Deep Tracks

Give me some water, cool cool water

Posted on by brucehhackett

Water has been an essential commodity since before man walked the Earth. Communities have been founded based on their proximity to fresh water. It’s been said man can go weeks without food but no more than three or four days without water. Nearly 75 percent of our planet’s surface is covered with water…but that’s salt water. As the parched sailor in the middle of the ocean would say, “Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.”

So many sayings involving water can be found in literature and contemporary discourse: Like a fish out of water. Keep your head above water. Still water runs deep. Spending money as if it were water. Blood is thicker than water. Makes your mouth water. Water over the dam. Throw cold water on something. Blown out of the water.

These days, we’re all reminded of the dangers of dehydration, and are urged to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. Indeed, we may someday fight wars over access to fresh water.

Songwriters have written many dozens of songs with lyrics about water, and I’ve identified 15 from the classic rock era (plus another baker’s dozen of honorable mentions) that I think you’ll find worthy of your attention.

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“Dirty Water,” The Standells, 1966

This garage-band classic was written by producer Ed Cobb in 1966 as a mock paean to Boston and its then-polluted harbor and the Charles River. The song, recorded by The Standells and reaching #11 on US pop charts that year, was inspired partly by an incident when Cobb was mugged during a Boston visit. Despite its negative connotations, “Dirty Water” has been embraced by the city in the years since, particularly by its rowdy sports fans, thanks to the line, “Oh-h, Boston, you’re my home” at end of each chorus. The song has often been played at Bruins hockey games and Red Sox games following victories. In 1979, British garage band The Inmates recorded a raucous cover of “Dirty Water,” substituting “River Thames” and “London” for “River Charles” and “Boston.”

“Hell & High Water,” The Allman Brothers Band, 1980

Most rock bands go through peaks and valleys during their career, but perhaps no group has had a wilder roller-coaster ride than The Allman Brothers Band. From early struggles to critical praise, from tragic deaths to #1 albums, from drug busts and addiction to multiple rebirths in the ’90s and beyond, these guys have seen it all. In the early ’80s, they were in a trough with two lackluster albums on Arista Records (the terrible album cover of “Reach For the Sky” was an indication), but there were moments of that old spark, like Dickey Betts’s song “Hell & High Water,” which actually chronicles the group’s up and downs up to that point: “We’ve been through hell and high water, ready to go through it all again, /As long as we’ve got a quarter between us all, we’re gonna have money to spend…”

“Walk on Water,” Eddie Money, 1988

Between 1977 and 1988, Edward Mahoney, better known as New York rocker Eddie Money, released seven albums that reached between #20 and #70 on US charts. He also fared quite well on various singles charts with hits like “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “Baby Hold On,” “Think I’m in Love,” “Maybe I’m a Fool, “Take Me Home Tonight” (in a duet with Ronnie Spector) and “I Wanna Go Back.” His final Top Ten entry was 1988’s “Walk on Water,” written by former Sammy Hagar keyboardist Jesse Harms, in which the narrator frustratingly asks what he has to do to regain his lover’s trust: “Well I’m no angel, now I’ll admit, I made a few bad moves I should regret, /If I could find some way to prove, if I could walk on water, would you believe in me? /My love is so true…”

“Smoke On the Water,” Deep Purple, 1972

The iconic opening guitar riff and indelible hard rock groove made “Smoke on the Water” a landmark hit in 1972-73, and Deep Purple’s highest charting song. Its lyrics tell the true story of how the entertainment/casino complex on the Lake Geneva shoreline in Montreux, Switzerland, accidentally burned down one evening in 1971 during a Mothers of Invention concert, the night before Deep Purple were due to begin recording an album there. As the first verse and chorus put it: “Frank Zappa and the Mothers were at the best place around, but some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground, /Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky…” The song was released on their “Machine Head” album in 1972, then reached #4 on US pop charts when released as a single in 1973.

