|text=the Lazy Lester song by the same name}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Hear You Knocking
| cover = I Hear You Knocking single cover.jpg
| alt = Label of 78 rpm Imperial Records single listing "D. Bartholomew" as writer
| type = single
| artist = Smiley Lewis
| B-side = Bumpity Bump
| released = {{Start date|1955|07}}
| recorded = 1955
| studio = J&M, New Orleans, Louisiana
| genre = New Orleans R&B
| length = 2:23
| label = Imperial
| writer = Dave BartholomewLewis's single (see image) credited only Bartholomew as the songwriter.
| producer = Dave Bartholomew
| prev_title = Bells Are Ringing
| prev_year = 1952
| next_title = One Night
| next_year = 1956
| misc = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|J8YCySVA2gA|"I Hear You Knocking"}}}}
}}
"I Hear You Knocking" (or "I Hear You Knockin'") is a rhythm and blues song written by American musician Dave Bartholomew. New Orleans rhythm and blues singer Smiley Lewis first recorded the song in 1955. The lyrics tell of the return of a former lover who is rebuffed.
"I Hear You Knocking" reached number two on the Billboard R&B singles chart in 1955, making it Lewis's most popular and best-known song. Subsequently, numerous artists have recorded it, including Welsh singer and guitarist Dave Edmunds, whose version reached number one in the UK Singles Chart for six weeks in 1970 and was in the top 10 in several other countries.
Background
Several earlier blues and R&B songs use lyrics similar to "I Hear You Knocking".
{{cite book
| last = Birnbaum
| first = Larry
| title = Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll
| year = 2012
| location = Lanham, Maryland
| publisher = Scarecrow Press
| isbn = 978-0-8108-8629-2
| page = 338
}} James "Boodle It" Wiggins recorded an upbeat piano blues in 1928 titled "Keep A Knockin' An You Can't Get In"Paramount Records (catalogue number 12662); {{cite web
| url = http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/james-wiggins-came-knocking-long-before-little-richard-did
| title = James Wiggins Came 'Knocking' Long Before Little Richard Did
| last = Sliwicki
| first = Susan
| website = Goldminemag.com
| date = 4 July 2010
| access-date = February 9, 2014
}} which repeated the title in the lyrics. It was followed by songs that used similar phrases, including "You Can't Come In", by Bert M. Mays (1928);Vocalion Records (catalogue number 1223) "Keep On Knocking", by Lil Johnson (1935); "Keep a Knocking", by Milton Brown & His Brownies (1936); and "Keep Knocking (But You Can't Come In)", by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1938).Columbia Records (20228) None of these early singles listed a songwriter or composer.
However, when popular jump blues bandleader Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five recorded the song as "Keep A-Knockin'" in 1939,Decca Records (7609) the single's credits listed "Mays-Bradford" (Bert Mays and Perry Bradford). In 1957, Little Richard recorded it with the songwriter listed as "R. Penniman", Richard's legal name, although Bert Mays and J. Mayo Williams were later credited as songwriters.
Beginning with his signing by the Los Angeles–based Imperial Records in 1950, Smiley Lewis was one of the main proponents of the emerging New Orleans rhythm and blues style, along with Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Dave Bartholomew, and Professor Longhair.
Original song
Smiley Lewis recorded "I Hear You Knocking" with Dave Bartholomew's band at J&M Studios in New Orleans, owned by Cosimo Matassa. Bartholomew is listed as the producer and songwriter, along with Pearl King (a Bartholomew pseudonym; the maiden name of his wife). He claims that he wrote it "in the backseat of a car coming out of San Francisco". "I Hear You Knocking" uses a modified twelve-bar blues arrangement, in which the progression to the IV chord is repeated:
{{cite web
| url = http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0128370&mnuid%3DZMT9G7SWP93UNUBTFL5BPVFG4RUYS4K81JBRT4K8
| title = I Hear You Knocking, by Smiley Lewis
| website = Musicnotes.com
| date = 3 February 2014
| publisher = Alfred Publishing
| access-date = February 9, 2014
}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:500px;"
|width=8%|I |width=8%|I |width=8%|I |width=8%|I7 |width=8%|IV |width=8%|IV |width=8%|I |width=8%|I7 |width=8%|IV |width=8%|IV |width=8%|V |width=8%|V |
{{cite book
| last = Aswell
| first = Tom
| title = Louisiana Rocks!: The True Genesis of Rock and Roll
| year = 2010
| location = Gretna, Louisiana
| publisher = Pelican
| isbn = 978-1-58980-677-1
| page = 21
}}
The lyrics echo some of the lines from the earlier songs:{{poemquote|You went away and left me long time ago
Now you're comin' back knockin' on my door
I hear you knockin', but you can't come in
I hear you knockin', go back where you been}}
"I Hear You Knocking" was released as a single by Imperial Records in 1955. It entered Billboard's R&B chartsAt the time, Billboard published three separate charts. Whitburn (1988), p. 13. on September 3, where it spent eighteen weeks and reached number two.
