Song of the Day: Simple Man (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Arleigh

Lynyrd Skynyrd

This past week saw another great musician pass away.

Ed King was an integral part of the three-guitar sound that made the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound so unique among the other blues-inspired American rock bands of the 70’s. Some have called Ed King the backbone of the band.

He was great either on bass guitar or as the third guitarist. The latter becoming the signature sound of the band’s most popular song and one of their most requested: “Free Bird.”

While it’d be simple enough to commemorate Ed King’s passing with another listen to that hit song, it’s on another much simpler song of the band’s that best typifies the member of Lynyrd Skynyrd. He who helped give them their signature sound and whose laid-back attitude finally convinced him that it was time to leave the band when the atmosphere around it began to turn mean and violent.

Some fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd don’t have good things to say about Ed King. They think he bailed on the group just when they were reaching the pinnacle of their success and popularity. But as the song “Simple Man” says, “Oh, take your time, don’t live too fast.”

That was Ed King. It’s time you joined the rest of your band mates waiting for you up above.

Simple Man

Mama told me when I was young
“Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this it’ll help you some sunny day”

“Oh, take your time, don’t live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You’ll find a woman and you’ll find love
And don’t forget, son, there is someone up above”

“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”

“Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold
All that you need is in your soul
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied”

“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”

Oh yes, I will

“Boy, don’t you worry, you’ll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied”

“And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh, won’t you do this for me, son, if you can”

Baby, be a simple, be a simple man
Oh, be something you love and understand
Baby, be a simple kind of man

In Memory of Gregg Allman

Posted on May 28, 2017 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

RestThe music world lost another giant yesterday when Southern rocker Gregg Allman died at age 69. This wasn’t exactly unexpected, as the hard-living Allman suffered from health problems brought on by years of hard partying.

Born in Richmond Hill, GA in 1947, Gregg and his older sibling Duane were more interested in music and girls than school. They formed bands (Hour Glass, Allman Joys), toured the south and Midwest, and did some recordings, without much success. Returning to their Georgia roots, the band signed with Phil Walden’s Macon-based Capricorn Records, a label specializing in the burgeoning Southern Rock movement (Marshall Tucker Band, The Outlaws, Wet Willie, Delbert McClinton, etc). Their third release, the double LP LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST, put them on the map as a major band:

Tragedy struck the band when Duane died in a 1971 motorcycle accident, followed the next year by another crash taking bassist Berry Oakley…

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Song of the Day: Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band)

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Arleigh

If there was ever song which perfectly fused the two into the music genre commonly as blues rock it would The Allman Brothers Band’s iconic song from their 1969 self-titled album, “Whipping Post”.

I consider “Whipping Post” one of the greatest rock songs ever created. It’s blues origins could be heard throughout the song from the near-perfect slide-guitar playing by one of rock’s greatest guitarists in Duane Allman. The lyrics to the song is classic existential blues of an evil woman the cause of one’s ruination and of the metaphorical whipping post the song’s subject is put through.

While brother Greg’s vocalizing has been a highlight for some the true highlight of the song comes from the band’s two lead guitarists. The song manages to showcase both player’s skills in two separate guitar solos that come after the songs two verses and choruses. We get Duane Allman performing magic with the first guitar solo in slide-guitar fashion with Dickey Betts joining in on the tail end on rhythm guitar. The second guitar solo has the two performers switching roles with Duane augmenting Bett’s electric guitar work with some slide work on acoustic guitar.

The song’s lyrics were written by Duane’s brother Greg who is also the band’s lead singer. His vocals in this song comes out as if coming from the very depths of perdition. There’s genuine, fierce emotion in the singing by Greg Allman and everyone else who has covered the song never seem to replicate the very same emotion which made “Whipping Post” so great the moment it was first heard in 1969 and continues to be great as a new generation in the 21st century gets introduced to the band.

The studio version of the song is powerful in it’s own right…

…but it’s the 22-minute long live recording At Fillmore East that the song has attained mythical status.

