I am probably one of few the younger people out there who heard and know of this song before Cadillac Records or hearing clips of it in the newest Viagra commercial! U can't beat the classics
I think Howlin' Wolf had a big influence on the Stones & Clapton and a few others. Wish this had better audio but given it's rarity & age......Thanks for posting it!
I think this song kind of ipitomizes what Howlin' Wolf was all about. That howlin' sound... and Hubert's guitar twangin' away behind his howls... He's my favorite.
How sad that one of the greatest blues tunes has been used in a boner drug commercial. Wolf must be spinning... Then again it looks like a few folks have discovered him through the advertisement (along with Hubert Sumlin on guitar), so I guess there's a silver lining. As for the ad., only a moron would pour cold water into the radiator of an overheating engine that is not running at the time. Can you say cracked block?
i have always liked the blues. i am now getting my four year old daughter interested in these great artists, i think she should now where the music today got its start
It's sad that I first heard this tune on a Viagra commercial, but I gotta admit... once I actually listen to this song, it's pretty freaking badass! I remember hearing about Howlin' Wolf from A3's Woke Up This Morning. Sounds like he was a great artist after all!
Yes, you can see 99 photos (including the rare! portraits of this great man that we made in S.F. and Chicago) at my site howlingwolfphotos com They pop up large - but I had to add ugly watermarks on them and keep them low res to preclude some of the continuous infringement which Wolf and I did not want happening, He suffered it so much his estate sued Chess and won well over $1.3 million) Getty Images Legal handles mine. Wolf & I made songs, discussed hi8s life, more. Some on tape.
My parents financed a black nightclub back in the 50s in Mississippi and I used to go around to listen to the music on the jukebox and remember all of the songs of that era. I had forgotten a lot of them, but Smokestack Lightning was my favorite as I became a railroad engineer and have since retired.I remember sitting in a sidetrack in Ms. and seeing a diesel engine with bad injectors coming over the Rigolets and the exhausts would be like the SL mentioned in the song! Shined like gold!
@rosybuddy28 Wolf said the song was inspired by watching trains in the night: "We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning."
never heard of him til i saw the movie Cadillac Records, what a bluezy song. there are so many great black singers out there that many young ppl now don't know about til they do a movie about them. I didnt know about Muddy Waters or Little Walter until the movie but i'm glad they did the movie so young ppl can give recognition to music that was good at the time compared to alot of reuse and crappy music now days.
@kapparhotau181 Cadillac Records did that great service though it was so very inaccurate (for example Phil Chess was 65 then, Etta James happily married and already known, a Chess brother not shown, no Sonny Boy III or Bo Diddley etc. and the actors did their own singing. Eamonn Walker playing Wolf did well but had only 20 lines, and Wolf did not go to Chicago in a truck. Little Walter not so psycho and "rival" Wolf actually helped Muddy keep going when Muddy went broke. Still, the movie helped.
@kapparhotau181 haha, 'compared to a lot of reuse and crappy music now adays' thats exactly what rock and roll was built on. You think Elvis wrote 'like a hound dog'? You think cream wrote 'spoonfull'? You think the animals wrote 'house of the rising sun'? Big mama thorton, charlie patton, leadbelly. Rock and roll was built on plagerism....or not, plagarism, but 'reuse'. That's the history of music in this country....learn about it son!
@kapparhotau181 there was just as much shitty music around back then as there is today. And there's just as much great music today as there was back then. That's pretty obvious once you stop relying on radio or mtv or whatever for your music. Outside the mainstream is forever where it's at.
Are the Creaters of the orignal Rock n Roll, The music that actually has meaning to it the music that just touches you when you listin to it, thumbs up if you agree! (Y)
@posv2 Also check out some of T-bone Walker's recordings from the early fifties and late forties. You will hear many "Chuck Berry" riffs that were recorded LONG before Chuck Berry was
@posv2 The actual "creator" of Rock was Arthur Crudup.Not even yet inducted Rock Hall. Not one royalty for his classic blues too. Early on Elvis covered THREE Crudup songs. each went gold. That opened doors for black rockers LR & CB. Wolf, Muddy and Bo were the 3 next biggest influences in that order but Wolf less known coz sold out less. Wolf actually was big influence on heavy metal ala Hendix etc. Brits like ripoff Zep (unlike STones, who went out of their way to tell of him (my friend)
Lol now the theme of viagra
MrCraigary123 5 days ago
I have just been put inside of seedy bar with cheap liquor, cigarettes and loose men and women. Guess I'll be here til closing time.
VirgoWunder 3 weeks ago
It may be my device or connection but it sounds horribly distorted, corrupted, and digital. Damn kids and their facetube.
jessed3290 2 months ago
R.I.P Hubert, you've gone on to jam with Robert Johnson, The Wolf, and Big Muddy, Lightning Sam and many more.
MrDanzo711 2 months ago
R.I.P. Hubert Sumlin.
wsoxmike59 2 months ago
This song reeks of booze and filthy sex. I love it!
crazymonstergirl 2 months ago in playlist music
Makes you wanta go out and buy VIAGRA,,right??
