Who Played Harmonica on That Song?

UPDATE: Thanks for all the requests and suggestions since I first published this post. I’ve added some more of your favourite songs to the list. Still can’t find a song on here? Get in touch to ask!

Want to know more about the Beatles' use of harmonica? Check out Every Beatles Song with Harmonica

Find more harmonica songs with this great article at HarpSurgery.com

The harmonica, a simple yet versatile instrument, has often taken a back seat to guitars and keyboards in popular music. Yet it has played a crucial role in shaping some of the most iconic songs of all time. Let's dive into the world of harmonica and uncover the hidden talents behind these familiar tunes.

Harmonica Heroes: The Unsung Masters Behind the Music

From rock to TV and film, the harmonica pops up in a surprising number of places. It is often forgotten and its players often go unrecognised, especially if they're session players rather than famous members of the band. Here's a rundown of the top songs featuring harmonica, with details of the session harmonica player who recorded harmonica for each track.

Rock and Roll Legends

Hoochie Coochie Man (Eric Clapton)

When legendary rock guitarist Eric Clapton decided to make a blues album, he employed some kick-ass session guys including the amazing Jim Keltner on drums, plus Jerry Portnoy (ex-Muddy Waters Band) on harmonica. This is my favourite track off resulting album, 'From the Cradle'. As an aside, Jerry's teaching CD was one of the first blues harp instructional materials I ever heard. The riff is a great practice exercise - grab the free tabs here.

Join Together (The Who)

While Roger Daltrey is often credited, John Entwistle's Hohner 48 chord harmonica provides the soulful undertones to this classic rock anthem. In the music video performance you'll see band members miming harmonica (and playing the jaw harp for that matter, which you can also hear on the record).

Roadhouse Blues (The Doors)

The session harmonica player on 'Roadhouse Blues' is John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful. He adds a driving bluesy riff to this raucous track. Sebastian also played harmonica with the Doora on their covers of blues songs Rock Me Baby and Little Red Rooster as well as Been Down So Long. Little-known fact: Sebastian's father was a classical harmonica player, influencing his early musical development. Do check out my interview with John Sebastian and also my Roadhouse Blues lesson.

Miss You (The Rolling Stones)

Mick Jagger plays harmonica on several Rollings Stones songs, but this time it's Sugar Blue's bluesy harmonica riff which adds a distinctive flavour to this disco-infused rock song. Did you know that Sugar Blue was discovered playing on the streets of New York City? Learn the song with my Miss You harmonica lesson.

Bad Obsession (Guns N' Roses)

This song features some prominent blues harp throughout, played by the brilliantly named Teddy 'Zig Zag' Andreadis. This track is unusual because it requires a harmonica in the key of B, which is a pretty rare key for harmonica players. Teddy has also played with Carole King, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Alice Cooper and Bruce Willis among others.

Killing Floor (Slash)

A driving, rocking cover of the Howlin' Wolf song, Slash's version of Killing Floor features AC/DC's Brian Johnson on vocals, plus you'll see Aerosmith's Steven Tyler letting rip on harmonica (and literally wailing too) in the video.

What’s Up With That (ZZ Top)

The late, great blues harmonica player James Harman recorded harmonica for this track. The legend goes that he met Billy Gibbons by chance and they struck up an unlikely friendship. I met Harman when he was playing in London; if you listen closely, you can hear him heckling Magic Dick in this interview I did with the J. Geils Band harmonica player.

Runaway (Bonnie Raitt)

The epic harmonica solo on this cover of Del Shannon's 'Runaway' is played by the wonderfully inventive and distinctive Norton Buffalo (born Phillip Jackson).

Time Is (Richard Hawley)

Who's playing that gritty harmonica? It's not Richard Hawley, it's his Mancunian harpman Clive Mellor (who, by chance, I used to live around the corner from!). He's also played with Liam Gallagher, Ruby Turner and the band James. I caught up with Clive recently in this interview.

Pop Sensations

The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)

Nashville session man Charlie McCoy's bass harmonica provides a haunting backdrop to Paul Simon's poetic lyrics. When I met Charlie, I asked him about this song and he said he had to source a bass harmonica for the session because he'd never played one before! Click for the full Charlie McCoy Interview.

