| Evil Is Goin' On | |
| Cover: | HowlinWolf-EvilIsGoinOn.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Howlin' Wolf |
| B-Side: | Baby How Long |
| Album: | Moanin' in the Moonlight |
| Recorded: | 1954 |
| Studio: | Chess, Chicago |
| Genre: | Chicago blues |
| Label: | Chess |
| Producer: | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon |
| Prev Title: | Baby How Long |
| Prev Year: | 1954 |
| Next Title: | Forty Four |
| Next Year: | 1954 |
"Evil", sometimes listed as "Evil (Is Going On)", is a Chicago blues song written by Willie Dixon.[1] Howlin' Wolf recorded the song in Chicago for Chess Records in 1954.[2] 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, reaching number 43 Billboard R&B chart.[3]
Howlin' Wolf first recorded the song at Chess' studio in Chicago on May 25, 1954,[4] with sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams on guitars, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on double-bass, and Earl Phillips on drums.[5] Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto.[6] 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.[6] 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".[6]
. Joel Whitburn. 1988. Howlin' Wolf. Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Record Research. 0-89820-068-7. 198.