THEMOJOMANsince1959 3 months ago
I am probably one of few the younger people out there who heard and know of this song before Cadillac Records or hearing clips of it in the newest Viagra commercial! U can't beat the classics
DFrnkln06 3 months ago
learned about him before but it went in def tonight on a metal doc show haha how hes connected and inspired metal, this guy is sick!
themightydumbass 3 months ago
This was on Misfits! Next episode tonight 10.00!!:)
RedIndieOrange 3 months ago
vigra song....
ChronicChroniclesGDJ 4 months ago
I thought Cadillac Records was a severely subpar movie.
Huffstuff420 4 months ago
Hell yes!!! My favorite Wolf tune!!!
richbowenmusic 4 months ago
Mmm,mmm, mmm, Stop yo train!!! Yes indeed....
SingItGrl 5 months ago
Love this song. Thanks to Misfits!!(:
Bieberfever10185 5 months ago
Gawd...this one's a stone-cold groove.
wrath1987 5 months ago
I think Howlin' Wolf had a big influence on the Stones & Clapton and a few others. Wish this had better audio but given it's rarity & age......Thanks for posting it!
jackzupp 6 months ago
'Shining just like Gold'
best blues song ever
has it all
fastborzoi 8 months ago
Does anyone really believe the use of "Smokestack Lightning" in the Viagra Commercial wasn't on purpose
Rustylugs 8 months ago
This song was just used in a song for erectile disfunction' howling wolf is rolling over in his grave.
edavenport93 8 months ago
Dislikes? Why?
ALThickMadame 8 months ago
@ALThickMadame No doubt who's the stone deaf fools gave this a thumbs down?
richbowenmusic 4 months ago
I think this song kind of ipitomizes what Howlin' Wolf was all about. That howlin' sound... and Hubert's guitar twangin' away behind his howls... He's my favorite.
beckabluesband 9 months ago
A true blue legend. God bless ya Howlin Wolf.
glewy74 9 months ago 2
Holy shit! This guy just gave me goosebumps with that voice!! Power!!!
TheGazmaniac 9 months ago
stunning, must av scared the shit outa the local rednecks....pure power in that voice.
MrChillin65 10 months ago
stunning, must poscared the shit outa the rednecks...lol
MrChillin65 10 months ago
Why is the quality so HORRIBLE? can't even hear the song..?
Sleep891 10 months ago
@Sleep891 It's not horrible quality, it's from a vinyl record.
halfgoodhalfevil 10 months ago 2
I thank you so much for putting this on from a vinyl
punkindhouse08 10 months ago 2
Woww! the original vinyl and all......AWESOME!
mssquirrely 10 months ago 3
Lol yeah I heard the song coming from the tv,I stick my head around the corner,and it's a viagra commercial!
I'm like...lol I get it...unfortunately!
Hatafuriyamanokaiju 11 months ago
@Hatafuriyamanokaiju lmao yea!
MIZZYMARC 10 months ago
It keeps coming back; released in 1956, part of the soundtrack in "Little Big Man" in 1970, and now included in a Viagra commercial!
bdaddyization 11 months ago
love this!!!!
lyrics and alll!
Jazzxoxo3 11 months ago
How sad that one of the greatest blues tunes has been used in a boner drug commercial. Wolf must be spinning... Then again it looks like a few folks have discovered him through the advertisement (along with Hubert Sumlin on guitar), so I guess there's a silver lining. As for the ad., only a moron would pour cold water into the radiator of an overheating engine that is not running at the time. Can you say cracked block?
freen981 1 year ago
@freen981 how do you know it's not running? lol
vmaxx55 9 months ago
great song....to bad so many people forgot about out black pioneers
kholiday456 1 year ago
i have always liked the blues. i am now getting my four year old daughter interested in these great artists, i think she should now where the music today got its start
terrywhuff39 1 year ago
o velho lobo permanece fantástico.
jazzwilliamjazz 1 year ago
Definitely wanna dance it!
Mirtillina92 1 year ago
Artists these days don't have this much soul
MSMETALBABY 1 year ago
I love Misfits!
Domipet 1 year ago 4
lol heard this in misfits last night
moljinerdude 1 year ago 11
the wolf was a pioneer in those days! loved his stuff!
jbeng1953 1 year ago
It's sad that I first heard this tune on a Viagra commercial, but I gotta admit... once I actually listen to this song, it's pretty freaking badass! I remember hearing about Howlin' Wolf from A3's Woke Up This Morning. Sounds like he was a great artist after all!
AlphaNinerTwo 1 year ago
Just............... WooooooooooooW!
roadhound101 1 year ago
WooooooooooooW!
roadhound101 1 year ago
this is timeless music........period!
