Alejandro Escovedo – Always A Friend

But if I do you wrong, smoke my smoke, drink my wine
Bury my snake skin boots somewhere I’ll never find

CB took a break from fishing and posted a song on Friday by Alejandro Escovedo. He sounded fantastic along with his band, featuring some great players like Peter Buck on guitar. I had never heard of Alejandro Escovedo but immediately liked what I heard. I started to go through his discography and I hit this song. He has a lot of good songs and needs to be heard.

I’ve found this world of Texas musicians and songwriters with some like Steve Earle, Joe Ely, Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, and now I add Alejandro Escovedo to that growing list. These guys are some of the best singer-songwriters ever but only a few are well known. Escovedo combines power with excellent writing. Many times both don’t go together but when I heard some of his live performances you get the raw rock but with intelligent writing.

He was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1951, one of 12 children. His family was deep in music with his father playing in mariachi bands and swing combos before and after he migrated from Mexico. Later, Alejandro moved to California and saw acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, the Doors, the Seeds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. After that, he started to get into bands such as the New York Dolls and Stooges. Those two bands were a big influence on him.

Here is a very brief musical history. He began his musical career as a guitarist with the punk band The Nuns, in 1975. He then played with Judy Nylon in 1980 and cofounded Rank and File, in 1981. He left Rank and File and began True Believers with his brother Javier in 1982. The True Believers disbanded in 1987 and after that, he performed with The Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra, the Setters, and Buick MacKane. In 1992 he released his first album Gravity. Since then he has released 17 albums including La Cruzada in 2021.

Alejandro didn’t know it but Bruce Springsteen was a fan of his work. On April 14, 2008, Bruce was in Houston, Texas touring and he wanted Alejandro to come up with him on stage. Bruce loved this song as it was the lead single off of Escovedo’s album Real Animal released in 2008. The E Street Band learned it that day just so Bruce could play with Alejandro.

Alejandro Escovedo on being called up to sing with Bruce. “We were two hours out! I get there late, of course, like an hour before the show, He takes me to the dressing room, he has all the lyrics written out, he’s already run the band through it at sound check, and he and I sing it alone in the dressing room together.”

“And then I go out and see my first Bruce show, which just chopped my head off. It was unbelievable. I had never realized the magnitude and power. I was like, oh my God, I forgot how big rock ‘n’ roll could be.”

Alejandro Escovedo: “Those four minutes on stage with Bruce were more important than the 33 years I’ve been playing music. It just changed my life. It was like being blessed by the Dalai Lama. Suddenly all those years of working really hard and struggling, someone said, ‘You’re alright. You’re good at what you do. You deserve to be up here.’” 

Always A Friend

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Do you wanna be my friend?
Do you wanna be my friend?

Every once in a while honey let your love show
Every once in a while honey let yourself go
Nobody gets hurt no, nah
Nobody gets hurt

We came here as two, we laid down as one
I don’t care if I’m not your only one
What I see in you, you see in me

But if I do you wrong, smoke my smoke, drink my wine
Bury my snake skin boots somewhere I’ll never find
Still be your lover baby, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Do you wanna be my friend?
Do you wanna be my friend?

Every once in a while honey let yourself go
Every once in a while honey let your love show
Nobody gets hurt no, no
Nobody gets hurt

Well, I could be an astronaut on the wrong side of the moon
Or wrapped up like a baby on a bus under you
Wherever I go you go with me

But if I do you wrong, take the master suite, I’ll take the floor
Sleep in late, get your rest, I’ll catch up on mine
Still be your lover, baby, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Wasn’t I always a friend to you?
Every once in a while honey let your love show
Every once in a while honey let yourself go, yeah
Nobody gets hurt, it’s only love, love, love
Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh

…

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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.

33 thoughts on “Alejandro Escovedo – Always A Friend”

  2. First of all, thanks for flagging CB’s post, which I had completely overlooked – as you know, I was a bit distracted with life on Friday! 🙂

    You just gotta love Bruce Springsteen who frequently invites musicians he likes to join him on stage for a song or two. I love this live rendition of “Always a Friend”. If you wouldn’t know it, you could easily think it’s a Springsteen song.

    That said, I also love Alejandro Escovedo’s original studio recording, which frankly has a Springsteen vibe as well. As such, perhaps it’s not too surprising the Boss liked it as well!

    I’ve named Escovedo a few times in previous posts but have yet to write about him. I’m going to write down his name!

    Texas indeed has a great music tradition. Apart from the artists you noted, one of my all-time guitar heroes hailed from the Lone Star State as well: Stevie Ray Vaughan! Oh, and let’s not forget about the dude with the beard, Billy Gibbons!

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    1. Oh yea…I never got close to the list I could have made…but I didn’t want to use a paragraph lol… there are a lot of them.

      Bruce always liked the Texas songwriters because he grew up around Texas people in Freehold according to his biographies…which is pretty cool.

      Check Escovedo out Christian…he has some good stuff…check out the band Buick MacKane he was in…they were rocking…

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      2. Yes he does…the thing is…once you find one…it leads to another then another…which is a really cool thing. These Texas songwriters…there is so much quality….

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  3. It’s about time I learned a bit about Alejandro Escovedo, so thanks for sharing this! I learned about him from SiriusXM Outlaw station, specifically I think it was likely The Buddy and Jim show. I really need to add him into my listening habits. Love all those Texas artists you mentioned. I have one of them in my current series and another in a draft post on the topic I need to get back to!

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    1. It was the first time of me hearing him on Friday…yea I liked his stage presence so I checked out his other music…really good songwriting. Thanks Randy.

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    1. I really liked his story that went with it also. Yea you can tell the two just love playing music…not for money but for the love of it.

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      1. Yeah the story is cool. What Bruce is about sharing the wealth. Thing is people like Alejandro and him are musical brothers. You gotta know that Miami Steve had him on his radar. Plus there’s the Ely connection. Oh yeah great choice on the tune. Makes you feel good. The song certainly moved Bruce.

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      2. Yes I read where Steve played him on his radio show…it does… what’s cool about these artists… you look up one and they will lead you to another.

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  9. even though I’m here in Texas, I’d never heard of him. Seems to be a talented guy with good connections! though the middle video, him live, is quite good and I like the violin/fiddle I think Bruce really made it his own and made it sound ‘right’. Good of Springsteen to do that for him in his hometown too.

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    1. Yea Bruce loves those Texas guys… he grew up in Freehold New Jersey I think that was populated with Texans because of businesses… that is why Bruce has a slight Texan accent… yea this guy is really good man.

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  13. How did I miss this post? Fantastic duet with Bruce. Ecstatic that he gave Alejandro a chance to get up there with him. I admire that very much.

    I appreciate your bio on him. He’s been around! I heard him on a podcast with Marc Maron awhile back and loved it. This is the first song I heard of his:

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      1. CB has good taste in music.

        I heard that song Bury Me on release radar and it definitely put him on my radar. I bought one of his older albums from discogs but have only listened to it once so far (too much music too little time.)

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