“Bring Me Some Water,” Melissa Etheridge, 1988

Kansas-born Etheridge was discovered playing clubs in Pasadena and grabbed attention right out of the gate with her 1988 debut LP and its single, “Bring Me Some Water.” Her confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals have sustained her through an impressive career that has featured a dozen Top Twenty LPs and a half-dozen high-charting singles in the 1990s and 2000s. Even though her handful of singles in 1993-1995 charted higher, I’ve always returned to “Bring Me Some Water and its heartbreaking exuberance: “Somebody bring me some water, can’t you see I’m burning alive?, /Can’t you see my baby’s got another lover, and I don’t know how I’m gonna survive, /Somebody bring me some water, can’t you see it’s out of control?…”

“Heavy Water,” Jethro Tull, 1989

Chemically, heavy water is a form of water that contains a “heavier” hydrogen isotope that makes it ideal for production of nuclear power and weaponry. In the Tull song from the 1989 LP “Rock Island,” Ian Anderson was actually referring to acid rain, a type of precipitation with low pH levels caused by sulfur dioxide emissions that can have harmful effects on plants and animals. “On my first trip to New York in the summer of 1968, everyone else was running from the rain, and I realized it was because each drop of was leaving a dirty black mark. It was raining coal and sulfur!” The lyrics are bleak — “Thumping in my heart, and it’s hurting me to see, /Smokestack blowing, now they’re pouring heavy water on me” — but are offset by a sprightly, accessible melody and tempo that stand tall in the band’s latter-day catalog.

“Black Water,” The Doobie Brothers, 1974

Guitarist/singer Pat Simmons provided a lighter country element to The Doobies’ brand of ’70s rock and roll, offering homespun songs like “South City Midnight Lady” and “Tell Me What You Want.” His catchy track “Black Water” was an easygoing acoustic tune originally released as the B-side to Tom Johnston’s “Another Park, Another Sunday,” single, but a disc jockey in Roanoke, Virginia, began playing it because of the Blackwater River that ran not far outside the city. The intense regional interest caught the record label’s attention, and they re-released it as an A-side single, which made it all the way to #1 in March 1975. The lyric was actually written during a visit to New Orleans, with a reference to the Mississippi River and wanting to “hear some funky Dixieland.”

“Madman Across the Water,” Elton John, 1971

Lyricist Bernie Taupin, fascinated by mental illnesses, adopted the fractured imagery and detached thought process of an asylum inmate for this mind-bending title track from Elton John’s 1971 LP. The song had been originally recorded in 1970 with Bowie cohort Mick Ronson on lead guitar and intended for inclusion on his “Tumbleweed Connection” LP, but instead “Madman” was reimagined a year later using the orchestral flourishes of Paul Buckmaster’s dramatic strings arrangement, Elton’s compelling vocal delivery and Davey Johnstone’s understated guitar work. I think it’s one of the most riveting songs in his entire catalog. When American critics assumed the title referred to then-President Nixon from a Brit’s point of view, Taupin whistled and said, “Wow, that is genius. I never would’ve thought of that.”

“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Simon and Garfunkel, 1969

This monumental tune is so ingrained in pop music culture that it’s hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist. But in November 1969, a rapt audience at Carnegie Hall in New York listened as Art Garfunkel performed the song for the first time, six weeks before its release as one of the biggest singles of the year, and their response was thunderous rapture. Garfunkel sang it alone with Larry Knechtel on piano, and the recording of it, finally released 40 years later in 2009 on “Live 1969,” is presented here. Simon had been inspired by gospel singer Claude Jeter’s line, “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in my name,” coming up with his own gospel classic later covered by Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Elvis Presley and dozens of others.

“Fire and Water,” Free, 1970

Vocalist Paul Rodgers and troubled guitarist Paul Kassoff were the linchpins of Free, one of England’s best yet underrated rock bands of the 1968-1972 period. (Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke later went on to form the more commercially successful Bad Company.) “All Right Now,” which reached the Top Ten in a dozen countries in 1970, got most of the attention, although “Oh I Wept,” “Stealer” and “Wishing Well” also got airplay. The title track to Free’s third album, “Fire and Water,” does a nice job of examining the yin and yang of romantic relationships: “Lover, you turn me on, but quick as a flash, your love is gone, /Baby, I’m gonna leave you now, but I’m gonna try and make you grieve somehow, /Fire and water must have made you their daughter, /You’ve got what it takes to make a poor man’s heart break…”

“Water of Love,” Dire Straits, 1978

This track from the Dire Straits 1978 debut LP is a sterling example of the kind of haunting ballads guitarist/songwriter Mark Knopfler was writing in juxtaposition with the more uptempo hits like “Sultans of Swing” and “Lady Writer” in the band’s early years. His languid guitar work and seductive arrangement on “Water of Love” complements the clever melancholy of lyrics, which notes how both water and love are essentials in life: “I’ve been too long lonely and my heart feels pain, crying out for some soothing rain, /I believe I have taken enough, yes, I need a little water of love, /Water of love deep in the ground, but there ain’t no water here to be found, /Some day, baby, when the river runs free, it’s gonna carry that water of love to me…”

