Five Long Years is a blues classic written and first recorded by Eddie Boyd in 1952. It was released as a July 1952 single on the J.O.B. label, with the B-side Blue Coat Man, recorded in May–June 1952 at Modern Recording in Chicago. The tune is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues notated in 12/8 in the key of C, telling the story of a metal worker who works five long years and gives his pay to a girlfriend who eventually dumps him. Boyd sings with piano, backed by Ernest Cotton on tenor sax, L. C. McKinley on guitar, Alfred Elkins on bass, and Percy Walker on drums, and the song became a Billboard R&B chart topper. It is considered a postwar blues standard with universal appeal, and has been covered by many artists including Junior Parker, Eric Clapton with the Yardbirds, B. B. King, and Buddy Guy with Junior Wells; Eddie Boyd’s original was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2011.
