Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done (Live) (1971)

After Buffalo Springfield broke up, Neil Young signed a record deal as a solo artist with Reprise Records on the recommendation of his friend Joni Mitchell. Although his first two albums, Neil Young (November 1968) and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (May 1969) didn’t initially chart very well, his third album After the Gold Rush (August 1970) gained much more attention, primarily in thanks to his increased exposure from joining Crosby, Stills & Nash in August 1969.

By the end of the summer in 1970, CSN&Y completely imploded and disbanded. That very same autumn, Young decided to go on an acoustic tour of the United States, playing songs from his Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, and solo catalogs. As the tour went on, Young began to introduce more and more of his newer material to live audiences. The song heard below was played before a live audience on one such occasion on January 30, 1971. As the tour concluded, Young befriended a group of musicians (whom he dubbed The Stray Gators) which he would use as the session musicians on his fourth solo album, the critically-acclaimed Harvest (February 1972). The only song to appear on Harvest from Young’s acoustic tour was “The Needle and the Damage Done,” heard below.

The song heard below was written by Neil Young, spotlighting the detriments of heroin on the people around him. Specifically, the song was inspired by Danny Whitten, the guitarist of Crazy Horse, a band whom Young had hired to back him on his second and third albums that were eventually signed to their own record deal. When Young’s Harvest album became a huge success, reaching number one in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, Young quickly made plans to start a tour to support it. He called upon Whitten among others to rehearse with him for the impending tour. Upon their rehearsals, it was evident that Whitten was still using heroin, as his guitar playing was hardly a shadow of his former abilities. On November 18, 1972, Young fired Whitten from the band, giving him fifty dollars and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. That very same night, Whitten died from a fatal combination of Valium and alcohol, the former being taken for knee arthritis and the latter taken to try and quell the heroin cravings. It took years for Neil Young to stop blaming himself for Whitten’s death.



Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done (Live) (1971)

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Lyrics:

I caught you knocking at my cellar door
I love you, baby, can I have some more?
Ooh, ooh, the damage done

I hit the city and I lost my band
I watched the needle take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done

I sing the song because I love the man
I know that some of you don't understand
Milk-blood to keep from running out

I've seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's like a setting sun

Arlo Guthrie - Coming into Los Angeles [Live] (1969)

Arlo Davy Guthrie was born July 10, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York to iconic folk legend Woody Guthrie and professional dancer Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. From birth, Arlo was raised around his father’s folk music and friends, including Pete Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ronnie Gilbert, and numerous others. His first public appearance as a musician was in 1961 at the age of thirteen, and his first solo album, Alice’s Restaurant, came out six years later in September 1967. After his father’s passing in October 1967, Arlo inherited one of his father’s closest friends, Pete Seeger. Arlo and Seeger performed at demonstrations together, toured together, and performed at least a dozen shows per year together over the next forty years. To put it succinctly, Arlo Guthrie is the living link between the earlier generation of folk singers from the 1930s and ‘40s (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, etc.) to the new era of folk singers from the ‘60s (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, etc.), having been born and raised into one generation and growing into adulthood in the next.

Like all of Arlo Guthrie’s popular songs, the one heard below was never a hit. His famous “Alice’s Restaurant” from 1967 was over eighteen minutes long and therefore dodged radio airplay. The song heard below also missed airtime because of it being banned by countless radio stations for its subject matter. Luckily, the song remained popular by word of mouth between Guthrie’s fans. Written by Arlo himself, the studio version of this song can be heard on Guthrie’s 1969 album Running Down the Road. The live version heard below is from Guthrie’s hour-long appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where it opened Guthrie’s set at 11:55 p.m., technically closing out the first day of the festival.



Arlo Guthrie - Coming into Los Angeles [Live] (1969)

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Lyrics:

Coming in from London from over the Pole
Flying in a big airliner, oh
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Guy with a ticket to Mexico
No, he couldn’t look much stranger
Walkin’ in a hall with his things and all
Smiled and said he was The Lone Ranger

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Yes, a hip woman walking on a moving floor
Tripping on the escalator
There's a man in the line and she's blowing his mind
Thinking that he's already made her

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Coming in from London from over the Pole
Flying in a big airliner, oh
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Country Joe McDonald - The 'Fish' Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag [Live] (1969)

Note: This is our first post to feature “obscene” language. Read and listen at your own judgment.

