In June 1969, B.B. King walked into a New York studio and fundamentally changed the trajectory of the blues. It wasn’t just about the notes. It was the atmosphere. Most folks assume "The Thrill is Gone" was a B.B. original, but that’s actually not true at all. The song was first cut by a West Coast bluesman named Roy Hawkins back in 1951. Hawkins’ version had this clunky, almost jazzy piano feel with a mournful saxophone trailing behind it. It was good, sure, but it didn't have that "haunt your soul at 3 AM" quality that B.B. eventually gave it.
Honestly, the 1969 recording was a massive gamble.
B.B. was already a legend in the R&B world, but he hadn't fully "crossed over" to the massive pop audience yet. He was playing the Fillmore West to crowds of white kids who were obsessed with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. He needed something that bridged the gap between the delta dirt and the polished airwaves. Enter producer Bill Szymczyk. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he later produced The Eagles. He brought in a crew of young session musicians and decided to do something radical for a blues record: he added strings.
The Secret Sauce Behind the Sound
People usually think of "The Thrill is Gone" as a standard blues song. It’s not. It’s a 12-bar blues, yeah, but it’s in a minor key (B minor to be exact). Most blues is played in a major key with "blue notes" flattened for tension. Playing in a natural minor key like this creates a much more sophisticated, cinematic kind of sadness. It’s less "I lost my dog" and more "my world is ending and I’m just watching it happen."
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The strings were the real kicker.
B.B. was reportedly a bit skeptical at first. Usually, strings in the 60s meant "selling out" or making a record "sweet." But the arranger, Bert DeCoteaux, didn't make them sweet. He made them jagged. They swirl around B.B.'s guitar, Lucille, almost like they're arguing with her. When you listen to the track, pay attention to how the violins enter. They don't just play chords; they play counter-melodies that respond to King's vocal phrasing.
It’s basically a masterclass in tension and release.
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Then there’s the guitar tone. It’s biting. Most people describe B.B.’s tone as "warm," but on this track, it’s actually pretty sharp and percussive. He was using his Gibson ES-355—the one he famously named Lucille—plugged into a solid-state Lab Series L-5 amp later on, but for this specific session, he was dialing into that "honk." He used the Varitone switch on his guitar (likely in position 2) to scoop out the mid-frequencies. This gave him that "pinched" sound that cuts through the orchestra like a razor.
Why it Blew Up
You’ve gotta understand the timing. By 1970, when the song hit its peak, the "Blues Revival" was in full swing. But B.B. King was the real deal. "The Thrill is Gone" climbed to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. For a slow, mournful blues song, that was unheard of. It wasn't just a hit; it was an invitation. It invited people who had never stepped foot in a blues club to understand the emotional weight of the genre.
It won him a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
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But it did more than win awards. It defined his "signature" style for the rest of his life. If you saw B.B. live in 1980, 1995, or 2010, you knew this was the climax of the show. He’d start that iconic trill—that fluttering vibrato that no one has ever quite replicated—and the room would just go silent. He didn't play a lot of notes. He played the right notes. He’d hit one high B, let it shake for three bars, and tell more of a story than a shredder could in a thousand notes.
Common Misconceptions
- "He wrote it about a woman." While the lyrics are about a breakup, B.B. often joked that the thrill was never gone between him and Lucille.
- "It's a jazz song." It uses jazz-adjacent chords (like that Gmaj7 to F#7 move), but the heart is pure blues.
- "The album version is the hit." The version you hear on the radio is usually the 3:55 single edit. The album version on Completely Well is over five minutes long and has a much more sprawling, atmospheric ending.
How to Actually Play It (The Expert Way)
If you’re a guitar player trying to cover this, stop playing so many notes. Seriously. B.B.’s magic was in the space between the sounds.
- The Vibrato: Don’t shake your whole hand like you’re nervous. B.B. used his index finger as a pivot point and rotated his wrist. It’s a "butterfly" vibrato. Fast, but controlled.
- The "B.B. Box": Focus on the 10th through 12th frets on the top three strings. That’s where he lived.
- The Dynamics: He’d pick the string softly, then suddenly snap it to make Lucille "scream." It’s all in the right hand.
- The Bends: He almost always bent up to the root note (B). It creates a sense of resolution that feels like a sigh of relief.
What’s wild is how the song has aged. It doesn’t sound like 1969. It sounds like a mood that exists outside of time. Whether it’s the original studio cut or the legendary 1971 performance from Live in Cook County Jail, the power is the same. It’s a record about the dignity of moving on. You're sad, yeah, but you're "free from the spell."
To really understand the impact of "The Thrill is Gone," you have to look at what happened to the blues afterward. It opened the doors for artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray to find mainstream success. It proved that the blues didn't have to stay in the Delta; it could live in a penthouse or a concert hall and still keep its soul.
Next Steps for Music Lovers:
- Listen to the Roy Hawkins 1951 original to hear just how much B.B. transformed the arrangement.
- Compare the studio version to the Live at San Quentin (1991) version to see how B.B.'s phrasing evolved over twenty years.
- If you're a musician, practice the B minor pentatonic scale but limit yourself to only three notes per phrase to capture that "less is more" philosophy.