"Sad Mood" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...
, released on November 8, 1960 by
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
. Arranged and conducted by
Sammy Lowe
Sammy Lowe (May 14, 1918, Birmingham, Alabama – February 17, 1993, Birmingham) was an American trumpeter, arranger, and conductor.
Career
Lowe was active both in jazz and in R&B music, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. From the 1930s to ...
, the song charted within the top 30 of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot R&B Sides chart and the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Background
"Sad Mood" was first recorded in Cooke's second singles session for RCA on April 13, 1960.
The song was set aside after four takes, with Cooke unhappy with the way it was working.
Cooke gave it another go on October 1, 1960, this time with "strings, an all-star rhythm section, an assured vocal, and a
Sammy Lowe
Sammy Lowe (May 14, 1918, Birmingham, Alabama – February 17, 1993, Birmingham) was an American trumpeter, arranger, and conductor.
Career
Lowe was active both in jazz and in R&B music, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. From the 1930s to ...
arrangement."
Despite this, Cooke was still largely unhappy with the way it turned out, feeling it missed something.
"He had established a way of working with arranger
René Hall out on the Coast, and even though Sammy Lowe's string arrangements were not all that different from some of René's, the song still did not say Sam Cooke in the way that some of his earlier
Keen
Keen, Keen's, or Keens may refer to:
People
* Keen (surname)
* Thomas Keens (1870-1953), British politician Music and song
* "Keen" (song), a single by That Petrol Emotion
* Keen Records, American record label
* Keening, traditional Irish la ...
hits indelibly, if indefinably, had," said biographer Peter Guralnick.
Hugo & Luigi were nonetheless satisfied, and set themselves on making it the follow-up single to "
Chain Gang
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".
"Sad Mood" charted well, but sold only 150,000 copies, roughly one-quarter of the sales of its predecessor.
[Guralnick, Peter (2005). ''Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke''. New York: ]Back Bay Books
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...
, p. 325, 348, 361. First edition, 2005.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards.
Origin
Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
to the 2003 compilation ''
Portrait of a Legend: 1951–1964''.
* Sam Cooke —
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
* Clifton White — guitar
* David Francis — drums
* Milton Hinton — bass guitar
* Ernie Hayes — piano
* Everett Barksdale — violin
* Hinda Barnet — violin
* Alfred Brown — violin
* Max Cahn — violin
* Fred Fradkin — violin
* Archie Levin — violin
* Charles Libove — violin
* Harry Lookofsky — violin
* Ben Miller — violin
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
References
{{Authority control
1960 singles
Sam Cooke songs
Songs written by Sam Cooke
1960 songs
RCA Victor singles
Song recordings produced by Hugo & Luigi