Country Joe McDonald, born Joseph Allen McDonald on January 1st, 1942, had been named “Joseph” by his parents after the Soviet Union’s then-leader, Joseph Stalin. McDonalds parents had been devout communists in their youth, but renounced their beliefs later in life. In 1965, McDonald and his friend Barry Melton began writing and performing songs that protested the Vietnam War. They began to call themselves “Country Joe and the Fish.” “Country Joe” was a reference to Joseph Stalin’s colloquial nickname, whereas “the fish” was taken from a statement made by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, who stated that a true revolutionary “moves through the peasantry as the fish does through water.” Although their group would see the addition and subtraction of different members over the years, McDonald and Melton were always at its core.

Country Joe and the Fish were at Woodstock during the festival of 1969, but were not scheduled to play until the festival’s third day. As you may remember from our previous post, on the very first day of the festival, the very first act was Ritchie Havens. Havens had gone out on stage because Sweetwater, who had been scheduled first, were bickering amongst themselves and couldn’t make it to the stage on time. When Havens had finished his set, Sweetwater still wasn’t ready to hit the stage. Looking for someone to fill up the time between acts, the organizers of Woodstock located Country Joe wandering around near the stage. Even though he wasn’t with his band, they asked him to perform solo to entertain the audience. Country Joe, terrified of the enormous crowd, made up an excuse that he couldn’t play because he didn’t have a guitar with him. They found a Yamaha acoustic guitar lying around and gave it to him. He persisted that he couldn’t play because he didn’t have a strap for the guitar. They tied a rope to it and pushed him on stage. Joe was left without a choice and performed nine songs, all by himself, on a guitar that wasn’t his.

(It should be noted that accounts of what day Country Joe played solo vary. Country Joe himself claims the above to be true, but other historians claim he played solo on Day 2 of Woodstock and not Day 1. Without any official documentation regarding scheduling as it actually happened, we may never know the unopposed truth.)

The ninth and final song of Country Joe’s solo set is heard below. It’s opened, as it usually was, with a variation of “The ‘Fish’ Cheer.” Written by Country Joe, the original version of this song appeared on Country Joe and the Fish’s second album, I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die from 1967. Although the sarcastic and critical anti-Vietnam lyrics prevented the song from being heard on the radio, the song was very popular amongst the masses of anti-Vietnam youths. In this live Woodstock version of the song, it’s opened with “The ‘Fuck’ Cheer,” a call-and-response interaction with the audience, which had evolved from “The ‘Fish’ Cheer.” Asking the audience to call out letters and then what they spelled, “The ‘Fish’ Cheer” evolved to “The ‘Fuck’ Cheer” after a student demonstration at the University of California, Berkeley (in 1964/1965) successfully fought for the students’ right to use free speech. Country Joe and the Fish often used this cheer to highlight their right to free speech, but were also often fined by venues and cities for its use.



Country Joe McDonald - The 'Fish' Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag [Live] (1969)

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Lyrics:

Give me an “F”!
(“F”!)
Give me a “U”!
(“U”!)
Give me a “C”!
(“C”!)
Give me a “K”!
(“K”!)
What’s that spell?
(“Fuck”!)
What’s that spell?
(“Fuck”!)
What’s that spell?
(“Fuck”!)
What’s that spell?
(“Fuck”!)
What’s that spell?
(“Fuck”!)

Well, come on all of you big, strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
He got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
Put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lot of fun

And it’s one, two, three
What are we fightin’ for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
The next stop is Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

Now, come on Wall Street, don't be slow
Why, man, this is War A-Go-Go
There’s plenty good money to be made
Supplyin' the army with the tools of the trade
Just hope and pray that when they drop the bomb
They drop it on the Viet Cong

And it’s one, two, three
What are we fightin’ for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
The next stop is Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

Now, come on generals, let’s move fast
Your big chance is here at last
Night you go out and get those reds
‘cause the only good Commie is one that’s dead
You know that peace can only be won
When you blow ‘em all to Kingdom come

Sing it!

One, two, three
What are we fightin’ for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Louder!
(The next stop is) Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

Listen, people. I don’t know how you expect to ever stop the war if you can’t sing any better than that. There’s about 300,000 of you fuckers out there. I want you to start singing! Come on!

