"Born in Chicago" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

song written by

Nick Gravenites Nicholas George Gravenites ( '; October 2, 1938 – September 18, 2024) was an American Blues music, blues, Rock music, rock and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his work with Electric Flag (as their lead singe ...

. It was the opening track on the self-titled debut album by the

Paul Butterfield Blues Band The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an American blues and blues-rock band from Chicago. Formed in the summer of 1963, the group originally featured eponymous vocalist and harmonicist Paul Butterfield, guitarist Elvin Bishop, bassist Jerome ...

in 1965 and has since become 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 s ...

. Gravenites, who was born in Chicago, first performed the song when in a duo with guitarist

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American blues guitarist and composer. Born in Chicago, he became one of the first popular music stars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrume ...

, playing in clubs in the city in the early 1960s. When Bloomfield joined the

, he insisted that the band record it. Although Butterfield was at first reluctant to sing the song, the initial recording took place in the Mastertone Studio in New York City in April 1965, produced by

Paul Rothchild Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name) Paul is a common Latin Language, Latin masculine given name in countries and ethnicities with a Christian heritage (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Protest ...

for

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. David Dann, ''Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield's Life in the Blues'', University of Texas Press, 2019, pp.143, 208
/ref> The track was included on an Elektra Records

sampler album A sampler or promotional compilation is a type of compilation album generally offered at a reduced price to showcase an artist or a selection of artists signed to a particular record label. The format became popular in the late 1960s as record labe ...

, ''Folksong '65''. The popularity of the track led to Rothchild requiring a revised version, for inclusion on the band's debut album. The second recording, with additional organ by

Mark Naftalin Mark Naftalin (born August 2, 1944) is an American blues keyboardist and record producer. He appears on the first five albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the mid 1960s as a band member, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Ha ...

, additional choruses and solos, and using better recording equipment, took place in September 1965. The album was released in October 1965, and became successful as one of the first in the U.S. to present blues material to a predominantly white

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

audience. "Born in Chicago" was later recorded by a wide range of artists, including

Jesse Colin Young Perry Miller (November 22, 1941 – March 16, 2025), known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, was an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972, ...

(1972),

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

(1990),

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s US rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Al ...

(1991),

Joe Louis Walker Louis Joseph Walker Jr. (December 25, 1949 – April 30, 2025), known as Joe Louis Walker, was an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history is revealed by his u ...

(2003), and

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

(2004). In 2016, critic Jay Gentile wrote of the song: "... tcould not be more relevant today. With lyrics that run though young friends who went down presumably to gun violence, the song could serve as a soundtrack to today’s gun violence debate." Jay Gentile, "The 15 Most 'Chicago' Songs Ever Recorded", ''Thrillist.com'', January 25, 2016
Retrieved May 1, 2020

References

{{authority control 1965 songs Blues songs