Whipping Post

I’ve been run down
I’ve been lied to
I don’t know why,
I let that mean woman make me a fool
She took all my money
Wrecks my new car
Now she’s with one of my good time buddies
They’re drinkin’ in some cross town bar

Sometimes I feel
Sometimes I feel
Like I’ve been tied
To the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Good lord I feel like I’m dyin’

(guitar solo)

My friends tell me
That I’ve been such a fool
And I have to stand down and take it babe,
All for lovin’ you
I drown myself in sorrow
As I look at what you’ve done
Nothin’ seems to change
Bad times stay the same
And I can’t run

Sometimes I feel
Sometimes I feel
Like I’ve been tied
To the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Good lord I feel like I’m dyin’

(guitar solo)

Sometimes I feel
Sometimes I feel
Like I’ve been tied
To the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post
Good lord I feel like I’m dyin’

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Free Bird (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Arleigh

I think if the United States ever decided to change it’s national anthem then I propose they just use Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic arena power ballad Free Bird. It’s already considered by many as the unofficial anthem. There’s something about this song that is just so Americana. I know that the band itself has been accused of being racist because of their support for the historical legacy of the South and the Confederacy, but I don’t go for such nonsense. Lynyrd Skynyrd was just one of the best southern rock bands during the 70’s and probably would’ve reached Led Zeppelin status if a tragic plane crash hadn’t killed almost a third to half of the band.

It’s very hard not to get into this power ballad. A song which band front man Ronnie Van Zant would use to personally memorialize his fallen friend and colleague, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers band who died from a motorcycle accident just a few years before. This song was always the most requested song by concert fans to be played by the band and play it they did and extending the triple guitar solo in the end from the usual 3-4 minute to as long as 10. It was this extended triple guitar solos with Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Ed King which would be the highlight of any live performance of the song (one of my favorite solos)

It has also become a favorite amongst those who compose and pick music for films of late. Rob Zombie used it to highlight to great effect the nihilistic ending to his grindhouse film The Devil’s Rejects. The latest to use this song in a very inventive manner was Matthew Vaughn in the surprise hit of 2015, Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Even with most of the band either dead or retired the song still gets massive play when the current band tours and is still a favorite staple with most rock stations. Everytime I hear it come on or I play it on my mp3 player I feel like pulling out my Bic lighter, flicking it on and waving it in the air in tune to the song. FREE BIRD!!!

Free Bird

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
‘Cause there’s too many places
I’ve got to see

But, if I stayed here with you, girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Bye, bye, baby it’s been a sweet love

Yeah, yeah
Though this feeling I can’t change
But please don’t take it so badly
‘Cause the Lord knows
I’m to blame

But, if I stayed here with you girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And this bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Lord help me, I can’t change
Lord I can’t change

Won’t you fly high, free bird, yeah?

(commence awesome triple guitar solos)

Song of the Day: Midnight Rider (by The Allman Brothers Band)

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Arleigh

What else to follow up a guilty pleasure than with a classic southern rock song that I still consider one of the best examples of what made 70’s American Rock an equal of the huge British invasion that was currently happening in the US with mega bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and The Who. It’s this song from one of the preeminent Southern Rock groups of the 70’s, The Allman Brothers Band, that arrives as the latest “Song of the Day”.

“Midnight Rider” is a great Southern rock tune which successful melds not just blues guitar playing but country and gospel songwriting and vocalizing. It’s well-known for Greg Allman’s powerful vocals and Dicket Betts lead guitar work. Yet, I consider this song as reaching “one of the greatest” status because of the rhythm guitar (with an acoustic guitar no less) work by one of the greatest (call it hyperbole but I truly believe him to be one of the best ever) guitarists who ever picked up the instrument whether one’s genre of music was jazz, flamenco, rock, blues, metal, rock and everything in-between. Duane Allman’s acoustic guitar work makes this song what it is. It’s a rhythm that he sets which everyone else in the band orbits around with their own talent rising to meet it on equal footing.

For some people this song was first experienced as the opening track to Rob Zombie’s underappreciated “grindhouse road flick” The Devil’s Rejects. Others of more recent time probably heard it as part of the GEICO insurance company’s 2013 ad-campaign. It doesn’t matter where one has heard it. The more people who hears it and experiences just why this song continues to be a staple of what made 70’s American rock scene such a great one the better people will be for having heard it.

Long live, Duane Allman.

Midnight Rider

Well, I’ve got to run to keep from hidin’,
And I’m bound to keep on ridin’.
And I’ve got one more silver dollar,
But I’m not gonna let ’em catch me, no,
Not gonna let ’em catch the Midnight Rider.

And I don’t own the clothes I’m wearing,
And the road goes on forever,
And I’ve got one more silver dollar,
But I’m not gonna let ’em catch me, no
Not gonna let ’em catch the Midnight Rider.

And I’ve gone by the point of caring,
Some old bed I’ll soon be sharing,
And I’ve got one more silver dollar,

But I’m not gonna let ’em catch me, no
Not gonna let ’em catch the Midnight Rider.

No, I’m not gonna let ’em catch me, no
Not gonna let ’em catch the Midnight Rider.