And it’s one, two, three
What are we fightin’ for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
The next stop is Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

Now, come on mothers throughout the land
Pack your boys off to Vietnam
Come on fathers, don't hesitate
Send your sons off before it’s too late
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box

Alright!

And it’s one, two, three
What are we fightin’ for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
The next stop is Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

Alright!

Ten Years After - I'm Going Home [Live] (1968)

In late 1960, a band formed by the name of Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. As current members were exiting the band and being replaced over the course of several years, the band’s name was also changing. Before settling on the name seen above, they had been known as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, the Jaybirds, and lastly Blues Trip, Blues Yard. Finally, in November 1966, the band settled on the name “Ten Years After,” referencing the breakout success of Elvis Presley ten years prior in 1956. The new band became the first group to get booked by an up-and-coming agency known as the Chrysalis Agency and became the house band for the Marquee Club in London. 1967 saw the band get invited to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival, in which their performance led to getting signed with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca. A few albums later and the band really broke out in 1969 after making their American debut at Woodstock on August 17th, 1969. All in all, the band released eight albums from 1967 through 1974 before creative differences split them apart. After the split in 1974, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, Alvin Lee, released a ton of solo albums. The band itself reunited numerous times over the years to perform at concerts and festivals, and also released three more albums; one in 1989, one in 2004, and most recently Evolution in 2008.

On March 6th, 2013, the band’s lead guitarist and lead singer, Alvin Lee, died from complications of a routine surgery. He was 68 years old.

This song, perhaps the band’s most notable song, was the song that propelled the group to stardom in America when they played it at Woodstock. It was actually the sixth song on their setlist, but the band had tuning problems with their guitars because of the high humidity in the air at the time. It was the only song preserved on film that the group performed. Written by Alvin Lee, the song is a dedication to the rock and roll music of the 1950s. The version of the song heard below, although live, was the single version released in 1968 and not the twelve minute Woodstock version recorded in 1969. This release was backed by the B-Side “Hear Me Calling.”



Ten Years After - I'm Going Home [Live] (1968)

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Lyrics:

Goin' home, my baby
Goin' home, my baby
Goin' home, to see my baby

My baby, how good
My baby, be good
I'm goin' home, my baby
Home to see my girl

Oh baby, baby, I'm comin’ home
Baby, baby I'm comin’ home
Tell me, mama, baby, I'm comin’ home

Gonna see my baby, see my baby fine
Gonna take my baby, wanna take my baby mine
Gonna take my woman treats me real kind

I'm goin' home, my baby
I'm goin' home to see my baby
Goin' home, my baby

I'm goin' home, to see my baby
I'm goin' home, to see my baby
Well take me back, take me where I belong

I'm goin' home, to see my baby
I'm goin' home, to see my baby
Come on, take me

I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home
Hey, home
Gonna take me back, back, back where I belong

I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home
I'm goin' home
Hey, home, where I belong

The Beach Boys - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (1965)

The Beach Boys were primarily composed of the three Wilson brothers (Brian, Dennis, and Carl) and their cousin Mike Love. Dennis, the middle child, was the band’s drummer from their formation in 1961 until his untimely death in 1983. The Beach Boys’ early music surrounding a surfing lifestyle was usually written by Brian, but it was inspired by Dennis, as he was the only member of the group who actually surfed. He was the first member of the band to release a solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, which was released in 1977. Comparatively, his role in The Beach Boys was much like that of George Harrison’s in The Beatles; Dennis was considered to be the dark horse of The Beach Boys, growing from a quiet figure in the background to a prominent member who reached critical acclaim. On December 28th, 1983, a little over three weeks after his thirty-ninth birthday, Dennis became intoxicated and drowned at Marina Del Ray in Los Angeles while attempting to retrieve items from under the sea that he had thrown overboard from his yacht three years prior.

Written by John Lennon and first recorded by The Beatles for their August 1965 album Help!, this song was allegedly written about The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, regarding his closeted homosexuality. In the opening lines, Lennon sang “two foot small” instead of the intended “two foot tall” and decided to keep it that way, stating that the “psueds will really love it.”

This particular version of the song, performed solely by Dennis Wilson, was released on The Beach Boys’ album Beach Boys’ Party! in November 1965. Although it sounds live, the laughter and background chatter was in fact mixed in during post production, making this a studio track. It was recorded in haste to meet the demands of Capitol Records who wanted something to release for the holiday season. The band had just released a Christmas album the year prior, had not yet finished their upcoming masterpiece Pet Sounds, and so this album promoting “togetherness” was the result.



The Beach Boys - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (1965)

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Lyrics:

Here I stand, head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she's gone, I can't go on
Feeling two-foot small

Everywhere, people stare
Each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say

“Hey! You've got to hide your love away”
“Hey! You've got to hide your love away”

How can I even try?
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state I'm in

How could she say to me
“Love will find a way”?
Gather ‘round all you clowns
Let me hear you say

“Hey! You've got to hide your love away”
“Hey! You've got to hide your love away”

Eric Clapton - Christmas Tears [Live] (1998)

Raised by his grandparents and led to believe that his mother was actually his sister, Eric Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar for his thirteenth birthday, but after becoming frustrated with it, didn’t really dedicate himself to playing it until he was fifteen. By the age of sixteen, he was already earning the reputation of being a fantastic player. Less than four years later, “Clapton is God” was commonly found around London, the graffiti being made by fans when he was barely twenty years old. After starring in numerous bands such as The Yardbirds, Cream, Derek and the Dominos, and others in the ‘60s, he finally turned toward a solo career in the ‘70s onward. As stated in a previous feature on this artist, there is far too much that could be said about this legend that could ever be summarized in this small space.

This song was originally released by Freddie King in 1961. This version of the song was performed by Eric Clapton at a benefit concert in Washington, D.C., celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of the founding of the Special Olympics. Held by then-President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary in December 1998, the song was one of three that Clapton performed in that night. A year later, in October 1999, the songs performed that night were released on A Very Special Christmas Live, put out by A&M/Interscope Records.



Eric Clapton - Christmas Tears [Live] (1998)

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Lyrics:

I hear sleigh bells ring
I haven’t heard a word from you in years
I hear sleigh bells ringin’
But I haven’t heard a word from you in years
I hear choirs singin’
And I’m just sittin’ here cryin’ Christmas tears

Everybody’s singin’ “Merry Christmas”
As they watch the starry sky filled with reindeer
Everybody’s singin’ “Merry Christmas”
As they watch the starry sky filled with reindeer
I’m smilin’ on the outside
But on the inside I’m cryin’ Christmas tears

You been gone such a long, long time
But it’s Christmas and I can’t get you off of my mind
Seems like you been gone a hundred years or more
But if you were here with me now
I’d hang “Merry Christmas” on my door

I need ya darling
Kiss and hold me tight
I need ya darling
On a lonely Christmas night
And as I sit and think of the lonely years
I can’t help but cry, oh, Christmas tears
Oh, Christmas tears

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - Friend of the Devil [Live] (1991)

Although he would never concede that the Grateful Dead had an official leader, Jerry Garcia was definitely the frontman leading the band. As the group’s lead guitarist and primary singer/songwriter, he led the Dead through thirteen studio albums, nine live albums, and over thirty years of successful music making. He’s been featured as a guest artist on a “who’s who” list of famous names, formed numerous successful side bands, and even put out an extensive solo library. His life was cut short by a heart attack related to years of drug abuse, but his legacy left an imprint far larger than anything that could be summarized here.

Given the nickname “Dawg” by Garcia in 1970, David Grisman has been in numerous groups since the age of eighteen. From the Even Dozen Jug Band in the Greenwich Village folk scene to the psychedelic rock group known as Earth Opera, he has always dabbled in various musical endeavors. In 1990, he founded a record label, Acoustic Disc, in an attempt to widen the popularity of folk, bluegrass, and acoustic music.

Originally released on the Grateful Dead’s 1970 album, American Beauty, this song’s music was written by Jerry Garcia and John Dawson, while the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter. After laying the original down, Robert Hunter was quoted as stating, “that was the closest we've come to what may be a classic song.” And as it turns out, it’s one of the Dead’s most covered songs, being performed by artists such as Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, and many more. This version is from a soundtrack based on a documentary, Grateful Dawg, about the friendship between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. The actual recording of the song was taken at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, California on December 7th, 1991.



Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - Friend of the Devil [Live] (1991)

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Lyrics:

I let out from Reno
I was trailed by twenty hounds
Didn’t get to sleep that night
‘til the morning came around
Set out runnin’
But I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

Ran into the devil, babe
He loaned twenty bills
Spent the night in Utah
In a cave up in the hills
Set out runnin’
But I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

Ran into the levee
But the devil caught me there
Took my twenty dollar bill
And vanished in the air
Set out runnin’
But I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

Got two reasons why I cry
Away each lonely night
The first ones named sweet Anne Marie
And she's my hearts delight
The second one is prison, babe
The sheriff’s on my trail
And if he catches up with me
You know I'll spend my life in jail

Got a wife in Chino, babe
And one in Cherokee
First one says she got my child
But it don't look like me
Set out runnin’
But I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

Got two reasons why I cry
Away each lonely night
The first ones named sweet Anne Marie
And she's my hearts delight
The second one is prison, babe
The sheriff’s on my trail
And if he catches up with me
You know I'll spend my life in jail

Got a wife in Chino, babe
And one in Cherokee
First one says she got my child
But it don't look like me
Set out runnin’
But I take my time
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

The Great Society - White Rabbit [Live] (1966)

Formed in 1965, this band was named after a set of domestic programs initiated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the fall of the same year. Inspired by The Beatles and newly emerging Jefferson Airplane, the group was initially composed of Grace Slick, her then-husband Darby Slick, and Darby’s brother, Jerry Slick. The group debuted at the Coffee Gallery on October 15th, 1966 in San Francisco, and released one single on Autumn Records. That single featured the A-Side “Someone to Love” and the B-Side “Free Advice.” “Free Advice” reportedly took over fifty attempts before getting a decent take and caused their producer, the then-unknown Sly Stone, to walk out on them. The A-Side, “Someone to Love,” written by Darby Slick, was taken by Grace when she parted with the group to join Jefferson Airplane. Renamed to “Somebody to Love,” the song propelled Grace and her new band to international stardom. Quite oppositely, Grace’s decision to join Jefferson Airplane directly resulted in this group’s demise.

Written in only one hour in either late 1965 or early 1966 by Grace, this song is widely remembered for its rendition performed by Jefferson Airplane. However, it too, was written when Grace was still a member of The Great Society. Later in 1966, when Jefferson Airplane’s first singer, Signe Toly Anderson, decided to leave the music business to raise a family, Jefferson Airplane approached Grace and asked her to join their band. Admiring how professional the group was in comparison to her current gig, Slick agreed and took this song with her. Although this early version of the song wasn’t released as a single or on a full-length album by The Great Society, it was recorded by the band at The Matrix club in 1966, along with eight other tracks. All of these tracks were later released on a 1968 live album, titled Conspicuous Only in Its Absence, which was Columbia Records’ attempt to cash in on Grace’s international stardom with Jefferson Airplane after their 1967 album, Surrealistic Pillow, which featured new versions of both “Someone to Love” and this song.

This early version of the song has a great, long instrumental in the beginning. If you're only familiar with the Jefferson Airplane version, it probably won't sound familiar until you reach the 4:22 mark. The song features Grace Slick playing an oboe.



The Great Society - White Rabbit [Live] (1966)

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Lyrics:

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
To call Alice
When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving slow
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight’s talking backwards
And the Red Queen's “Off with her head!”
Remember what the doormouse said
“Feed your head!”
“Feed your head!”

Thank you, be back later.

Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight and The Squires - I'm A Man [Live] (1964)

Curtis Knight, born in 1929, is often credited with the aid of helping “discover” Jimi Hendrix. It was Knight who acquainted Hendrix with record producer Ed Chalpin, whom Hendrix signed his first contract with. Unfortunately for Chalpin, Hendrix soon forgot that he had signed it and left for England to form The Jimi Hendrix Experience. After The Experience hit it big, Chalpin sued Hendrix and his management/record companies to no avail. But as the legal action was playing out, Chalpin released jam session material that he claimed Hendrix had been a part of, using Knight as his main witness. After Hendrix’s death in 1974, Knight would use his connection with Hendrix to write a book, Jimi: An Intimate Biography of Jimi Hendrix, and to keep his musical career alive for many years.

Inspired by Muddy Waters' 1954 song “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Bo Diddley wrote and released the original version of this song in 1955. This rare cover version featuring Hendrix and Knight was recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey, at Club 20 on December 26th, 1964. It's worth noting that Hendrix strays from the original lyrics and that some sources claim the recording took place in 1965 rather than '64.



Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight and The Squires - I'm A Man [Live] (1964)

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Lyrics:

Yeah!
Down in Louisiana a way, baby
Yeah, I’m gonna tell you somethin’
I’m gonna tell you how big and bad I am

Hey
When I was a little boy
At the age of five
I had somethin’ in my pocket, baby, woo
Keep a whole lot of folks alive

Now I’m a man
Age twenty-one
You know, baby
We can have us a whole lot of fun

‘cause I’m a man
Spelt with a capital “m”
“a,” child
“n,” boy
Mannish boy
What’d I say, baby?

Woo! I feel so suspicious
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, aw!

All you big healthy women
Stand in line
I’m gonna make love to ya, baby
In an hour’s time

The line I shoot
Will never miss
The way I make love to ya, baby
Aw, you just can’t resist

Goin’ down south
To Kansas, do
Bring back my second cousin
Little Willie John the conqueroo

‘cause I’m a man
Spelled with a capital “a”
“n”
Man

A’like a rollin’ stone
Ain’t gonna gather no cannon moss
Oh, oh, oh, yeah!
Look out, baby
Woo! Woo!

All you pretty women
Like I said before
Stand in line
I’m gonna make love to ya, baby
In about an hour’s time

Goin’ down South
To Caroline
I’ve got a big ol’ fat pig down there
She’s lookin’ almost fine
Woah, hey, woah, yeah!

I got a girl
Named ‘Louise’
She’s out of sight, mama
She was goin’ to please

I got a little booga-bear
Her name is ‘Sue’
She ain’t all that handsome, but, uh
She know just what to do

There was two old maids
Layin’ in a bed
One say to the other one, brother
He looked up and said
“Wake up, old maid
You’ll just sleep so damn sound
You know whatcha promised
When you first laid down”

‘cause I’m a man
Spelled “m”
“a,” child
“n,” boy
What I’m sayin?

Mannish boy
Oh, oh, oh, stop! Oh
It’s alright, baby
To do it tonight
The snow is comin’ down
Still had no reason for bein’ around

What I say?

Dave Mason - Sad and Deep as You [Live] (1971)

This artist has played and recorded with some of music’s most prominent names: The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, and Jimi Hendrix, the last of with whom he was good friends with. His start in the music industry was highlighted by his band, Traffic, with which he always had a rocky relationship. Hits written by Mason with Traffic include “Feelin’ Alright” and “Hole in My Shoe,” while he also had solo success with “We Just Disagree”.

Today’s song was originally heard on Mason’s first solo album, Alone Together, released in 1970. This particular version, however, was recorded in 1971, live, and first released on the album Scrapbook (1972). Since Scrapbook was never made into a digital format, this live version of the song was first heard (in a digital format) on the 2006 compilation album, The Definitive Collection.



Dave Mason - Sad and Deep as You [Live] (1971)

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Lyrics:

Lips that are as warm could be
Lips that speak too soon
Lips that tell a story
As sad and deep as you

Smile that's warm as summer sun
Smile that gets you through
Smile that tells a story
As sad and deep as you

The eyes that are the windows
Eyes that are the view
Eyes that tell a story
As sad and deep as you

Tears that are unspoken words
The tears that are the truth
Tears that tell a story
As sad and deep as you

Johnny Cash - The Long Black Veil [Live] (1968)

With a range in music from rock and roll, rockabilly, and blues to folk, gospel and country, “The Man in Black” is considered one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. He was a rebellious man that referred to himself as “the biggest sinner of them all” and was known to have a few run-ins with the law. He released hit songs for nearly fifty years, recording sixty new songs in the last four months of his life at the age of seventy-one. His story is one that cannot be done justice in such a limited space.

Ever since his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues,” he had expressed interest in doing a live concert at a prison. In 1967, with personal changes at Columbia Records, he got his wish. This song comes from his live album At Folsom Prison. It was written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and was originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell in 1959.



Johnny Cash - The Long Black Veil [Live] (1968)

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Lyrics:

Ten years ago on a cold dark night
Someone was killed 'neath the town hall lights
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

The judge said, “Son, what is your alibi?”
“If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die”
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife

Did I hear somebody applaud?

Now the scaffold is high and eternity's near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she cries over my bones

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

Can I have a glass of water?