Who wrote "3 O'clock Blues

[medjuck]

The death of BB King brought this to mind again. Wikipedia says it was Lowell Fulsom and somewhere I read or head B.B. saying Lowell wrote it. Certainly he recorded it first but the original label of BB's version list it as being by "King", the box set of B.B.'s recordings put out by MCA list it as by "Jules Taub and B.B. King" and a compilation of recordings from the Bihari Brothers' catalogue includes a version by Larry Davis (a cover of BB's version) saying it's by "Taub-King". (Is Jules Taub perhaps Jules Bihari?).

(BTW To confuse me even more one of the King obit's I read said Lowell wrote The Thrill is Gone-- which is definitely not true. )

[Fer Urbina]

Taub was the maiden name of Esther, the Bihari's mother. According to Wikipedia, Joe Bihari was "Joe Josea", Jules Bihari was "Jules Taub", and Sam Bihari was "Sam Ling".

As for who wrote "Three O'Clock Blues", the book in The Vintage Years, the 4-CD set by Ace records, credits it to "Riley B. King, Jules Taub", but in the accompanying paragraph it says

'3 O'Clock Blues' had been a fleeting hit four years earlier for its composer, Lowell Fulson [sic], but B.B.'s version became one of the top-selling R&B records of 1952.

F

Edited May 16, 2015 by Fer Urbina

[John L]

BB King often got composer credit or co-composer credit on songs that he didn't actually write, at least not from scratch. BB King generally took songs from others and put such a distinctive stamp on them that one might argue that he re-composed them.

Lowell Fulson recorded 3'O Clock Blues and Every Day I Have the Blues around the same time in the late 1940s. BB King would seem to have gotten both songs from Fulson, although "Every Day I Have the Blues" really comes from Memphis Slim, who first recorded it as "Nobody Loves Me."

BB King got "The Thrill is Gone" from Roy Hawkins. BB's version is so different that it virtually qualifies as a different song.

Edited May 17, 2015 by John L