Shape of My Heart (Sting)

Sting has flavoured his songs with harmonica from time to time. In this beautiful song from 1993, Larry Adler plays relatively simple but entirely beautiful chromatic harmonica accompaniment. Brendan Power also plays chrom on the same album, and Sting does a little blues harp himself too. These days, Sting tours with an excellent young harmonica player called Shane Sager. Check out my interview with Shane in On Tour With Sting!

Clair (Gilbert O'Sullivan)

Now here's a surprising one: Gilbert O'Sullivan's manager Gordon Mills played chromatic harmonica solo on this sentimental ballad. Mills was a skilled harmonica player and even competed in the Hohner Championships at the Royal Albert Hall.

Say You'll Be There (The Spice Girls)

This song is Peak Spice. I genuinely didn't remember that it featured harmonica even though I grew up in the '90s! When I heard it recently, I just had to find out who played harmonica on Say You'll Be There. It turned out to be session harmonica player Judd Lander.

Down Don't Bother Me (Cyndi Lauper)

When pop star Cyndi Lauper decided to make a blues album, she was always going to pull together a team of great musicians. This track heavily features harmonica, and it's the great Charlie Musselwhite adding his sound to the mix. Check out my Charlie Musselwhite Interview for more stories from the great man.

I Know There’s An Answer (The Beach Boys)

The big and heavy bass harmonica sound on this Beach Boys classic was performed by Tommy Morgan, who has appeared on a crazy number of TV and film themes. He also wrote an excellent memoir called 'You Made HOW MUCH For Doing What?' which I highly recommend.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (The Hollies)

It's Tommy Morgan on harmonica again! Legend says that Elton John played piano on the Hollies version of this track. My good friend Will Pound played harmonica on a re-recorded charity release of this song which also featured Paul McCartney on lead guitar. You can learn to play the song here.

Rainy Days And Mondays (The Carpenters)

Guess what... it's that guy Tommy Morgan again!

Hey Baby (Bruce Channel)

The simple harmonica part on this 1962 hit song was played by Delbert McClinton. Apparently McClinton taught a bit of harmonica to John Lennon (although lennon always called the diatonic harmonica 'mouth organ' and reserved the word "harmonica" for the chromatic). Learn this song in my Hey Baby harmonica lesson.

Pencil Full Of Lead (Paolo Nutini)

The frenetic harmonica solo on this track was played by Scottish harmonica player Fraser Speirs. I played this song in a short-lived jump jive band in Swansea.

Brand New Day (Sting)

Another great Sting track featuring harmonica. This time he uses the inimitable Stevie Wonder to add some soul to Brand New Day.

My Boy Lollipop (Millie Small)

Despite the rumour that Rod Stewart played the basic harmonica part on My Boy Lollipop, the truth is it was played by Pete Hogman. Interestingly, Hogman replaced Rod Stewart in an early sixties R&B band, Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions.

Jackson (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood)

As you might guess, this lively country harmonica part is performed by the great Charlie McCoy. Check my interview with the man himself to learn all about some of his most famous recordings.

1980s Hits

Karma Chameleon (Culture Club)

The famous intro to this song was played by Judd Lander, who also played harmonica on Culture Club's 'Church Of The Poison Mind'.

There Must Be An Angel (Eurythmics)

No-one else could have played this chromatic harmonica solo but the fabulous Stevie Wonder (although there's a kid doing some cute miming in the music video). Stevie's not the only harmonica player to feature on a Eurythmics record: 'Missionary Man' and 'Thorn In My Side' both including diatonic harmonica played by Jimmy "Z" Zavala.

Living in Another World (Talk Talk)

The harmonica on this song is played by go-to London harmonica session guy Mark Feltham. If you're trying to work out who's playing harmonica on a UK release from the 1980s up to the present day, Mark is a safe bet.

Love And Regret (Deacon Blue)

Listen closely and you'll hear Mark Feltham riffing away in the middle of Love And Regret by Deacon Blue.

On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)

If ever you hear a Willie Nelson featuring harmonica, you can be pretty sure it's the wonderfully melodic Mickey Raphael, who has been touring and recording with Willie for over 50 years. Be sure to check out my interview with Mickey!

Say Say Say (Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson)

Featuring a brilliantly corny video, this song also includes harmonica contributions from Chris ‘Hammer’ Smith who learned harmonica from Sonny Terry and Rick Epping.

