the record—not in the Nat Cole manner—but in that deep and soulful style that soon had many young R&B singers trying to sound like him". Brown's vocal has also been described as "plaintive", as "lush, mellifluous", and having a "laconic grace and soothing timbre". The song follows a twelve-bar blues chord progression and is performed at a moderately slow tempo (72 beats per minute) in the key of E (notated in 12/8 time). The instrumentation, including Moore's electric guitar solo, is understated and reflects the influence of post–World War II cool jazz. Brown described it as "a kind of melancholy type of blues, with feeling" that allowed him to tell more of a story than traditional blues. The lyrics deal with lost love, but they also reflect the alienation felt by many southern African Americans in post-war American northern and western cities: The song is credited to Brown, Moore, and Williams, although several commentaries discuss it as Brown's composition. According to Brown, Moore's and Williams' names were added without his consent and, being unfamiliar with copyright law, he did not challenge it. He also claimed that the group signed away their financial interest in the song for $800 and a vague promise of a share in future revenues by Philo Records. Despite having one of the biggest R&B hits of the 1940s, the group never received any additional compensation. Brown called it "the biggest mistake we ever made in our lives". "Driftin' Blues" became a hit, spending twenty-three weeks on the Billboard Most-Played Juke Box Race Records chart. The song reached number two and "emerged [as] one of the top selling black records in 1945 and 1946". The song is included on numerous Brown compilation albums, such as the Philo–Aladdin compilations The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Charles Brown and Driftin' Blues: The Best of Charles Brown. It is also included on many collections by various artists, such as the box sets Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey and The Blues: A Smithsonian Collection of Classic Blues Singers. Recognition and legacy "Driftin' Blues" was inducted into Blues Hall of Fame in 1989 in the category "Classics of Blues Recording", which noted that it was "one of the records that helped define the burgeoning postwar West Coast style of smooth 'lounge blues'". In 1995, it was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of "500 Songs That