"Born Under a Bad Sign" is a blues song recorded by American blues singer and guitarist

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

in 1967. Called "a timeless staple of the blues", the song also had strong crossover appeal to the rock audience with its synchronous bass and guitar lines and topical astrology reference. "Born Under a Bad Sign" appeared on the R&B chart and became a

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues ...

Original song

The lyrics to "Born Under a Bad Sign" were written by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

singer William Bell with music by Stax bandleader

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

(of Booker T. & the M.G.'s). Bell recalled, "We needed a blues song for Albert King ... I had this idea in the back of my mind that I was gonna do myself.

Astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

and all that stuff was pretty big then. I got this idea that tmight work." The lyrics describe "hard luck and trouble" tempered by "wine and women", with wordplay in the chorus in the turnaround: Similar verses appear in earlier songs. In 1947, pianist and singer

Cousin Joe Pleasant Joseph, known as Cousin Joe, (December 20, 1907 — October 2, 1989) was a New Orleans blues and jazz singer, famous for his 1940s recordings with Sidney Bechet and Mezz Mezzrow. Life He was born in Wallace, Louisiana, United States, an ...

recorded "Bad Luck Blues" with the Sam Price Trio, which contains the lyrics "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all".

Lightnin' Slim Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great bl ...

's 1954

swamp blues Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertatio ...

recording of "Bad Luck Blues" contains the same lines and also includes "Cause bad luck's been followin' po' Lightnin', ever since I began to crawl". Jones's arrangement for the song does not follow the typical twelve-bar blues I-IV-V progression. Rather, it is dominated by an R&B-style bass/rhythm guitar line, which Bell claimed that he came up with "while fooling around on the guitar". Albert King provided his signature guitar fills around his vocals and solos during the break and outro, with backing by Booker T. & the M.G.'s and

the Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...

. "Born Under a Bad Sign" reached number 49 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Top Selling R&B singles chart. It was later included on his first album for Stax, also titled ''

Born Under a Bad Sign ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' is the second compilation album by American blues musician Albert King, released in August 1967 by Stax Records. It features eleven electric blues songs that were recorded from March 1966 to June 1967, throughout fiv ...

''. The album's cover depicts images of " bad luck signs" or common superstitions, including a black cat, a Friday the 13th calendar page,

skull and crossbones A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two long bones crossed together under or behind the skull. The design originated in the Late Middle Ages as a symbol of death and especially as a ''memento mori'' on tombstones. ...

ace of spades The Ace of Spades (also known as the Spadille and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game. Design The orn ...

, and snake eyes. Subsequently, the song has appeared on numerous King and various artist collections. Albert King recorded an updated version of "Born Under a Bad Sign" with producer Allen Toussaint for his 1978 ''New Orleans Heat'' album. Live versions are included on '' Wednesday Night in San Francisco'', ''Chicago 1978'', '' In Session'' with Stevie Ray Vaughan, ''The Godfather of the Blues: His Last European Tour 1992'', and ''Talkin' Blues'' (see Albert King discography for album details). Co-writers William Bell (1969 ''Bound to Happen'') and Booker T. Jones (1968 ''

Soul Limbo ''Soul Limbo'' is the seventh studio album by the American R&B band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in 1968 on Stax Records. The album was the first Stax LP issued after the label severed its ties with former distributor Atlantic Records in 1 ...

'') each recorded the song. Bell re-recorded it for his 2016 album '' This Is Where I Live''.

Cream version

British rock group

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

recorded "Born Under a Bad Sign" for their third album, ''

Wheels of Fire ''Wheels of Fire'' is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in the US in June 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It was released in the UK on August 9. It ...

'' (1968). The group's record company, which also distributed Stax records, requested that they record it, according to guitarist Eric Clapton. Cream's rendition follows Albert King's, except for bassist and singer

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

combining two verses into "I've been down ever since I was ten" and an extended guitar solo by Clapton. Musicologist Robert Palmer described Clapton's playing as "practically Albert King parodies". Cream recorded a live version for the BBC October 24, 1967, which was released on '' BBC Sessions'' in 2003. Another live version was recorded during their reunion performances in 2005 and included on '' Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005''.

Recognition and influence

In 1988, Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" was inducted into the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

Hall of Fame. Writing for the Foundation, Jim O'Neal called it "one of the signature hits of Albert King that started to win the left-handed string-bender a crossover following in 1967, as he began to break out of the chittlin circuit to invade rock venues like the Fillmore". King's song is also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Music writer

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''New Musical Express'' and many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of ...

commented "tunes like ' Crosscut Saw', 'Oh Pretty Woman' and, most of all, 'Born Under a Bad Sign' rapidly became

blues standards Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...

" and showed King's influence among blues-oriented artists.

References

{{authority control Songs about luck 1967 songs 1967 singles Stax Records singles Albert King songs Blues songs Cream (band) songs Songs written by William Bell (singer) Songs written by Booker T. Jones