"Killing Floor" is a song written and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1964. It was released on the album, The Real Folk Blues in 1966. This song has been performed live by many blues and rock guitar artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Byther Smith and Albert King. Led Zeppelin "covered" this song on their second album. Bootleg copies of early Led Zeppelin concerts include rough versions of the song credited as "Killing Floor." Their version, which also included lyrics from Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues," credited neither blues artist. Possibily to avoid a conflict over plagiarism, the song was retitled "The Lemon Song." Sometime after Howlin' Wolf's death, Chess Records sued Led Zeppelin and Howlin' Wolf's name was credited on the song. Robert Johnson, however, is not. Hendrix recorded a spirited uptempo version of the song live in BBC studio. This can be heard on his BBC Sessions album. Jimi Hendrix also covered it at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and can be heard on the live album Jimi Plays Monterey. Electric Flag, a blues rock soul group led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, covered the song on their album A Long Time Comin released in 1968 The Wolf's long time guitarist, Hubert Sumlin still performs this song. He played it with Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray at The Crossroads Guitar Festival. The song's title references the slaughtering area of a slaughterhouse. The name also features as the title of an action-adventure novel by Lee Child (Killing_Floor_(novel)); the connection is likely to have arisen from the main character Jack Reacher's search for blues guitarist Blind Blake and the apparent link in musical genres.
