Standard of the Week: 'The Sky is Crying'

In 1959, electric slide master Elmore James recorded an impromptu track in Chicago. Influenced by the rainy day, he picked up the guitar and wailed the blues, starting with the now famous line:

The sky is cryin' 
Can't you see the tears roll down the street 
The sky is cryin' 
Can't you see the tears roll down the street 
I've been looking for my baby 
And I wonder where can she be 

And  the rest is history; the song reached number #15 on the Billboard charts, and listed in the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Recording. It has since been covered by dozens of artists, such as:


Albert King:

Gary Moore:

Stevie Ray Vaughan:

Eric Clapton: