Top 10 Jeff Healey Songs

Photo: Masahiro Sumori, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

All classic rock fans have a handful of moments when they hear a band for the first time and are completely blown away. It usually happens unexpectedly, when you’re not really paying attention. No matter when it happened, you never forget it.

It’s safe to say thousands, maybe even more, rock and roll fans experienced that magical awakening when they first heard the song “See The Light.” In this case, many people first heard the song by watching the video on MTV in the late 1980s.

Jeff Healey was not the first guitarist to play guitar on his lap. He wasn’t even the first blind guitarist to play guitar that way. But he was showcased doing it on MTV in one of the most passionate live performances ever filmed.

He played a guitar on his lap with energy and passion similar to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the traditional position. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey shared a lot musically and emotionally. They were two of the most passionate guitarists to ever grace the concert stage. And most interestingly, Stevie Ray Vaughan met Jeff Healey through the Toronto club scene, and the two became friends.

“See The Light” was, in essence, lights-out guitar playing. It blew everyone away.

Who was Jeff Healey? Where did he come from? The record company made big news when it released his debut album in the U.S., and See The Light broke on MTV.

Jeff Healey was not a flash in the pan. He was the real deal, and every album and record he released from his debut album onward was filled with brilliant musical substance and a deep-down, genuine love for rock and roll, the blues, and jazz.

Jeff Healey released five albums with his trio, the Jeff Healey Band, between 1988 and 2000. The trio consisted of Jeff Healey on guitar, Joe Rockman on bass, and Tom Stephen on drums. The trio was tight and rocked as hard as any other rock and roll trio.

From 2002 until his passing in 2008, Jeff Healey released a handful of solo albums, some of which were credited to Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards. Our Top 10 Jeff Healey songs list looks back at some of the wonderful albums Jeff Healey released and picks 10 of our favorite Jeff Healey songs, with a focus mostly on the Jeff Healey Band material.

# 10 – Which One

We open our Jeff Healey songs list with a great track from the final Jeff Healey Band album, Get Me Some. The album was released in 2000. The featured song, “Which One,” opens the album with a roaring guitar lick and a killer groove that tells the listener they’re in for a great ride. The song “Which One” was written by the Jeff Healey Band and Marti Frederiksen.

# 9 – When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky

The great grooving track “When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky” was released on the Road House soundtrack in 1989. The song was written by Bob Dylan. A great movie, but an even better soundtrack, featuring Bob Seger, Little Feat, and some classic Otis Redding.

# 8 – Stuck In The Middle With You

We all know this one from the great Stealers Wheel recording. However, check out what Jeff Healey did with it. Like all great blues artists, Jeff Healey was a master at covering any song he wanted and turning it into something special. Listen to that solo! The song was released on the spectacular Cover To Cover album in 1995.

# 7 – How Blue Can You Get

Want to learn to play the blues? If you do, then play this song every day and let it infiltrate your heart, your soul, your body, your mind, and every single cell in that human body of yours, because this is what it’s all about.

The recording comes from the album Mess Of Blues, which was released in 2008 shortly after Jeff Healey passed away. The song was written by Leonard and Jane Feather.

# 6 – I Think I Love You Too Much

See The Light by The Jeff Healey Band [LP]

This one instantly became a fan favorite. The song “I Think I Love You Too Much” was released on the Jeff Healey Band’s Hell To Pay album in 1990. The song was written by Mark Knopfler, who also appears on the track.

Talk about a song that features great guitar players. The legendary Bobby Whitlock also appeared on the song, playing keyboards. Hell To Pay was one heck of an album and a brilliant follow-up to his debut album, See The Light.

# 5 – Cruel Little Number

This one crushes you instantly at the song’s opening chord and simply blows your mind out. This is heavy Jeff Healey, and it rocks nice and hard. The song “Cruel Little Number” was the opening song on the Jeff Healey Band album titled Feel This.

The record was released in 1992. The song hit number 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. This was a nice alternative to the grunge sound that was raging at the time.

# 4 – Angel Eyes

Jeff Healey’s beautiful version of John Hiatt and Fred Koller’s “Angel Eyes” was released in 1988 on the Jeff Healey Band’s debut album, See The Light. The song was released as a single in 1989. The single release would turn out to be Jeff Healey’s most successful commercial single.

Jeff Healey only charted two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 during his career. “Angel Eyes” was the first of the two to break the top 100. The song not only broke the top 100 but also reached the top 10, peaking at number 5.

# 3 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps

If you’re going to cover one of the most famous Beatles songs of all time, written by George Harrison, you’d better bring your A Game. For Jeff Healey, that was not a problem because the man brought his A Game every time he played that guitar. And when you’re always on, and you’re covering one of the greatest songs ever written, it’s almost incomprehensible that it could get any better.

Yet, it did, because not only did Jeff Healey tear this one up, he also had George Harrison appear on the recording. Add some brilliant guitar and backing vocals by Jeff Lynne, and we are left with one of the all-time great recordings of the early 1990s.

# 2 – Confidence Man

Listen to THAT SOLO, Listen to THAT SOLO, Listen to THAT SOLO! Did we mention THAT SOLO? Jeff Healey just rips it up on this great track from the album See The Light! The song also appeared in the film Road House and was later included on the 2024 release Road House: The Lost Soundtrack.

# 1 – See The Light

The song that blew us all away the first time we heard it. It still does over thirty years later. One of the most exciting tracks recorded in the classic rock era.

The song was placed on the LP See The Light in 1988 as the record’s closing track. What a way to end a record. If you have never heard this one, this will knock you right out with a one-two punch to your rock and roll heart.