{{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/256 256, 392]
| url = https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/256
}}
First cover versions
Also in 1955, actress and pop singer Gale Storm recorded "I Hear You Knockin'" for Dot Records. Her cover version reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, number three on the Cash Box Best-Selling Record chart and became a gold record. Bartholomew believed her version "killed his [Lewis's] record"; blues researcher Bill Dahl added, "Storm swiped his [Lewis's] thunder for any crossover possibilities with her ludicrous whitewashed cover of the plaintive ballad."
{{cite book
| last = Dahl
| first = Bill
| editor1-last = Erlewine
| editor1-first = Michael
| editor1-link = Michael Erlewine
| title = All Music Guide to the Blues
| year = 1996
| section = Smiley Lewis
| publisher = Miller Freeman Books
| location = San Francisco
| isbn = 0-87930-424-3
| page = [https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetob00erle/page/165 165]
}} The experience reportedly led Bartholomew to refer to Lewis as a "'bad luck singer', because he never sold more than 100,000 copies of his Imperial singles". English singer Jill Day also recorded the song in 1956, as did Connie Francis in 1959. In 1961, Bartholomew produced Fats Domino's remake of the song.
{{cite AV media notes
| last1 = Hannusch
| first1 = Jeff
| last2 = Black
| first2 = Adam
| year = 1991
| title = "They Call Me the Fat Man{{nbsp}}..."
| type = Box set booklet
| others = Fats Domino
| location = Hollywood, California
| publisher = EMI Records USA
| id = E2-96784
| page = 34
}}
Dave Edmunds version
{{Infobox song
| name = I Hear You Knocking
| cover = Ihearyouknocking45.jpg
| alt = Single cover sleeve with black & white photo of Edmunds playing an acoustic guitar
| type = single
| artist = Dave Edmunds
| B-side = Black Bill
| released = {{Start date|1970|11}}
| recorded = 1970
| studio = Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales
| genre =
- Blues rock
- roots rock{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2022/11/three-punk-sophisticates-helped-invent-new-wave|title=Angry Young Men Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=November 19, 2022|access-date=February 18, 2023}}
| length = {{Duration|2:48}}
| label = MAM
| writer = Dave Bartholomew
| producer = Dave Edmunds
| next_title = I'm Comin' Home
| next_year = 1971
| misc = {{External music video|header=Official Audio|{{YouTube|hMjwb13TFCo|"I Hear You Knocking"}}}}
}}
Welsh singer and guitarist Dave Edmunds recorded "I Hear You Knocking" in 1970 after originally planning to record "Let's Work Together" by Wilbert Harrison, but finding it had been recorded by Canned Heat.{{cite web |last=Wiser |first=Carl |title=Dave Edmunds |url=http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/dave_edmunds/ |website=Songfacts |access-date=11 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701000007/http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/dave_edmunds/ |archive-date=1 July 2015}} He recalled:
{{Blockquote|Then an album of Smiley Lewis was released on United Artists in Britain, and they played "I Hear You Knocking" on the radio in Britain while I was driving along. I thought, "hang on", the two songs have identical format. You could use the same backing track for both songs. It's just a simple 12-bar thing. So I thought, I'll do that.}}
=Recording=
Edmunds recorded the song at Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Monmouthshire.{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southeastwales/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_7977000/7977623.stm|title=Dave Edmunds: Still Rockin' at 65|date=April 14, 2009|access-date=June 13, 2019|website=BBC South East Wales}} Whereas Lewis's original recording is a piano-driven R&B piece with a 12/8 shuffle feel, Edmunds' version features prominent guitar lines and a stripped-down, straight-quaver rock-and-roll approach.
