"Long Distance Call" is a blues song written and performed by Muddy Waters, who wrote both the music and the words. Waters recorded it on 23 January 1951 in Chicago, with Little Walter on harmonica and Ernest "Big" Crawford on bass, in a session that also produced "Too Young To Know", "Honey Bee" and "Howlin' Wolf". Chess Records released it as a single (1452) later that year, with "Too Young To Know" on the B-side, and it reached No. 8 on the US R&B chart. It was included on the 1958 compilation The Best of Muddy Waters. The song originates in "Long Distance Moan", recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1929. Critics regard it as a definitive modern blues classic, and Waters's singing, which slides between major and blue tones, is cited as an example of blue notes. In 1969 Waters said that it was his favourite of his recordings. Later versions include those by John Hammond, Howlin' Wolf with Bo Diddley, John Mayall, and Little Feat with Bonnie Raitt.
