Gangster of Love
| "Gangster of Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Johnny "Guitar" Watson | ||||
| B-side | "One Room Country Shack" | |||
| Released | 1957 | |||
| Format | 7" 45 rpm record | |||
| Recorded | 1957 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 2:45 | |||
| Label | Keen (Cat. no. 3-4005) | |||
| Writer(s) | Johnny "Guitar" Watson | |||
| Johnny "Guitar" Watson singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Gangster of Love" is a blues song recorded by Johnny "Guitar" Watson in 1957. When Watson re-recorded the song in 1978, it became a hit. It has been identified as "his most famous song"[1] and has been recorded by several artists.
Original song
Johnny "Guitar" Watson first recorded a demo version of "Gangster of Love" while he was with RPM Records in the mid-1950s.[2] In 1957, a version of the song, a mid-tempo blues shuffle featuring a stop-time arrangement, was released by Keen Records. The single did not appear in the record charts. However, with Johnny Otis producing, Watson re-recorded the song in 1963 for King Records (5774) "reaching a few more listeners this time".[2][3]
1970s version
In 1978, during his "flamboyant funkster" phase, Watson's recorded an updated "Gangster of Love" for DJM Records. It became a hit, reaching #32 during a stay of thirteen weeks in the Billboard R&B chart.[4] The song was a feature of his live shows, with some performances playing up the gangster theme with a simulated siren and a mock police bulletin. Most versions open with:
- Jesse James and Frank James, Billy the Kid all the rest
- Supposed to be some bad cats, out in the West
- But when they dug me, and my gangster ways
- They hung up their guns, and made it to the grave
- 'Cause I'm a gangster of love...
Other versions
Early in his career, Johnny Winter recorded "Gangster of Love" which was released as a single in 1964 (Frolic 45-1016). The song appears on the 1965 Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs album Wooly Bully. The Steve Miller Band included a version on their 1968 Sailor album (though this is not to be confused with the band's song The Joker, which contains the lyric "some call me the Gangster of Love"). Miller also referenced the song in some of his other songs and it became part of his concert repertoire.
References
- ↑ Ritz, David (1999). The Very Best of Johnny "Guitar Watson" (liner notes). Rhino Records. p. 5. R2 75702.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dahl, Bill (1996). All Music Guide to the Blues. Miller Freeman Books. p. 271. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.
- ↑ In 2006, Watson's 1963 version was used in an Axe Clix commercial.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942-1988. Record Research, Inc. p. 436. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.