LUTHER ALISSON - EVIL IS GOING ON

EVIL IS GOING ON

LUTHER ALISSON

SONGWRITER: WILLIE DIXON

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: BAD NEWS IS COMING

LABEL: GORDY

GENRE: BLUES

YEAR: 1972

"Evil", sometimes listed as "Evil (Is Going On)", is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon. Howlin' Wolf recorded the song for Chess Records in 1954. It was included on the 1959 compilation album Moanin' in the Moonlight. When he re-recorded it for The Howlin' Wolf Album in 1969, "Evil" became Wolf's last charting single (#43 Billboard R&B chart).

The 1954 song features sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams (guitars), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (double-bass), and Earl Phillips (drums). Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto. The song, a twelve-bar blues, is punctuated with a syncopated backbeat, brief instrumental improvisations, upper-end piano figures, and intermittent blues harp provided by Wolf. The lyrics caution about the "evil" that takes place in a man's home when he is away, concluding with "you better watch your happy home".

Luther Allison (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, and moved with his family to Chicago in 1951. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he began hanging around outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being invited to perform. He played with Howlin' Wolf's band and backed James Cotton.

You're a long way from home and you can't sleep at night

Grab your telephone now somethin' ain't right

And that's evil, evil

Going home baby, yeah

I said I'm warnin' you brothers

You'd better watch your happy home, yeah, yeah

Long way from home and you can't sleep at night

Feels like another mule's kickin' in my stall

And that's evil, evil

Going out baby, yeah

I said I'm warnin' you brothers

You'd better watch your happy home

Watch your happy, watch your happy, happy home, yeah

You're a long way from home and you can't sleep at night

Feels like another mule's kickin' in my stall

And that's evil, evil

Going home baby, yeah

I said I'm warnin' you brothers

You'd better watch your happy home

Watch your happy, watch your happy, happy home

Evil yeah, evil right

Evil yeah, evil now

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah

You're a long way from home and you can't sleep at night