Edgar Winter – Frankenstein

Not Boris Karloff but the Edgar Winter’s 1973 #1 model.

The song has a killer riff that as a kid I could not get out of my head. It pounded you over the head. It was a big instrumental hit in the seventies. The song was seventies indulgence but that was ok. Keyboard solo, guitar, drum solo, saxophone and it drove the song on.

The videos have Edgar Winter running around with a keyboard slung over his shoulders like a guitar and playing anything he can get his hands on. It’s been used in a lot of movie soundtracks when they cover the seventies.

The song is called Frankenstein because of the heavy editing that had to be done in the studio to put it together. Back then they would have to cut the tape and then tape it back together in the correct place… Now it would just be cut and paste digitally.

Frankenstein was a B side to a song called “Hanging Around” but disc jockeys flipped it because they saw its potential. If you have a lot of patience and time…this is the Old Grey Whistle Test 9-minute version.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Charts, #1 in Canada, and #18 in the UK in 1973.

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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.

65 thoughts on “Edgar Winter – Frankenstein”

  2. I remember friends who played guitar aspired to play this song, with varying degrees of success. Certainly an air guitar favourite of many back then. The name seems to suit the feel of the song so well. Don’t imagine there were a lot of instrumentals hitting #1 after this one. So you’re telling me this was 50 years ago. At least I can still remember it!

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    1. Frankenstein does fit now that you said it…it’s one of those riffs that scream 70s. I was at the age of 6 and that riff is ingrained in my head…and will never leave.

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      3. Now, I have an older, maternal cousin that played the guitar (the older sister of the 6′ 8″ cousin with white man’s disease) and she played & sang “Puff” for me when I was little (when she still lived in NC). Sherry is 12 years older.

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      6. Yes that is probably it…damn I have allergies and I fell asleep last night…I went to the doctor and I’m allergic to….ready for this? Grass. Every type of grass except Bermuda

        No I didn’t know that is cool…

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      8. Yep! Grass. With about 40 different little pricks in my arm…for mold, ragweed, everything it seems…and she laughed and said…I’ve never seen someone who is just allergic to grass…except Bermuda.
        That is a cool dragon!

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      9. I can’t help but think that the grass is contaminated with something, too. Does it make you itch or just sneeze a lot?

        You could always grow Bermuda grass.

        I snatched Dragon from a gift store in Myrtle Beach. Then, Linda (in Colorado) gifted me with four more. You’ve seen the others, yes?

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      10. Since we moved in our house…my sinuses got worse. The samples they stuck me with I broke out in whelps. I don’t ever get in the grass but it’s all around me.
        I would love Bermuda grass….thats what they use on golf courses I think.

        No I haven’t see those.

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      17. That reminds me of elementary school….The East Cheatham Dragons….the head back then looked like that.
        That is really cool and classy looking

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      20. OH! Love the green & yellow dragon!

        Same thing happened to me. I went to Eastlawn (Eaglets) for four years and we were rezoned. Then, I spent one year at R. Homer Andrews (Roadrunners) in a “team room”…two teachers instead of one. That “team room” thing transferred to middle school but, only 6th grade. After that, it was changing classes. My town’s school system was screwy…probably still is, as they merged city with county into one big system.

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      21. That is why my favorite colors are green and yellow…it looks cartoonish now…back in the day it looked pretty scary lol…
        I hated it at first…I have to admit. I would cheer for East Cheatham basketball when they played my new school…lol

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  5. This was big favourite of mine as a kid. If you can, check out the video of the band doping this on Old Grey Whistle Test. (I think I’m right in saying Ronnie Montrose – later of Montrose – was in the band?)

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  6. I bought the album when it came out in 1973. My favourite tracks are Free Ride and Autumn but the whole album still sounds fresh and I still play it regularly.

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    1. This takes me back to being 6 years old…running around in my sisters Vega as she filled it with oil every day. The song sounds like a blunt object in musical form to knock you over the head.

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    1. No… it’s like Godzilla in your living room. Well no…it’s like Frankenstein in your living room lol. You are the perfect one to comment today.

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    1. Wow…that is such a different take and atmosphere…while the original beats you over the head…this one taps you on the shoulder…it’s really nice.

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  13. Super cool song. I had heard it around since it was all over classic rock stations but I got into Edgar Winter more in earnest after backtracking through Ronnie Montrose’s career. This was some seriously good stuff to jam to.

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  17. its a monster instrumental still sounds great – I’ve been re-doing my 1973 charts for a 50-years-later and it did even better than it did back in 1973 for me. One day I’ll get time to post them on my wordpress account!

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