THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

932-Gary Moore-Still Got the Blues (For You.)

1990-Number 31 single.

Best Bit-At 5.03. If guitars could speak, this one would be saying everything you ever wanted to hear.

Robert William Gary Moore was born on April 4th, 1952, in Belfast, Northern Island, he died on February 6th, 2011, of a heart attack in his sleep, at the age of 58. At certain points in his life Moore had been a drug user, and during the later years of his life he had developed a serious drinking problem. It was reported that the heart attack was brought on by a high level of alcohol in his body at that time.

Gary Moore cited Peter Green, (1946-2020) the founding member of Fleetwood Mac (see also best songs 622) and Eric Clapton (see also best songs 726) as his musical inspirations. In 1968 Moore left Belfast, and moved to Dublin, Ireland, where he joined the Irish Blues Rock band ‘Skid Row,’ (not to be confused with the American group of the same name) this was where he first met Phil Lynott, (1949-1986) (see also best songs 125) who at that time was that bands vocalist. In 1974 Moore and Lynott would again play together in ‘Thin Lizzy’ for a short time, and then again they would team up in 1977, and again in 1978. Following the death of Lynott in 1986, Moore performed with members of Thin Lizzy at the ‘Self Aid’ concert the following May.

The discography of Gary Moore includes two studio Albums recorded with ‘Skid Row,’ in 1970 and 1971, and as a full time member of ‘Thin Lizzy, on their ninth studio Album ‘Black Rose: A Rock Legend,’ in 1979. As a solo artist Moore released 17 studio Albums between 1978-2008, there was also one posthumous release in 2021. He also issued 53 singles between 1978-2011, of which 11 made the UK top 40, with his two collaborations with Phil Lynott on ‘Parisienne Walkways,’ (1979-Number 8) and ‘Out in the Fields,’ (1985-Number 5) giving him both of his top 10 hits. In America his only Billboard Hot 100 entry was ‘Still Got the Blues (For You’) which crept in the chart at Number 97 in 1990.

‘Still Got the Blues (For You’) was the second of four singles released from Gary Moore’s eighth studio Album ‘Still Got the Blues’ from March 1990. The song was written by Moore, and produced by Moore, and the veteran producer and engineer Ian Taylor. By the late 1980’s Gary Moore had grown tired of playing ‘Hard Rock,’ and Heavy Metal,’ and decided to return to his first love ‘The Blues,’ leading to the recording of the ‘Electric Blues’ Album ‘Still Got the Blues,’ which became a great success selling in excess of 3 million copies worldwide. Gary Moore recalled,’I left Lizzy in 1980, and had a band called ‘G-Force,’ then got into my solo thing. I found that when I was in my dressing room, warming up for a gig, I would be playing ‘Blues,’ so I felt I was getting a bit of a message from that. Around ’89, I started playing ‘Blues’ again.’ Gary Moore also spoke about the 1959 ‘Les Paul’ guitar that he had purchased in 1989.’I put it away because I was still doing ‘Hard Rock’ at the time, and it wasn’t the right guitar for that, but when it came time to do ‘Still Got The Blues,’ I took it to the studio to test the room. The first day, we did ‘Still Got The Blues’ in one take, straight through, it was really a dramatic day, I’ll never forget it.’

‘Still Got the Blues (For You’) has had more than it’s fair share of controversy. In 2008 a German court ruled the guitar solo on the song was plagiarised by Gary Moore from a 1974 instrumental recording called ‘Nordrach,’ by the German ‘Progressive Rock’ band ‘Jud’s Gallery.’ Gary Moore denied ever hearing the song, but the judge ruled in favour of Jurgen Winter of the group ‘Jud’s Gallery,’ and Moore was ordered to pay an undisclosed amount in damages. Go to ‘YouTube,’ and make up your own mind at 8 minutes and 16 seconds.

‘Used to be so easy to give my heart away, but I found out the hard way, there’s a price you have to pay. I found out that love was no friend of mine. I should have known time after time. So long, it was so long ago, but I’ve still got the blues for you.’