Blues Is King (song)

"Blues Is King" originated as an instrumental titled "Bruce Is King" (named in reference to musician Bruce Springsteen).[1] Crenshaw made this original demo playing Mosrite guitars.[2] "Bruce Is King" was later released on the rarities album The 9 Volt Years.

Crenshaw recalled struggling to come up with lyrics for the song; he explained, "I was really struggling to come up with an idea. I thought of this old B.B. King album title, Blues Is King. I made that the title of the song."[3] Crenshaw attempted to keep the lyrics "deliberately ambiguous, where I said it doesn't matter, let's just make these sounds and it'll come out all right."[4] The song was produced by Mitch Easter and Crenshaw, making it the only song on Downtown not produced by T Bone Burnett.

"Blues Is King" was released as the third track on Crenshaw's third album, Downtown, in 1985. Though it was not released commercially as a single, a promotional single with the song on both sides was released that same year to DJs.[5] The song has also appeared on the compilation This Is Easy: The Best of Marshall Crenshaw.

Joe Sasfy of The Washington Post described the song as "vintage Crenshaw."[6] Scott Bernarde of Sun-Sentinel wrote, "Crenshaw, the '80s king of '50s and '60s reverb and twang, puts those effects to good use" on the song.[7]

Crenshaw has mixed feelings about the song, praising its music but expressing dislike for its lyrics. He explained, "I was never 100 percent happy with the lyrics, but I always thought the music was really beautiful, and that the track was nice, too."[3] Crenshaw does not perform the song live often; he said in 1991, "I can't sing that song now because it's a joke to me. That`s the point. I like clear, plain language."[4]