Killing The Blues

Album: Raising Sand (2007)
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Songfacts®:

  • Born from the wreckage of a broken heart, "Killing the Blues" was written in the mid-1970s by American musician Roly Salley. Since 1985, Salley has held the role of Chris Isaak's bass guitarist.

    "It's a song about a personal situation," he told the YouTube channel Musicians on the Record. "There was someone I was with at the time. We had agreed to clean up our act. I did it. She skipped. It was a fork in the road. And I took it."
  • This song was used in an advertising campaign for the chain store JC Penney, which features sentimental images of "heartland" Americana, such as family reunions and Fourth of July celebrations.
  • Robert Plant recalled to the London Times May 3, 2008: "When I first heard that song, after T. Bone (producer T-Bone Burnett) sent his collection of songs, I was driving through the Welsh borders in Herefordshire. I just stopped the car. It was so poignant, so masterly."

    Krauss added in the same interview: "And the melody was so. When you combine a melody that lifts you up with a lyric like that, it's a twisted thing. When you get that combination, that is really something."
  • This was #51 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

Comments: 6

  • Vive from Coloradonobody sings it like Malcolm Holcombe !
  • Geoff Crowe from MichiganI love Chris Smither's version, but love Shawn Colvin's take on the song even more!
  • Lester Lauchlan from CanadaBest version I have found...Malcolm Holcomb. Check it out.
  • Nichting from Durham john prine has a killer version; comparable but less bluesy than smither. smither nails the blues of the song
  • Larry from U.s.a.Do yourselves a favor and check out the version by Chris Smither!
  • Marie from N Ew Britain, CtI've loved this song forever. Krauss/Plant are great but nobody sings it like Roly Salley.
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