TheBkilla3 1 year ago
Yes, you can see 99 photos (including the rare! portraits of this great man that we made in S.F. and Chicago) at my site howlingwolfphotos com They pop up large - but I had to add ugly watermarks on them and keep them low res to preclude some of the continuous infringement which Wolf and I did not want happening, He suffered it so much his estate sued Chess and won well over $1.3 million) Getty Images Legal handles mine. Wolf & I made songs, discussed hi8s life, more. Some on tape.
howlingsandy 1 year ago
My parents financed a black nightclub back in the 50s in Mississippi and I used to go around to listen to the music on the jukebox and remember all of the songs of that era. I had forgotten a lot of them, but Smokestack Lightning was my favorite as I became a railroad engineer and have since retired.I remember sitting in a sidetrack in Ms. and seeing a diesel engine with bad injectors coming over the Rigolets and the exhausts would be like the SL mentioned in the song! Shined like gold!
gymbo0706 1 year ago 3
How could any human being not love this?????
johntg123 1 year ago
Could anyone give some insight as to what this song is about to a 30 year old Singaporean of East Indian ethnicity? What's a smokestack lightning?
rosybuddy28 1 year ago
@rosybuddy28 Wolf said the song was inspired by watching trains in the night: "We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning."
johntg123 1 year ago
Everytime i these old records it just makes me even happier to be from Mississippi.....
187MOMURDA187 1 year ago
My Mom plays his songs all the time, so I've known of him since I was... What, 9?
Howlin' Wolf is amazing. Enough said.
SpottedleafCCRVMK 1 year ago
Seeing all the kids commenting on this suggests there's hope.
joynthis 1 year ago
can u hear me cry mamarush
djstevechitown 1 year ago
never heard of him til i saw the movie Cadillac Records, what a bluezy song. there are so many great black singers out there that many young ppl now don't know about til they do a movie about them. I didnt know about Muddy Waters or Little Walter until the movie but i'm glad they did the movie so young ppl can give recognition to music that was good at the time compared to alot of reuse and crappy music now days.
kapparhotau181 1 year ago 47
@kapparhotau181 Cadillac Records did that great service though it was so very inaccurate (for example Phil Chess was 65 then, Etta James happily married and already known, a Chess brother not shown, no Sonny Boy III or Bo Diddley etc. and the actors did their own singing. Eamonn Walker playing Wolf did well but had only 20 lines, and Wolf did not go to Chicago in a truck. Little Walter not so psycho and "rival" Wolf actually helped Muddy keep going when Muddy went broke. Still, the movie helped.
howlingsandy 1 year ago 2
@howlingsandy I thought it was a Budweiser commercial?
arch9enius 1 year ago
@kapparhotau181 haha, 'compared to a lot of reuse and crappy music now adays' thats exactly what rock and roll was built on. You think Elvis wrote 'like a hound dog'? You think cream wrote 'spoonfull'? You think the animals wrote 'house of the rising sun'? Big mama thorton, charlie patton, leadbelly. Rock and roll was built on plagerism....or not, plagarism, but 'reuse'. That's the history of music in this country....learn about it son!
jdowneybitch 10 months ago 4
@kapparhotau181 there was just as much shitty music around back then as there is today. And there's just as much great music today as there was back then. That's pretty obvious once you stop relying on radio or mtv or whatever for your music. Outside the mainstream is forever where it's at.
ecclesiasticous 7 months ago
@kapparhotau181 Well, at least there is some hope from the young people today
MrEnrohk 1 month ago
can you hear me son of mine mama rush36
djstevechitown 1 year ago
Muddy Walter
Little Walter
Howlin Wolf &
Little Richard
Are the Creaters of the orignal Rock n Roll, The music that actually has meaning to it the music that just touches you when you listin to it, thumbs up if you agree! (Y)
posv2 1 year ago 2
@posv2 Also check out some of T-bone Walker's recordings from the early fifties and late forties. You will hear many "Chuck Berry" riffs that were recorded LONG before Chuck Berry was
zalman595 1 year ago
@posv2 The actual "creator" of Rock was Arthur Crudup.Not even yet inducted Rock Hall. Not one royalty for his classic blues too. Early on Elvis covered THREE Crudup songs. each went gold. That opened doors for black rockers LR & CB. Wolf, Muddy and Bo were the 3 next biggest influences in that order but Wolf less known coz sold out less. Wolf actually was big influence on heavy metal ala Hendix etc. Brits like ripoff Zep (unlike STones, who went out of their way to tell of him (my friend)
howlingsandy 1 year ago
goddammit this is so badass, even many metal bands out there can't hold a candle to this.
Brekky57 1 year ago 3
HOOOOOOOOT DAMN!!! THIS IS ONE OF THOSE SONGS THAT WILL TURN YOUR PISS INTO GASOLINE!!!!
mrknowitalllt1 1 year ago 2
brilliant, never heard of this guy until i watched Cadillac records
steptoandson 1 year ago 2
this is tha only kind of songs i listen nd this is ma fav...
boonunies 1 year ago 3
Classic!
Love those old records.
Bismarck3000 1 year ago 2
Love this song
Erin750 1 year ago 2
That was the version I remember from the Hunter Hancock and Johnny Otis shows in the 50's.
19thcentury 2 years ago
Bad ass song
Tiezoke 2 years ago 30
Bad ass song !
Tiezoke 2 years ago 3