{{Short description|Blues standard first recorded by Lucille Bogan}} {{about|the blues standard|the Rolling Stones song|Sweet Black Angel}} {{Infobox song | name = Black Angel Blues | cover = Black Angel Blues single cover.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Lucille Bogan | album = | B-side = Tricks Ain't Walking No More | released = {{Start date|1930|12}}–1931 | recorded = December 17, 1930 | studio = | venue = | genre = Blues | length = {{Duration|m=3|s=11}} | label = Brunswick (no. 7186) | writer = Unknown | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} "'''Black Angel Blues'''", also known as "'''Sweet Black Angel'''" or "'''Sweet Little Angel'''", is a blues standard that has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists.<ref> {{cite encyclopedia | last = Herzhaft | first = Gerard | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Blues | section = Sweet Little Angel | year = 1992 | location = Fayetteville, Arkansas | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | isbn = 1-55728-252-8 | page = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh/page/473 473] | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh/page/473 }}</ref> The song was first recorded in 1930 by Lucille Bogan, one of the classic female blues singers.<ref> {{cite book | last = Koda | first = Cub | author-link = Cub Koda | editor1-last = Erlewine | editor1-first = Michael | editor1-link = Michael Erlewine | title = All Music Guide to the Blues | section = Lucille Bogan | year = 1996 | location = San Francisco | publisher = Miller Freeman Books | isbn = 0-87930-424-3 | page = [https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetob00erle/page/26 26] }}</ref> Bogan recorded it as a mid-tempo, twelve-bar blues, featuring her vocal with piano accompaniment.
In 1934, Tampa Red recorded "Black Angel Blues" for Vocalion Records. The song was performed at a slower tempo and featured prominent slide-guitar lines by Tampa Red. These early songs were released before Billboard or a similar reliable service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which version was more popular, although subsequent versions showed Tampa Red's influence. Robert Nighthawk recorded "Black Angel Blues" in 1949.<ref>Aristocrat Records 2301;</ref> Accompanying Nighthawk on vocal and electric slide guitar were bassist Willie Dixon, and pianist Ernest Lane (the single, with its flip side "Annie Lee Blues", listed the performers as "The Nighthawks").<!--Not the blues-rock band--> The following year Tampa Red recorded an updated version of the song, substituting a lyric and calling it "Sweet Little Angel";<ref>Victor Records 22-0107</ref> in 1953, Earl Hooker recorded it as "Sweet Angel".<ref>Rockin' Records 513</ref>
In 1956, B.B. King recorded "Sweet Little Angel" (RPM Records 468). According to King, "I got the idea for 'Sweet Little Angel' from Robert Nighthawk's 'Sweet Black Angel', though I later discovered that the song had been recorded by someone before Nighthawk. At the time 'black' was not a popular word, as it is now. Instead of using the old title, I changed it to 'Sweet Little Angel'—and that was a pretty big record for me".<ref> {{cite book | last = Danchin | first = Sebastian | title = Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B.B. King | year = 1998 | location = Jackson, Mississippi | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | isbn = 1-57806-017-6 | page = [https://archive.org/details/bluesboylifemusi00danc_0/page/38 38] | url = https://archive.org/details/bluesboylifemusi00danc_0/page/38 }}</ref> King's version, which included a horn section, was a stylistic shift for the song and it became a hit, reaching number eight on the Billboard R&B chart.<ref> {{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 | page = [https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/239 239] | url = https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit/page/239 }}</ref> In 1957, he re-recorded "Sweet Little Angel" for his first album ''Singin' the Blues''. Both versions prominently feature B.B. King's guitar work, with his note-bends "sounding almost like a lap steel in places."<ref> {{cite AV media notes | title = B.B. King: The Vintage Years | others = B.B. King | year = 2002 | last = Escott | first = Colin | author-link=Colin Escott | location = London | publisher = Ace Records | type = Box set booklet | id = Ace ABOXCD 8 | page = 42 }}</ref>
After B.B. King's success, many blues and other artists recorded their versions of "Sweet Little Angel". Robert Nighthawk's "Black Angel Blues" was inducted in 2007 into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame "Classics of Blues Recordings" category<ref> {{cite web | url = https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/black-angel-blues-robert-nighthawk-the-nighthawks-aristocrat-1949/ | author = Blues Foundation | title = 2007 Hall of Fame Inductees: Black Angel Blues – Robert Nighthawk (The Nighthawks) (Aristocrat, 1949) | website = The Blues Foundation | date = November 10, 2016 | access-date = February 7, 2017 }}</ref> and B.B. King's "Sweet Little Angel" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-by-name-qs/ | title = 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll | website = Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | year = 1995 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070502032502/http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-by-name-qs/ | archive-date = 2007-05-02 | access-date = April 6, 2014 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}{{B.B. King}} {{authority control}}
Category:1930 songs Category:Tampa Red songs Category:1949 singles Category:1956 singles Category:B. B. King songs Category:Blues songs Category:Brunswick Records singles Category:Songs with unknown songwriters Category:RPM Records (United States) singles
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