In the
winter of 1949, BB King played at a dance hall in Twist,
Arkansas. The hall was heated by a barrel half-filled with
burning kerosene, a fairly common practice at the time. During a
performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the barrel
and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into
flames, and the building was evacuated.
Once outside, King
realized that he had left his guitar inside so he went back into
the burning building to retrieve his beloved $30 Gibson guitar.
King learned the next day that the two men that started the fire
had been fighting over a woman who worked at the hall named
Lucille. King named that guitar, and every guitar he
subsequently owned, Lucille, as a reminder never again to do
something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over
a woman.