Crawling up a Hill

Last updated
"Crawling up a Hill"
Single by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
B-side "Mr. James"
ReleasedMay 1964
Format 7" single
Genre Rhythm & Blues/Blues
Length2:15
Label Decca
Songwriter(s) John Mayall
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers singles chronology
"Crawling up a Hill"
(1964)		"Crocodile Walk"
(1965)
"Crawling up a Hill"
Single by Katie Melua
from the album Call Off the Search
B-side
  • "Crawling up a Hill" (live version)
  • "Jack's Room"
Released19 July 2004 (2004-07-19)
FormatCD
Genre Jazz, blues
Length3:29
Label Dramatico
Songwriter(s) John Mayall
Producer(s) Mike Batt
Katie Melua singles chronology
"Call Off the Search"
(2004)		"Crawling up a Hill"
(2004)		"Nine Million Bicycles"
(2005)

"Crawling up a Hill" is a song written by John Mayall, and recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. The song was released as a studio recorded single in 1964 and as part of the live album, John Mayall Plays John Mayall , in 1965. The single was the first released recording to feature future Fleetwood Mac core member John McVie on bass.

John Mayall English blues musician

John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, guitarist, organist and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band which has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers English blues band

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers was an English blues rock band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. While never producing a radio-friendly hit on their own, the Bluesbreakers' greatest legacy is as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands to come out of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s had members that came through the Bluesbreakers at one time, forming the foundation of British blues music that still appears heavily in classic rock radio. Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie, Mick Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, and numerous other musicians.

<i>John Mayall Plays John Mayall</i> 1965 live album by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

John Mayall Plays John Mayall is the debut album by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, released in 1965, Decca LK 4680. This album was recorded live at Klooks Kleek on 7 December 1964. Roger Dean stated in an interview that they ran cables out of the window of the club to the Decca Studio about 100 yards away for this recording.

Contents

The song was covered by Georgian-British singer Katie Melua for her debut album, Call Off the Search (2003). When released as a single, it peaked at number 46 in the United Kingdom and number 88 in the Netherlands.

Katie Melua British-Georgian singer and songwriter

Ketevan "Katie" Melua is a Georgian-British singer and songwriter. She moved to the United Kingdom at the age of eight – first to Belfast, and then to London in 1999. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's best-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist.

<i>Call Off the Search</i> 2003 studio album by Katie Melua

Call Off the Search is the debut studio album by Georgian-British jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, released in 2003.

Track listing

Katie Melua version

  1. "Crawling Up A Hill" 3:28
  2. "Crawling Up A Hill" (Live Version) 3:18
  3. "Jack's Room" 5:48
  4. "Crawling Up A Hill" (Video) 3:19

Personnel

Single

Singing Act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.

A combo organ, so-named and classified by popular culture due to its original intended use by small, touring jazz, pop and dance groups known as "combo bands", as well as some models having "Combo" as part of their brand or model names, is an electronic organ of the frequency divider type, generally produced between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. This type of organ predated, and contributed largely to, the development of modern synthesizers. The combo organ concept, at least in the context of mass-production, is thought to have arisen from popular demand, when smaller home organs were seen in music stores. Combo organs were probably originally developed in the United Kingdom, based on the Univox polyphonic version of the Clavioline, and some models included the inner-workings of Italian-made transistor accordions. They were the brainchild of necessity for portable organs of simple design, mainly for use in these small groups. Combo organs ended up having a major impact on the music scene of the mid- and late 1960s, particularly on rock and roll of that era.

Harmonica free reed wind instrument

The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, rock. There are many types of harmonica, including diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. A harmonica is played by using the mouth to direct air into or out of one or more holes along a mouthpiece. Behind each hole is a chamber containing at least one reed. A harmonica reed is a flat elongated spring typically made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end over a slot that serves as an airway. When the free end is made to vibrate by the player's air, it alternately blocks and unblocks the airway to produce sound.

John Mayall Plays John Mayall

Guitar Fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and typically four to six strings or courses. Since the 1960s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music.

Hughie Flint is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.

Charts (Katie Melua version)

Chart (2004)Peak
position
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [1] 88
Scotland (Official Charts Company) [2] 49
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) [3] 46
UK Indie (Official Charts Company) [4] 7

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References


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