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:
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’
Through the Shattered Lens 