(FORTUNE Magazine) – Drink Small, the legendary Carolina bluesman, said it best: "Two hundred years from now, church people will be singing 'Amazing Grace.' And two hundred years from now, blues people will be singing 'Stormy Monday Blues.'"

Although "Stormy Monday" has been recorded hundreds of times, by everyone from Count Basie to the Allman Brothers to Jethro Tull, a definitive ranking of the 20 best versions has eluded us. Until now.

As befits a venerable blues standard, there is some debate about its origin. Most recordings credit Aaron "T-Bone" Walker--a father of the electric blues guitar and an early composer and singer of urban blues--as the writer, and cite his 1947 recording with Gregmark Music. But other versions credit the 1942 recording "Stormy Monday Blues," performed by Earl "Fatha" Hines and Billy Eckstine, and credited to Hines, Eckstine, and Robert Crowder. Helen Oakley Dance, author of Stormy Monday: The T-Bone Walker Story (Louisiana State University Press), quotes speculation that Walker wrote and recorded the song for Capitol Records in the early 1940s before the Hines/Eckstine release. But, she says, a wartime ban on recordings using shellac and vinyl kept the Walker version from being released. To complicate matters further, Walker's version has also been recorded as "Call It Stormy Monday" and "But Tuesday's Just as Bad."

Origin notwithstanding, if you possess the CDs on this list, you'll have most of what you need to understand urban blues and its influence on jazz, rock, and most everything else worth listening to today.

20 Kenny Burrell, Stormy Monday Blues (Fantasy). Recorded in 1974 and remastered last year, Burrell's fluid guitar work is a bit too tasteful to rank higher.

19 Joe Turner, Stormy Monday (Pablo). Although Big Joe wasn't at his best for this 1974 studio recording, the four trumpets backing him--Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Clark Terry--get it on the list.

18 Smiley Lewis, Shame, Shame, Shame (Bear Family). Best known for "I Hear You Knocking (But You Can't Come In)," Lewis, who played the New Orleans club scene in the '50s and '60s, recorded this version in 1961. His "Blue Monday," recorded in 1954, has similar lyrics, but the sound is more Fats Domino than T-Bone Walker.

17 Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, Any Other Way to Go? (Rhythm Attack). With Chuck on guitar and vocals, this is the funkiest "Stormy Monday" you'll find anywhere.

16 Long John Baldry, On Stage Tonight--Baldry's Out! (Stony Plain). Recorded live at Hamburg's Club Fabrik, Long John's 12-string guitar more than holds its own.

15 Ernestine Anderson, Live from Concord to London (Concord). One of jazz's greatest female singers, performing live in 1976 with Hank Jones on piano and Ray Brown on bass. The CD also features a magnificent Ellington medley.

14 Bubbling Brown Sugar, Original Broadway Cast Recording (Amherst). Carolyn Byrd's "Stormy Monday Blues" brought this musical revue alive. Too bad it's only 90 seconds long.

13 Lee Michaels, Lee Michaels (One Way). My heart tells me that Janis Joplin must have performed "Stormy Monday," but since I've never found it, I'm more than happy to settle for Lee Michaels (vocals and organ) on this recording from 1969.

12 Lou Rawls with Les McCann Ltd., Stormy Monday (Blue Note). Recorded live in 1962. An equally good version, caught live with McCann in 1966, can be found on Lou Rawls: Anthology (Capitol).

11 Etta James, Live (Tomato). Etta had been making records for 40 years before performing this version of "Stormy Monday." It was definitely worth the wait.

10 Jethro Tull, 20 Years of Jethro Tull (Chrysalis). A very rare collection of BBC live sessions from the late 1960s showcases some of Ian Anderson's finest vocals and the bluesiest flute this side of Frank Wess.

9 Albert King, Thursday Night in San Francisco (Stax). Recorded live at the Fillmore in 1968. Albert King couldn't read a note, played his Flying-V guitar upside down--he was left-handed--and never used a pick. How else to explain that great sound?

8 Gene Harris/Jack McDuff, (Down Home) Blues (Concord). The vocals by Gene's daughter Niki are stirring. How and why did she sing backup for Madonna for 11 years? A voice is a terrible thing to waste.

7 Earl Hines, An Introduction to Earl Hines: His Best Recordings, 1927-1942 (Best of Jazz). The lyrics aren't the same, nor is the tempo. But the original X-Man, Billy Eckstine, as you've never heard him, makes this more than a footnote to T-Bone's "Stormy Monday."

6 T-Bone Walker, Stormy Monday (LRC). A live recording, it's the best of T-Bone's own versions available on CD. His best collection, T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954 (EMI), alas, doesn't have "Stormy Monday" on it.

5 Bobby Bland & B.B. King, Together Again...Live (MCA). Bobby and B.B. at the Coconut Grove--and at the top of their games. Followed by a most memorable "The Thrill Is Gone."

4 Drink Small, Electric Blues Doctor Live! (Mapleshade Productions). Recorded live in Washington, D.C., in 1988, Small and his guitar, Geraldine, do worthy battle against B.B. King and his Lucille.

3 The Allman Brothers Band, The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East (Capricorn/Polygram). With Duane Allman and Dickey Betts on lead guitars and Gregg Allman on organ and vocals, the Allman Brothers were at their best in 1971. This million-seller helped introduce T-Bone to a new generation of fans.

2 Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan, In Session (Stax). Taken from a 1983 Canadian television broadcast, this is the only known recording of Albert and Stevie Ray performing together. Their versions of "Call It Stormy Monday" and "Blues at Sunrise" make this a must-have CD.

1 Bobby "Blue" Bland, The Anthology (MCA). It has been more than 40 years since Bland's "Stormy Monday Blues" began to climb the R&B charts. I have heard nothing before or since that comes close.

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