Song Origins
As with many blues songs, the history of "One Way Out" falls into murk. It seems to have been originally recorded by Elmore James at Beltone Studios in New York City in late 1960 or early 1961, as part of James' Fire/Fury/Enjoy recording sessions. It features a full band arrangement with a four-piece horn section, but a completely different melody from later versions. James appears not to have released it at that time.
Instead, Sonny Boy Williamson II reworked and recorded it for Chess Records in Chicago in September 1961, releasing it shortly thereafter. He would then return and re-record a different working of it in September 1963, again for Chess in Chicago, this time with Buddy Guy on guitar and Lafayette Leake on piano. The two efforts were substantially different, with one dominated by harmonica playing while the other has the vamp and arrangement that would become familiar with the Allman Brothers' rendition.
Subsequently, Elmore James finally released his initial recording of "One Way Out" in 1965, using it as the B-side of his single "My Bleeding Heart" for Sphere Sound Records. But by now, the song was associated with Sonny Boy not him.
Writing credits for "One Way Out" have varied over the years, with some recordings crediting Sonny Boy alone, then others giving Marshall Sehorn and Elmore James the nod, and finally some naming all three. Furthermore Sehorn was a recording engineer, record producer, and all-around "record man" at Fire/Fury Records in New York, who likely engaged in the then-common practice of adding himself onto composer credits of songs that he was not actually involved in writing, to get a cut of subsequent royalties. And of course no confusion is complete without mentioning that there are two different Sonny Boy Williamsons − I and II; "One Way Out" pertains to the second one.
Whatever its origins, the song's narrative captures the classic tale of a man having sex with another man's woman in an upstairs bedroom. Someone comes to the front door unexpectedly, and our lover must plan a hasty exit out a window:
- Ain't but one way out baby, Lord I just can't go out the door —
- Ain't but one way out baby, and Lord I just can't go out the door!
- 'Cause there's a man down there, might be your old man ... I don't know.
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