Someone's dad gets flustered, eliciting a disapproving murmur from the assembled U.K. hipsters, after which he introduces us to "Howling" Wolf.
Wolf enters, positively beaming, and puts everyone at ease ... well, except Dad, maybe. It is, after all, Howlin' Wolf's first U.K. performance. Given the circumstances he left back home, the thunderous welcome he gets must astound him no end.
He counts it off bodily for the rhythm section, which includes guitarist Hubert Sumlin and bassist Willie Dixon. They fall in behind him, just as easy as you please.
They continue like that, but the groove is so subtle, so insistent, that it's never boring. It's obvious we're going somewhere. Verse by verse, Wolf tells the story.
Somewhere around 2:53, the tempo picks up. It gets faster and faster, but the increase in tempo is so gradual that you don't really notice it until around 4:43, when the feel is suddenly one of pressing urgency. The patient acceleration combined with the insinuating vocal and the spare rhythm section calls to mind The Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler", which surely must have been influenced by this number.
Lastly, Wolf spends the whole song talking about a train, never once referring to public transportation.
This is the mighty Howlin' Wolf with "Smokestack Lightning".
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