Tag: Dixie Chicken

Little Feat – Roll Um Easy

A simply beautiful song. I remember Dixie Chicken and a few others while growing up, but they were not played a lot on the radio. I did have some friends who had the albums that is how I found this band.

Guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne formed Little Feat in 1969. Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Bass player of the Mothers Roy Estrada joined along with drummer Richie Hayward.

The band never broke out in huge commercial success but other musicians loved this band. One of them was Jimmy Page who named Little Feat his favorite American band in 1975. Lowell George stepped up as a producer in the studio for this album and he wrote this song as well.

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken

After their debut nearly cost them their record contract because of low sales, Little Feat had to fight their way through to a second album (Sailin’). They nearly fell apart before they could make their third. Bassist Roy Estrada quit joining Captain Beefheart during the second album. They replaced him with bassist Kenny Gradney and added percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Paul Barrere.

When that was going on Lowell George almost left the band to join John Sebastian and Phil Everly. George decided to continue with Little Feat.  All that struggle paid off on ‎Jan. 25, 1973, with the end result, Dixie Chicken. The album peaked at only #205 but went Gold. They never sold a lot of records but they remained rock’s more consistently acclaimed act.

Lowell George: “We had one get-together which was really nice. Real great three-part harmony, with John on the bottom, Phil on the top and me in the middle. But it could never have come to fruition, not in a million years. … I don’t think that Phil Everly and I could share a stage. I mean, I’m 20 pounds overweight and he’s 20 pounds, er, over the hill.”

Roll Um Easy

Oh I am just a vagabondA drifter on the runAnd eloquent profanityIt rolls right off my tongueAnd I have dined in palacesDrunk wine with Kings and QueensBut darlin’, oh darlin’You’re the best thing I’ve ever seenWon’t you roll me easyOh slow and easyTake my independenceWith no apprehension, no tensionYou walki’ talkin’ dream paradiseSweet pair a’ diceWell I been across this countryFrom Denver to the oceanAnd I never met girls who could sing so sweetLike the angels that live in HoustonSingin’ “Roll me easy, so slow and easy…Play that Concertina, I’ll be your temptress…”And baby I’m defenselessSingin’ harmonyIn unisonSweet harmonyGotta hoist your flag and I’ll beat your drum

Little Feat – Dixie Chicken

Guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne formed Little Feat in 1969. Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Bass player of the Mothers Roy Estrada joined along with drummer Richie Hayward.

This is one of their songs that got some airplay and I heard on a regular basis. It obviously is a southern sounding song…a great southern sounding song.

The band never broke out in huge commercial success but other musicians loved this band. One of them was Jimmy Page who named Little Feat his favorite American band in 1975. In the studio for this album, Lowell George stepped up as a producer and a leadership role. On the chorus, Bonnie Bramlett added a soulful voice to George’s.

The lineup had many changes through the years and unfortunately, Lowell died in 1979 of a heart attack. The band broke up after George’s death but reunited in 1987. The band continues today with Bill Payne still as a member.

This song was released in 1973 on the album of the same name. Dixie Chicken was written by Lowell George and Kibbee Martin.

Dixie Chicken

I’ve seen the bright lights of Memphis
And the Commodore Hotel
And underneath a street lamp I met a Southern belle
Well she took me to the river, where she cast her spell
And in that Southern moonlight, she sang a song so well
If you’ll be my dixie chicken, I’ll be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in dixieland
Down in dixieland

Well we made all the hot spots, my money flowed like wine
Then that low down Southern whiskey began to fog my mind
And I don’t remember church bells or the money I put down
On the white picket fence and boardwalk of the house at the edge of town
But boy do I remember the strain of her refrain
The nights we spent together, and the way she called my name

If you’ll be my dixie chicken, I’ll be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in dixieland
Down in dixieland

Well it’s been a year since she ran away
Yes that guitar player sure could play
She always liked to sing along
She’s always handy with a song
Then one night in the lobby of the Commodore Hotel
I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well
And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song
And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sign along

If you’ll be my dixie chicken, I’ll be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in dixieland
Down in dixieland