“Candle on the Water,” Helen Reddy, 1977

The original script for “Pete’s Dragon” was written in the 1950s for the Disneyland TV series but was shelved until its reimagining as a live action/animated musical film released in 1977. Popular Canadian singer Helen Reddy was tapped to not only sing the featured song “Candle On the Water” but as one of the film’s actors as well. The song, written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, was nominated for a Best Song Oscar, and a slightly different arrangement by Reddy’s label got airplay on Adult Contemporary stations. The writers said they deliberately placed religious and spiritual symbols in the lyrics: “I’ll be your candle on the water ’til every wave is warm and bright, /My soul is there beside you, let this candle guide you, /Soon you’ll see a golden stream of light…”

“The Water is Wide,” James Taylor, 1991

This Scottish folk song was first written in the mid-1800s and has undergone many changes in lyrics and musical structure since then. Its hymn-like melody and modern lyrics published in 1905 have become widely accepted as definitive, exploring how love often wavers between exhilaration and heartbreak: “Oh, love is handsome and love is fine, the sweetest flower when first it’s new, /But love grows old and waxes cold, and fades away like summer dew…” A host of major artists have offered their interpretations: Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Fred Neil, Steve Goodman, Karla Bonoff, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Eva Cassidy, Cowboy Junkies and a collaboration of Jewel, Sarah McLachlan and the Indigo Girls. I’ve always been partial to James Taylor’s version, which concludes his highly regarded 1991 LP “New Moon Shine.”

“Cool Water,” Joni Mitchell with Willie Nelson, 1988

Bob Nolan, a respected singer/songwriter of Western music and actor in Western movies, wrote “Cool Water” in 1936, and it now ranks #3 on Western Writers of America’s list of 100 Greatest Western songs of all time. It tells the tragic tale of a parched man and his dying mule on a trek across a wasteland in search of water: “Come the dawn, we carry on, /We won’t last long without water, cool clear water… /Old Dan and I, our throats slate dry, /Our spirits cry out for water, cool clear water…” Nolan first recorded it as a member of Sons of The Pioneers with future singing movie star Roy Rogers, and a 1948 record with a different Sons lineup peaked at #4. Joni Mitchell invited Willie Nelson to join her on a sublime revival of the song for her 1988 LP, “Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm.”

“Rock Me on the Water,” Jackson Browne, 1972

Browne has said, “It’s meant to be kind of a gospel song, using this gospel language: ‘stand before the father,’ ‘sisters of the sun.’ But it’s turning that around 180 degrees so it’s not about religion, it’s about society.” The lyrics are clear: “Oh people, look around you, the signs are everywhere, /You’ve left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care… /Rock me on the water, /sister, won’t you soothe my fevered brow…” Browne wrote it in the tumultuous political year of 1970, and it ultimately appeared on his 1972 debut LP and as his second single, peaking at #48, following the Top Ten hit “Doctor My Eyes.” Johnny Rivers, Brewer & Shipley and Linda Ronstadt loved the song and recorded it during the same period and, much later, Keb’ Mo’ did it justice on a “Songs of Jackson Browne” tribute album in 2014.

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Honorable mentions:

“Don’t Drink the Water,” Dave Matthews Band, 1999; “Something in the Water,” Pokey LaFarge, 2015; “Cool Cool Water,” The Beach Boys, 1970; “Gimme Some Water,” Eddie Money, 1978; “Washing of the Water,” Peter Gabriel, 1992; “Water Woman,” Spirit, 1968; “Oily Water,” Blur, 1993; “Deeper Water,” Paul Kelly, 2010; “Cool Water,” Joy Askew, 1996; “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute),” Prince, 1982; “Head Above Water,” Avril Lavigne, 2019; “Down By the Water,” The Decemberists, 2011; “Water,” The Who, 1970.

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Going deep, deep in the psychedelic vault

Posted on by brucehhackett

When rock and roll was barely ten years old, some of the more adventurous musicians in England and the U.S. were eager to explore newer sounds and newer techniques that were decidedly not in the popular mainstream. These bands were all about expanding the horizons of what rock music could be, and while much of it was admittedly not very good, some of it was compelling, even catchy, and certainly influential.