Maria (The Jacksons)

The harmonica on 'Maria' was played by Lee Oskar, member of WAR and later founder of his own harmonica company. Check out my Lee Oskar Interview to learn more about his playing and the instruments he manufactures.

Freedom for My People (U2)

Now here's a strange thing: a U2 track which features no members of the band. It is in fact a short clip of a couple of New York buskers. Those buskers are Satan and Adam, otherwise known as singer/guitarist Sterling 'Satan' Magee and harmonica player Adam Gussow. Adam went on to be a university professor and YouTube harmonica legend. A few years back, I had the pleasure of playing on the streets of Edinburgh with Adam and French harmonicist Christelle Berthon.

I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (Elton John)

Beautiful chromatic harmonica playing yet again by Stevie Wonder. I wish I could make a chrom sound like that.

Steamy Windows (Tina Turner)

The bluesy harmonica part on this track is played by Tony Joe White who also wrote the song and produced the album. Rarely has harmonica been so sultry and risqué!

Television and Film Hits

Midnight Cowboy Theme

The lush orchestral movie theme to Midnight Cowboy features the chromatic harmonica of Toots Thielemans. Check out my Midnight Cowboy lesson to play this on the diatonic harmonica.

The Old Grey Whistle Test Theme

The theme to this BBC music show is performed by Nashville harmonica legend, Charlie McCoy. The track is actually called Stone Fox Chase and was recorded by Charlie's band Area Code 615. Charlie told me that they only found out it had been used when the royalties came in. Watch my Charlie McCoy Interview to learn more. This song was one of the first I ever taught on YouTube. Check out the (pretty retro) harmonica lesson here!

Cowboy Bebop Series

Hit anime series Cowboy Bebop featured lots of great music, not least this great harmonica instrumental from the late great Japanese harp player Ryuichiro Senoo. Check out my lesson on Spokey Dokey to learn it! I also have a lesson on another harmonica piece from the show, Digging My Potatoes.

Shoestring Theme

This TV theme is played by Harry Pitch. 'Shoestring' was set in Bristol and released in 1979. The production team behind Shoestring decided to create a similar series set in Jersey, called Bergerac.

Stella Artois Beer Ads

The famous theme in the popular series of Stella Artois beer adverts is actually from the French film 'Jean de Florette'. I remember seeing these ads as a kid and being really intrigued by the music. The theme was played on chromatic harmonica by the legendary Toots Thielemans. Learn to play it on diatonic in this lesson.

Mary Poppins (1964)

So I recently rewatched Mary Poppins with my nieces and nephews, and I had completely forgotten that it opens with harmonica! Bert is busking as a one-man band, but Dick Van Dyke is not really playing the harmonica. It was in fact played by Jerry Adler (brother of the more famous Larry Adler, and a great harmonicist in his own right). What a talented family!

Dixon Of Dock Green Theme

This police series was broadcast in the UK for 20 years from the 1950s. The theme tune is called An Ordinary Copper and was played on chromatic harmonica by Tommy Reilly, replacing the original theme, a whistled version of Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner.

The Rockford Files Theme

The theme to the classic detective show The Rockford Files is played by the incredibly prolific session harmonicist Tommy Morgan.

Perfect Strangers Theme

You're listening to Tommy Morgan play harmonica on the Perfect Strangers opening credits. You'll also recognise his playing on The Beverly Hillbillies, Sanford and Son, The Dukes of Hazzard and many, many more.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Ennio Morricone's iconic score for this classic Western film features a memorable harmonica solo, played by Franco De Gemini. Learn to play this famous piece in my Man With a Harmonica lesson.

Last of the Summer Wine Theme

This memorable theme, and much of the incidental music for the show, was recorded on harmonica by Harry Pitch.

The Goon Show (BBC Radio)

The harmonica songs and interludes on the BBC comedy radio show The Goon Show were played by Dutch master Max Geldray, often credited as the first harmonica player to embrace playing jazz on the harmonica.

And finally, an unexpected item..

Harry Belafonte - Midnight Special

Who on earth is playing that messy harp part? Is it Harry? Nope - of all people, it's Bob Dylan! Even the much-maligned harmonica player and troubadour gets a session call sometimes.

I hope you enjoyed reading about these harmonica songs. Find more harmonica songs with 13 Great Harmonica Songs You Need to Know.

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