The Thrill Is Gone

"The Thrill Is Gone" Roy Hawkins/Rick Darnell

Version – B.B. King

BB King’s most listened to (and most re-recorded) song has a lot of lyrical things that blues songwriters can learn from.

The thrill is gone

The thrill is gone away

The thrill is gone baby

The thrill is gone away

You know you done me wrong baby

And you'll be sorry someday

The thrill is gone

It's gone away from me

The thrill is gone baby

The thrill is gone away from me

Although I'll still live on

But so lonely I'll be

The thrill is gone

It's gone away for good

Oh, the thrill is gone baby

Baby it’s gone away for good

Someday I know I'll be over it all baby

Just like I know a man should

You know I'm free, free now baby

I'm free from your spell

I'm free, free now

I'm free from your spell

And now that it's over

All I can do is wish you well

This song has very similar words in the first three verses. This makes it easy to understand and listen to – it’s catchy.   

It does tell a story over the course of its four verses –

You’ll be sorry you done me wrong

I’ll be lonely but I’ll live on

I’ll get over it

I did get over it.

Much of the song’s power comes from remaining right here in the present moment, describing a particular feeling. This is a strength of the blues as a song form and it enables timeless songs.  Unlike most blues songs, however, it also tells a linear story – but it is the story of how his feelings progress, not a narrative of events.  

Another little thing that sticks out for me - the phrase “The thrill is gone” begins each of the first three verses. Then it repeats in the second line with the word “baby” added. In each verse, the second line differs just a little bit from the first line, but says the same thing. This gives the singer more room to work with, and helps bring different degrees of emotion to the lyric.

I didn't appreciate “The Thrill Is Gone” until I started playing it myself and began to understand how sing-able it is. I hadn't picked up on the emotional progression that happens in the lyrics and how much emotion the singer can put into the song.

I had to learn it for a blues competition, of all things.

I think it was the year 2007. I was a finalist in the Telluride Blues Challenge which is part of the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival held in Colorado every year. At that time, each finalist played a 15 minute set and each of us had to perform the same “compulsory” song as dictated by the Festival and communicated us one week prior to the final. That particular year the song was “The Thrill Is Gone”. 

The singer, not the song? Or - is it the Blues or just a Blues?

One idea I had to promote blues songwriting in 2015 is to run a contest for a “new” blues song.

As I've stated plenty of times in this blog, I believe that blues music could become more popular with younger people if the songs were about things they can relate to and used up-to-date language and vocabulary. So - what would be the scoring criteria for such a contest? ¹

The International Blues Foundation sponsors several contests for musicians performing live. They use the criteria of blues content, vocal skill, instrumental skill, originality and stage presence. Blues content is given the most weight, and at first I thought this would be the only criterion that applies to a songwriting contest.

However, I am becoming to believe that you can’t just write a blues song without thinking about how it will be performed. The song, from a copyright point of view, can exist on paper alone. You can write out the melody and words, even indicate the blues inflections you hear in your mind, but it won’t be the blues until someone sings it as a blues. You can’t divorce the song from the performance when you are talking about the blues.

Let’s take Call it Stormy Monday as an example. Every blues singer knows this tune, it’s jazzier than most but I don’t think anyone would argue that this is a blues song. A great blues song. But it just isn't blues music when Pat Boone sings it.² 

The major song contests all state that performance and production quality will be ignored – the judges will listen to the song itself. Well, that’s baloney in practice, but I don’t think you could even make that stipulation in a blues song contest.

So if Pat Boone were to perform a song and submit it to my competition, would it score lower than a Big Joe Turner version of the same song? Should it?  

 Notes.

1.       1. I am working on developing such criteria and finding it painfully hard. Your suggestion are most welcome!

2.       2. Pat Boone Call It Stormy Monday from I’ll See You In My Dreams / This and That (Dot 1960)