Delaney and Bonnie – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Delaney and Bonnie w/Eric Clapton – Comin’ Home

In the past few years, I’ve learned more about this group of musicians. The first time I noticed Delaney and Bonnie was in the great movie Vanishing Point.

There’s a carefree spirit to Comin’ Home that feels like a blend of Rock, Soul, and Blues. It was released in 1969 on On Tour with Eric Clapton, and after listening to the album…I wish I could have seen that tour. Delaney & Bonnie were leading a rotating group of talented players at the time, and you can hear that sense of a band finding its way together perfectly.

By this time, they had built a strong live band that mixed rock, gospel, and soul, and it caught the attention of Eric Clapton, who was looking for a way out of the pressure surrounding Blind Faith. Clapton joined their touring group, not as a headline name, but as part of the band. He also occasionally brought his friend George Harrison to join in.

Clapton’s guitar work sits along with his work with Blind Faith at the time. The sound tilts toward gospel and Southern soul, which makes for some great roots music. The tour itself ran through the UK in December 1969, with a lineup that was deep to say the least! The backing band featured Leon Russell, Delaney Bramlett, Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge, Dave Mason, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, George Harrison (on some shows), Tex Johnson, Bobby Keys, and Jim Price.

If you wanted a big tour back then, you grabbed Leon Russell. He would soon be on the notorious Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of Joe Cocker. The recordings were taken from shows in cities like London and Birmingham, captured on the fly rather than built in a studio. Producer credit went to Delaney Bramlett, and the goal was simple: to document the band as it sounded in the room.

What gets me is the looseness of the recordings. Songs like Things Get Better and Only You Know and I Know stretch out, driven by Russell’s piano, while Clapton adds fills and does his thing.

The album also mattered for what came next. Clapton carried this experience forward into Derek and the Dominos, both in personnel and in feel. The Dominos were all in this band except Duane Allman. The idea of a band built around feel and fluidity hit home for Clapton. He would not be the spotlight of that band, just a member. In that sense, On Tour with Eric Clapton works as a bridge record, a live document of one group, and the starting point for another.

You want to listen to a great live album that sounds like the musicians are in the room with you? Listen to this album and hear some of the greatest musicians of the era. The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts and #12 in Canada in 1969. The single Comin’ Home peaked at #84 on the Billboard 100 and #55 in Canada.

Comin’ Home

Been out on the road ’bout six months too long.
I want you so bad, I can hardly stand it.
I’m so tired and I’m all alone.
We’ll soon be together and that’s it;
I’m comin’ home to your love.

Hitchhiking on the turnpike all day long.
Nobody seemed to notice, they just pass me on by.
To keep from going crazy, I got to sing my song.
Got a whole lot of loving and baby that’s why
I’m comin’ home to your love.

Coming home.
Coming home.
Coming home.
Coming home.

Dave Mason – Only You Know and I Know

I’ve heard this one since I was a kid, and I’ve always liked it. It just rolls right along.

The song itself grew out of Mason’s acoustic roots, written simply and deliberately, with the melody doing most of the heavy lifting. There was no attempt to modernize it for radio, which ironically is probably why it connected. When the song was released as a single in late 1970, it quickly became Mason’s breakthrough hit. It established him as more than “the guy who left Traffic.”

It was written and recorded by Dave Mason in 1970. It was on his album, Alone Together. The song was his first charting single, and it became a minor hit for him in the U.S. and Canada. Dave Mason played with Traffic; he also played on the Jimi Hendrix song All Along the Watchtower, Beggars Banquet by the Stones, and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. The guy got around and was in demand from other artists.

Recording sessions for Alone Together were loose but purposeful. Mason brought in an all-star cast of friends and collaborators, including members of Delaney & Bonnie’s circle, Leon Russell, and Jim Gordon. No one overplayed, no one tried to steal the spotlight. It feels organic because it is, musicians listening to each other instead of competing for space.

The song peaked at #42 on the Billboard 100 in 1970. It was also recorded by Delaney and Bonnie and peaked at #20 in 1971. I grew up hearing both versions of it.

Only You Know And I Know

Only you know and I know
All the lovin’ we’ve got to show
So don’t refuse to believe it
By reading too many meanings

‘Cause you know that I mean what I say
So don’t go, and never take me the wrong way
You know you can’t go on gettin’ your own way
‘Cause if you do, it’s gonna get you someday

We’re both here to be pleasin’
Oh, no, no, not deceivin’
But it’s hard to believe in
Ah yeah, when you’ve been so mistreated

‘Cause you know that I mean what I say
So don’t go, and never take me the wrong way
You know you can’t go on gettin’ your own way
‘Cause if you do, it’s gonna get you someday

If I seem to mislead you
It’s just my craziness comin’ through
But when it comes down to just two
Ah, I ain’t no crazier than you

‘Cause you know that I mean what I say
So don’t go, and never take me the wrong way
You know you can’t go on gettin’ your own way
‘Cause if you do, it’s gonna get you someday

Only you know and I know
Only you know and I know
Only you know and I know, oh yeah
Only you know and I know, oh yeah, get up

Delaney and Bonnie – Never Ending Song Of Love

I heard this song as a kid constantly but never knew who was singing it. It was written by Delaney Bramlett, and, according to some sources, by his wife Bonnie Bramlett. It was originally recorded with his band, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in 1971 on the album Motel Shot.

So many great musicians played on Motel Shot. Duane Allman, Joe Cocker, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, Dave Mason, Gram Parsons, Leon Russell, Clarence White, and Bobby Whitelock just to name a few. Delaney and Bonnie were important in the lives of Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

Coming out of Cream…Eric liked the looseness of the band as they traveled around with members going in and out. He jumped in and toured and brought George Harrison with him. Both men developed a deep, abiding, and…as it would turn out, decades-long fascination with acoustic-based music. And a musical linchpin for both of them was the husband and wife duo, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. Though they enjoyed success on their own, the Bramletts are most often remembered for their associations with other musicians.

As the title suggests…they did record some of the album in a motel room and in Bruce Botnick’s (audio engineer and record producer) living room. They treated the recording like a party. Whichever musicians were there…that was who was on the song. They recorded this in the summer of 1970 and after switching record companies…it was released in 1971. There is still confusion on who played on what track.

The song peaked at #1 in New Zealand, #13 on the Billboard 100, and #6 in Canada in 1971.

Never Ending Song Of Love

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Have Never Ending Love For You

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On, That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Have A Never Ending Love For You

After All This Time Of Being Alone
We Can Love One Another
Feel For Each Other
From Now On

It’s So Good I Can Hardly Stand It

Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You

Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do….

After All This Time Of Being Alone
We Can Love One Another
Feel For Each Other
From Now On

It’s So Good I Can Hardly Stand It

Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You