Marshall Tucker Band – Can’t You See

“Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back
Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track”

A song that most garage bands can and do play at least once. A simple D-C-G and you are off to the races with this classic song. I was re-introduced it with the movie Blow. “”Till the train run out of track” is a great line.

This song has grown on me through the years. It’s simple, effective, and to the point. “That woman” left the singer high and dry.

There is no Marshall Tucker in The Marshall Tucker Band. The name refers to a blind piano tuner from Columbia, South Carolina. They saw the name on a door key where they used to rehearse and decided it would make a good name for their band.

This song was written by lead guitarist Toy Caldwell.

The mix between the flute (Not a southern rock standard) at the beginning with Caldwell’s great guitar licks along with his powerful singing sets this song off.

The song only peaked at #108 in the Billboard 100 in 1973 but was reissued in 1977 and peaked at #75 in Billboard and #39 in Canada…and has remained a classic radio staple.

 

From Songfacts

This became the anthem song for The Marshall Tucker Band, similar to “Free Bird” for Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was never a Top 40 hit, but was very popular on Album Oriented Radio (AOR) and continues to get a lot of airplay on Classic Rock stations.

The open in unusual – it starts with the picking of a guitar and the playing of a flute. Jerry Eubanks of the Marshall Tucker Band played the flute, giving the song a very distinctive sound – it’s not a common instrument in the world of Southern Rock.

The song was named the #1 greatest Southern Rock song ever recorded by Ultimate Classic Rock with Sweet Home Alabama as runner-up.

Said the site, “Next time you hear this song in public, take notice and you’ll make the strangest observation, especially if there is booze involved. There seems to be something about this particular song that makes the majority (very ironically) close their eyes and sway their head from left to right while singing the song’s famous ‘Can’t you see’ line. That universal connection earns this song the top spot on our Southern Rock songs list.”

Can’t You See

I’m gonna take a freight train, down at the station
I don’t care where it goes
Gonna climb me a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord,
Gonna jump off, nobody gonna know

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me

I’m gonna find me a hole in the wall, gonna crawl inside and die
That lady, mean ol’ woman Lord, never told me goodbye

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me

Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back
Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Marshall Tucker Band – Can’t You See”

      1. It was back in the early 80s and it is not coming to me, but if it does I will let you know. My friend’s name is Al Simon and he had a real cute sister named Michelle. Al became an electrical engineer like me, but when I got married we lost touch with each other.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Ok. So. Neil Young was in a Motown band with Rick James and Marshal Tucker isn’t in his own band. Ok. Sure. You betcha… Strange s*** Sunday.

    Flutes work well for some bands…clearly this one, Jethro Tull, Firefall, Genesis, The Moody Blues, Heart, Traffic, Manfred Mann, Canned Heat…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. LOL… I really liked these posts today. Southern Rock though isn’t populated with flutes…
      Toy Caldwell was awesome.

      Like

      Reply

    2. I just realised why I don’t like any of the bands you just listed….FLUTE! Love the instrument in classical but the sound of it in popular music is a big turn off. Slower, reflective music (astral weeks) can be fine but anything rock-like…nah…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Thankfully…could be fine if you bring in orchestral instruments en mass. Like in disney songs, and show tunes — that works great. But guitar, bass, drum plus FLUTE… I literally can’t listen to it. Each to their own of course.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Honestly, I can’t argue with you. I loved playing flute…in music class and, if I’d stayed with it, marching band. I can’t stand Jethro Tull, I’m not a Genesis fan and I can’t imagine Nancy Wilson whipping out her flute in Heart, though she is just as talented a flute player as she is a guitarist.

        That being said, I do like Firefall. The rest of the bands, above, I was just doing research just to see how many were actually out there that used one.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Great nickname… He was awesome…I love finding those vintage film clips of him and other southern rock guys playing.
      Sad life near the end…his brothers deaths a month apart started his spiral down.

      Like

      Reply

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