BB King Lucille

Perhaps no other musical partnership has a history as long as that of the blues legend B.B. King and his beloved guitar named “Lucille.” Today the Gibson B.B. King Lucille model is a gorgeous ebony queen with gold hardware bearing King’s name on its headstock. But over the years there have been many Lucilles, including an actual woman whose name King took for his guitar.In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In order to heat the hall, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit, a fairly common practice at the time. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into flames, which triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his beloved $30 Gibson guitar. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over women.^[1][2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgTWSEfGwEU&feature=share

B.B. King wrote a song called “Lucille” where he talks about his guitar and how it got that name. The song was first released as part of Lucille and it is included on the B. B. King Anthology 1962–1998 album.

“It seems that it loves to be petted and played with. There’s also a certain way you hold it, the certain noises it makes, the way it excites me … and Lucille don’t want to play anything but the blues … Lucille is real, when I play her it’s almost like hearing words, and of course, naturally I hear cries.” — B.B. King, liner notes from the album, Lucille, 1968