There’s no denying that psychedelic drugs played a big part in motivating many bands to test the waters with musical forms that were completely unfamiliar to even the most forward-thinking listeners. Blues-based British groups like The Yardbirds, Fleetwood Mac and Cream enhanced their repertoire with innovative musical experiments, while American bands like Moby Grape, Love and Spirit took folk and rock roots and branched off into uncharted territories.

The “psychedelic rock” era didn’t last too long, roughly 1966 through 1972, but it produced some lasting music that, while not everyone’s cup of tea by a long shot, still captured the “anything goes” freedom that permeated the recording studios, especially in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In concert, most psychedelic music was expanded into jams with multiple solos, accompanied by mind-blowing light shows, but many of the studio recordings were held to more conventional lengths.

Instead of trotting out the same handful of spacey songs that are familiar because they made the Top 40 — “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night” by The Electric Prunes, “Pictures of Matchstick Men” by The Status Quo, “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf — I’ve selected a dozen very deep tracks from the late ’60s that are probably too obscure to qualify as “lost classics.” But I’m guessing there’s a segment of this blog’s audience that will get off on hearing them.

Rock on!

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“Fresh Garbage,” Spirit, 1968

Influenced by jazz, rock and folk, L.A-based Spirit emerged in late 1967 under the tutelage of famed producer Lou Adler, who encouraged their psychedelic leanings even as he found ways to make their music more accessible to the masses (at least in California). Their albums fared reasonably well, but their singles fell flat, largely because Spirit’s audience always preferred albums. Still, songs like “I Got a Line on You,” “Mr. Skin” and “Nature’s Way” found their way onto radio eventually. From their eponymous debut LP came the inaccurately titled “Fresh Garbage,” a marvelous, jazz-inflected tune that set the stage for Spirit’s reputation as a premier underground band.

“Happenings Ten Years Time Ago,” The Yardbirds, 1966

The Yardbirds, a trailblazing blues group and proving ground for several of England’s most iconic electric guitarists, bridged the gap between blues and pop enough to land in the Top 20 of the US pop charts five times in 1965-1966: ”For Your Love,” “Heart Full of Soul,” “I’m a Man,” “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down.” In late 1966, their experimental (yet influential) track “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” failed to chart here, perhaps because of its unorthodox psychedelic arrangement, lyrics about reincarnation and deja vu, and innovative guitar work by Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, who overlapped as Yardbirds for three months. 

“8:05,” Moby Grape, 1967

According to pop culture writer Jeff Tamarkin, “Moby Grape’s saga is one of squandered potential, absurdly misguided decisions, bad luck, blunders and excruciating heartbreak, all set to the tune of some of the greatest rock and roll ever to emerge from San Francisco.” Their first two albums somehow reached the Top 20 in the US in 1967 and 1968, but you’d be hard pressed to find a copy these days. The group’s three-guitarist lineup featured three singer-songwriters who merged rock, blues, folk and country in a tempting psychedelic stew. One of the better tracks is the brief, folky “8:05” by guitarist Jerry Miller.

“Stop Messin’ Round,” Fleetwood Mac, 1968

In its original incarnation (1967-1970), the band was known as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, emphasizing the leadership roll of virtuoso blues guitarist Green, who also handled harmonica and most vocals. On their second LP (titled “Mr. Wonderful” in England but reconfigured as “English Rose” in the US), they added saxophones to several tracks, as well as piano provided by future member Christine Perfect McVie. A highlight is the original Green blues track “Stop Messin’ Round,” which opens the album. These early blues-oriented Fleetwood Mac LPs were all Top Ten successes in England but wallowed in the lower rungs of the US charts.

“Baby’s Calling Me Home,” Steve Miller Band, 1968

Before he settled into a lucrative gig as a mainstream pop/rock star of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Miller was the leader of one of San Francisco’s most promising psychedelic blues bands, cranking out five albums in less than three years, including lost classic tracks like “Space Cowboy” and “Living in the U.S.A.” One of the Steve Miller Band’s founding members was guitarist/singer Boz Scaggs, who split in 1969 for a solo career specializing in R&B and “blue-eyed soul.” On the group’s 1968 debut LP “Children of the Future,” Scaggs wrote and sang lead vocals on the bluesy “Baby’s Calling Me Home,” probably the best track on the record.

