Animals – See See Rider

Many have covered this song and I’ve known many versions. It’s been covered over 100 times. I first knew this song by Elvis but I love the Animals version.

The biggest difference between the Animals and The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and The Who was that the Animals didn’t write many of their early songs. They kept looking at the Brill Building for songs. In this instance, they took an old blues song and breathed new life into it, creating a powerful recording that would become emblematic of their sound.

One of the earliest recorded versions of “See See Rider” was by Ma Rainey, one of the pioneering figures of blues music. Rainey’s recording, released in 1925, helped popularize the song and establish it as a blues standard. The writing credit on this song is Lena Arent and Ma Rainey.

Ma RaineyMa Rainey’s influence extended beyond her music… she was also a trailblazer for African American artists in the music industry. As one of the first African American women to record blues music. she was a vaudeville star in the early 1900s.  In 1923, she started recording for Paramount Records. Earlier he took Bessie Smith under her wing and helped her. She was one of the first female blues artists to find a wide audience.

The C.C. Rider, also known as See See Rider or Easy Rider, is a blues cliché for the sexual partner, although originally it referred to the guitar hung on the back of the traveling bluesman. An easy rider was also known as an unfaithful boyfriend.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1966.

Over the years, “See See Rider” has been covered by many artists from various genres, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Janis Joplin. Per Secondhandsongs… it has been covered 450 times.

See See Rider

Oh see, see see rider girl see what you’ve doneOh oh, see see rider see what you’ve done nowYou’ve gone away and left me and nowAnd now the blues they come oh yes they do

Oh well I’m goin’ goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallOh yes I am goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallIf I get me a good lookin’ woman no no no I won’t be back at all oh rightNow see see rider I love you yes I do and there isn’t one thing darlingI would not do for you you know I want you see seeI need you by my side see see rider oh keep me satisfied

Oh he had see see rider see see riderSee see rider see see rider see riderSee see rider you keep on a ridin’, keep on a ridin’Here it comes baby look outBeat it all right don’t lose it now come on, come on, yeah

Here she comes she’s oh rightShe’s so fine she’s all mineSee see come on Jenny dig a ride now, hey

Well I’m goin’, goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallYes, I’m goin’, goin’ away baby and I won’t be back till fallIf I find me a good lookin’ woman no no no I won’t be back at allAnd that’s the truth baby listen I’m goin’ all rightSomebody told me somebody told meI jump catch on I leave it oh right oh right ah

…

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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.

28 thoughts on “Animals – See See Rider”

  3. The song is a classic. So glad you talked about Ma Rainey, you touched on some important things that people should know. A true trailblazer. Animals did such great Blues covers and this one of them.

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    1. Yea I’ve done so many on the Animals…she was more important in this one. You take….or at least I do….these titles for granted…I never knew what they meant…a phrase that you have to read between the lines.

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      2. Yes! I did also…so cool to find this out. They were sly in the way they did it. I would rather someone say something like this between the lines than to just blurt it out…it takes better songwriting and imagination. Plus you can interpret in any way. To you and me it can remain a motorcycle.

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  4. There is a motorcycle club here called the CC Riders. At one time they ran a motorcycle shop next door to the grocery co-op I worked in. The club president noticed the grates in one of our coolers were rusty so he took them in for plating when he was having bike parts chromed. They were regular blood donors and would stop in the co-op to offer rides to the Red Cross. (In contrast, this was only a few years after they were used by a local landlord as enforcers to beat and evict tenants. Strange days, indeed.)

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      1. Short version – two brothers ran the club. One was an ass. When the other became president, the club changed. They still looked badass but were tough enough to not have to prove it all the time; and he changed their priorities.

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  5. kind of a rock standard that I never knew much about, surprised it went back that far. I always thought it was “CC Rider” but didn’t know what that CC was (though with Halffast’s comment, if I’d pondered it maybe i would have thought it might be a motorbike reference – you know, like 800 CC bike) . Animals probably do it as well as anyone, I’ve heard several versions but can’t think of by whom off the top of my head.

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    1. Elvis is the one I heard it by first… he does a great version but I had no clue it went back this far either. I thought it was a motorcycle as well.

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  6. People consider them the first folk-rock band because of “House of the Rising Sun,” and this song fits that description as well. I think I’ve heard Delta blues guys cover it.

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      2. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. This comment got caught by the spam filter…I apologize for the late response.

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  13. I admit that this is obscure, but… My favorite version of “C C Rider” is by Geoff Muldaur on an album he and Amos Garrett did, “Live in Japan” where they take what is usually just a background phrase used to play off the main lyric. Geoff takes the “Oh C. CC Rider” and builds it into a whole new melody. It is incredible. Muldaur is amazing.

    Oh, yeah, I’ve always liked the Animals’ take on this, too.

    (Hey, if obbverse can use two Animals songs to reference their incredible take on Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home” (which I heartily applaud), I can go this far off topic.) 🙂

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