{{cite book
| author = Rolling Stone
| editor-last1 = Brackett
| editor-first1 = Nathan
| editor-last2 = Hoard
| editor-first2 = Christian
| title = The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
| section = Dave Edmunds
| year = 2004
| edition = 4th
| publisher = Fireside Books
| location = New York City
| isbn = 978-0-7432-0169-8
| page = [https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/272 272]
| url = https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/272
}} He plays all the instruments (except possibly bass guitar) and AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine suggests that the song "has a mechanical rhythm and a weird, out-of-phase vocal that qualifies as an original interpretation".
{{cite encyclopedia
| last = Erlewine
| first = Stephen Thomas
| author-link = Stephen Thomas Erlewine
| editor-last1 = Bogdanov
| editor-first1 = Vladimir
| editor-link1 = Vladimir Bogdanov (editor)
| editor-last2 = Woodstra
| editor-first2 = Chris
| editor-last3 = Erlewine
| editor-first3 = Stephen Thomas
| encyclopedia = All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul
| section = Dave Edmunds
| year = 2002
| edition = 3rd.
| location = San Francisco
| publisher = Backbeat Books
| isbn = 978-0-87930-653-3
| page = 253
}} Edmunds uses fills and a solo played on slide guitar, and during the instrumental break he shouts out the names of several recording artists: "Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Chuck Berry, Huey Smith"{{Cite AV media| people = Dave Edmunds| year = 1970| title = "I Hear You Knocking"| type = Musical recording| time = 1:16| location = England| publisher = MAM Records| id = MAM 1}}
=Release and charts=
The recording was the first single to be released on MAM Records. In November 1970, "I Hear You Knocking" reached number one in the UK, where it remained for six weeks,
{{cite web
| url = http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/dave%20edmunds/
| title = Dave Edmunds – Singles
| website = Official Charts
| access-date = February 9, 2014
}} and became a Christmas number one. In his famous Lennon Remembers interview for Rolling Stone, John Lennon commented, "Well, I always liked simple rock. There's a great one in England now, 'I Hear You Knocking'."
{{cite book
| last = Wenner
| first = Jann
| author-link = Jann Wenner
| title = Lennon Remembers
| year = 2001
| publisher = Verso Books
| location = New York City
| isbn = 978-1-85984-376-5
| page = 10
}} Lennon mentioned the song in the final interview he gave on December 8, 1980, calling it "One of the great records of all time."{{cite web|url=http://www.beatlesarchive.net/john-lennons-last-interview-december-8-1980.html|title=John Lennon's last interview, December 8, 1980|date=1980}} It eventually sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/278 278]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/278
}} The single also placed in the top 10 in several other countries, including number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1971.{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/dave-edmunds|title=Dave Edmunds: Chart History – Hot 100|website=Billboard.com|access-date=December 3, 2017}} In 1972, the song was included on Edmunds' first solo album Rockpile.
Edmunds performed the song, with the Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, on the 2008 Jools' Annual Hootenanny.{{Cite web|url=https://ontelly.co.uk/programme/jools-annual-hootenanny/jools-16th-annual-hootenanny-2008/|title=Jools' Annual Hootenanny - Jools' 16th Annual Hootenanny - 2008|website=ontelly.co.uk}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7fkZdHCaA|title=Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking (Jools Annual Hootenanny 2008)|via=www.youtube.com}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{{col-2}}
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+1971 year end charts !scope="col" |Chart !scope="col" |Peak |
| scope="row"| Australia Go-Set{{cite magazine|title=Top Singles for 1971|year=1971|magazine=Go-Set}}
|24 |
|---|
| scope="row"| Germany{{cite web| url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/single-jahr/for-date-1971| title=Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts 1971| publisher=Offizielle Deutsche Charts| language=de| access-date=August 12, 2018}}
|20 |
{{col-end}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Dave Edmunds}}
{{UK Christmas No. 1s in the 1970s|song}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Songs written by Dave Bartholomew
Category:UK singles chart number-one singles
Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in South Africa