“Tin Soldier,” Small Faces, 1967

Emerging as one of the premiere psychedelic bands of London’s mod subculture in the mid-’60s, The Small Faces enjoyed eight hit singles on UK charts but only one in the US, “Itchycoo Park,” which peaked at #16 in 1967. The follow-up, “Tin Soldier,” stalled at #73 in the US but prompted the release of “There Are But Four Small Faces,” their first US album which reconfigured the UK version by dropping some tracks and adding the two singles, both written by guitarist Steve Marriott. When Marriott left in 1969 to form Humble Pie, the others (including Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones) continued as The Faces with Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart on vocals.

“A House is Not a Motel,” Love, 1967

Arthur Lee, the frontman of the L.A. band Love, wrote unusual songs that deftly amalgamated garage rock, folk rock and psychedelia. He and guitarist Bryan MacLean steered the group from L.A. clubs to a national record contract, even scoring one minor hit, “7 and 7 Is,” which peaked at #33 in 1966. But Love was without question an album band, and their 1967 LP “Forever Changes” is considered a defining work of underground California rock, even as it investigated darker themes and questioned the sunny optimism of the so-called “Summer of Love” that year. In particular, “A House is Not a Motel” uses a folky foundation and then soars off into psychedelic realms.

“Hear Me Calling,” Ten Years After, 1969

British blues-rock band Ten Years After formed in 1966, named because they were born “ten years after” the explosive success of Elvis Presley, guitarist Alvin Lee’s idol. The group had four Top Ten LPs in the UK in 1969 and 1970, and generated a decent following in the US as well, thanks to a game-changing performance of Lee’s “I’m Going Home” at Woodstock, which was featured in the film and soundtrack album. From their third LP “Stonedhenge” comes the driving blues-boogie “Hear Me Calling,” written and sung by Lee, who wrote most of the band’s catalog, including their one US Top 40 entry, “I’d Love to Change the World” in 1971.

“Help Me,” Canned Heat, 1967

Bob “The Bear” Hite was a blues aficionado living in the Topanga Canyon area of L.A. when he formed Canned Heat as a makeshift jug band playing folk blues music, immortalized in the “Woodstock” soundtrack with its single “Going Up the Country.” Their self-titled debut LP consisted mostly of covers of tunes by the people Hite considered the best of the Delta bluesmen — Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon. Although Hite was Canned Heat’s gruff lead singer, the track “Help Me” by Sonny Boy Williamson II features guitarist Alan Wilson on vocals. The group was lauded as “one of America’s best boogie bands who also delve into psychedelic funk.”

“N.S.U.,” Cream, 1967

Eric Clapton had already made his mark with The Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers when he joined forces with bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker to form the blues power trio Cream, known for unparalleled live improvisational forays and creative original songs featuring the virtuoso trio in the studio. BBC writer Sid Smith said Cream’s music “is when blues, pop and rock magically starts to coalesce to create something brand new.” Their debut LP “Fresh Cream,” released in late 1966 in England, included the hit “I Feel Free” and the cryptically titled “N.S.U.,” which Bruce later revealed meant “non-specific urethritis,” a joking reference to Clapton’s bout with VD at the time. 

“Waiting,” Santana, 1969

Carlos Santana had emigrated from Mexico to California in his early 20s, bringing his Latin music influences to the psychedelic milieu of the San Francisco counterculture. His first project, The Santana Blues Band, fell by the wayside when some members didn’t take their gigs seriously, but once Fillmore West impresario Bill Graham got involved, along with keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie, the new lineup called themselves simply Santana and finagled their way onto the bill at Woodstock, almost stealing the show with a breakout performance. “Waiting,” a percussion-driven instrumental track, opens their debut LP, released two months after the festival.  

“Glow Girl,” The Who, 1968

Pete Townshend was a prolific songwriter, especially in the group’s early Mod days when The Who released multiple hit singles and B-sides and left numerous outtakes from their album sessions in the studio vault. By the mid-’70s, they decided they had enough worthwhile archival tracks to compile “Odds & Sods,” a collection of a dozen great unreleased Who tunes like “Pure and Easy,” “Postcard,” “Little Billy” and the anthem-like “Long Live Rock.” Another fine track, “Glow Girl,” was written and recorded during the 1968 sessions for “Tommy.” The lyric “It’s a girl, Mrs. Walker, it’s a girl” makes it a sort of companion piece to the brief introductory song “It’s a Boy” from the 1969 rock opera.

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