Blind Faith – Well All Right

This song came up during the comments of the 1969 Max Picks…and I wanted to cover it.

Blind Faith was a supergroup composed of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. This song was not written by one of those gentlemen…it was written by Norman Petty, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin…a Buddy Holly song.  Blind Faith used this as the flip side to Can’t Find My Way Home.

Clapton wanted a  more low-keyed band than Cream. Clapton and Winwood thought about asking Duck Dunn and Al Jackson of Booker T and the MGs to be the rhythm section but when Ginger Baker showed up at rehearsals…the band was set. Winwood became enthusiastic about being in a band with Baker… Clapton was hesitant but went ahead with it. Finally, the group was completed when the bassist for Family… Ric Grech joined the trio to make it a quartet.

When they first started to rehearse, Steve Winwood was playing the bass lines on his organ but he came to the conclusion they needed a real bass player. Clapton admired Rick Grech since the days when that band was known as The Farinas. Winwood said “I knew he was a good singer and could play great, and that was the guy we wanted. We didn’t even consider any other bass players. Once Rick was around – and he seemed like a nice guy – it was just very casually accepted that he was in the band.”

The first Blind Faith concert was a big one. It was in Hyde Park London, with around 100,000 people watching. They all thought they weren’t prepared enough for the concert. They also did a tour in the US but Eric started to hang out with Delaney and Bonnie more during the tour. He and George Harrison would play with them frequently.

Their discography is brief…one album but it’s a great one.

Ginger Baker: “We got to Stevie’s cottage in the middle of a field, and I settled down at Jim Capaldi’s drum kit and we just played for hours. Musically, Stevie and I got along wonderfully. He was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever worked with. What I didn’t know then was that Eric would probably rather have worked with Jim Capaldi. It’s a curious thing with me and Eric. I regard him as the nearest thing I’ve got to a brother, but we always found it difficult to talk about personal things. He never explained, for example, that he wanted it all to be a much more low-key affair than Cream had been.”

Steve Winwood on recording the album: “They were full of people hanging out, Eric had a lot of bohemian friends and liked to record with people around. The only thing I remember not being very pleased with was ‘Can’t Find My Way Home.’ It was only when I heard it again later that I realized how good it was.”

Well All Right

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’m not working.
Well all right, let people say
That those foolish kids can’t be ready
For the love that comes their way.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

31 thoughts on “Blind Faith – Well All Right”

  7. New to me (whereas ‘Can’t find my way home’ I know, but apparently was the b-side) but sounds quite good. A bit more pop than I thought it was going to be, which to me is a good thing in that kind of British assembled supergroup. 100 000 for their first concert – incredible!

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  8. Winwood shined on anything he did. There is a recent video on ( gasp!) YouTube of the elder Winwood sitting in front of his fireplace, I assume at his farmhouse in the English countryside. He plays this song on an acoustic Gibson, and it’s the best version I’ve heard. Check it out. I never thought he was a fit with Clapton; maybe too much musical competition or jealousy on Eric’s part. I have their one album, and now, I must go and give it a spin.

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  9. I’ve been on a Roger Chapman (Family, Streetwalkers) binge. Heard an interview with him. Family was just getting their big break at the Fillmore and Grech (Family’s bassist) gets the call to play with Blind Faith. Good for BF real bad for Family. They tanked at the Fillmore (ties in with your ABB take). Great rock story.
    Buddy Holly and Steve Winwood. I’ll take that combo. Interesting what Baker said about Steve. He didnt give out to may compliments.

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    1. Yea I’ve found out more about Grech…I didn’t know he played Violin also…I like what I’ve heard from Family. Paul turned me on to their song Burlesque….really good.
      Eric was never going to have a low keyed affiar with that talent…even without Baker.

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  11. Adding the Hyde Park concert to my TMBL. Such immensely talented musicians! They sound so good together. Not quite Cream, but still damfine. Ginger was dynomite. This song reminds me of The Allman Brothers Band.

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  13. Pingback: Buddy Holly – Well… All Right – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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