There are conflicting accounts about the recording date for "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)". In an interview, Walker claimed that he recorded the song in 1940 "just before the war" (the U.S. entered World War II December 7, 1941), but that it was not released because of war-time material restrictions. Journalist Dave Dexter, who worked for Capitol Records in the early 1940s, believed that Walker recorded it for Capitol before the Eckstine/Hines song (March 1942), but that it was not released because of the unavailability of shellac and the recording ban. However, Walker's first single as a band leader, "Mean Old World", which was recorded in July 1942, was released in 1945 by Capitol. One sessionography places the recording of "Stormy Monday" on September 13, 1947, during his third session for Black & White Records. Blues writer Jim O'Neal noted that blues discographies do not show a recording date before 1947.