Tag: Jim Gordon

Derek and the Dominos – I Looked Away

This is the album’s opening track, and it doesn’t so much kick down the door as quietly invite you in. If you only know the Layla album for the title track, you might miss how the whole journey begins with this two-and-a-half-minute sigh of regret.

Unlike Clapton’s past work in Cream or Blind Faith, this wasn’t about ripping incredible riffs. The melody flows with a natural grace, closer to something from The Band than the psychedelic guitar Clapton had been known for.

Derek and the Dominos was a band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, along with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon. All four musicians also worked with George Harrison on his All Things Must Pass album. Clapton didn’t want his name in the title and had hoped to keep his involvement as low-key as possible. 

The album peaked at #16 in 1970 on the Billboard 100. Although Derek and the Dominos were poised to record a follow-up album in 1971, because of tensions and drug abuse among the band members, along with the tragic death of Duane Allman later that year, this remained their sole album.

This song and Bell Bottom Blues are my two favorites off the album. Everyone knows Layla, but these other songs are great as well. Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock wrote this song. As with most of the songs on this album, Patti Harrison was the main inspiration. 

I Looked Away

She took my hand
And tried to make me understand
That she would always be there,
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.
It came as no surprise to me
That she’d leave me in misery.
It seemed like only yesterday
She made a vow that she’d never walk away.
First Verse
And if it seemed a sin
To love another man’s woman, baby,
I guess I’ll keep on sinning
Loving her, Lord, till my very last day.
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.

Traffic – The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

I first learned of Traffic with one of my favorite songs of all time, Dear Mr Fantasy. I remember this one on our rock station in Nashville, WKDF. They would play new rock songs and mix classic ones in as well. I kept up with the newer releases because of that, and heard classic songs I hadn’t heard before. Seems like a winning combination, but that is rare, if not impossible, to find now. 

This song is one of those songs you just let play and enjoy every single second of it. It was released in 1971 but was not released as a single…It clocked in at 12 minutes long. Jim Capaldi started writing this in Morocco, where he was getting ready to make a movie called Nevertheless with actor Michael J. Pollard. The film project fell through, but it did lead to one of Traffic’s best-known songs.

Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood wrote this song. Dave Mason had left the band by this time, but Traffic added some new members for the Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys album, including drummer Jim Gordon from Derek and the Dominos, which allowed Capaldi to focus more on vocals. Original member Chris Wood played the saxophone on this track. The album did much better in the US than in the UK at the time. 

The percussionist was Rebop Kwaku Baah, who played on the album and live as well. Later on, Rebop was dismissed from Traffic during the recording sessions for their 1974 album When the Eagle Flies… One problem they had with him was live concerts, according to Steve Winwood: “He insisted on going onstage and singing – and he can’t sing!” He would later be on Winwood’s first solo album in 1977, so he must have given up singing.

Jim Capaldi: “Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and the Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book ‘The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.’ For me, it summed him up. He had this tremendous rebel attitude. He walked around in his cowboy boots, his leather jacket. At the time he was a heavy little dude. It seemed to sum up all the people of that generation who were just rebels. The ‘Low Spark,’ for me, was the spirit, high-spirited. You know, standing on a street corner. The low rider. The ‘Low Spark’ meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level.” 

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

If you see something that looks like a star
And it’s shooting up out of the ground
And your head is spinning from a loud guitar
And you just can’t escape from the sound
Don’t worry too much, it’ll happen to you
We were children once, playing with toys
And the thing that you’re hearing is only the sound of
The low spark of high-heeled boys
The percentage you’re paying is too high a price
While you’re living beyond all your means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car 
From the profit he’s made on your dreams
But today you just read that the man was shot dead 
By a gun that didn’t make any noise
But it wasn’t the bullet that laid him to rest was 
The low spark of high-heeled boys
If you had just a minute to breathe and they granted you one final wish
Would you ask for something like another chance?
Or something similar as this? Don’t worry too much
It’ll happen to you as sure as your sorrows are joys
And the thing that disturbs you is only the sound of 
The low spark of high-heeled boys
If I gave you everything that I owned and asked for nothing in return
Would you do the same for me as I would for you?
Or take me for a ride, and strip me of everything including my pride
But spirit is something that no one destroys
And the sound that I’m hearing is only the sound
The low spark of high-heeled boys

Leon Russell – Pisces Apple Lady

I love Leon’s soulful playing and that voice. I’m reading a book now about a lady named Chris O’Dell who worked for the Beatles at Apple records. She dated Leon Russell for around 4 months before she went back to London to finish working for Apple. I’ll be reviewing the book in a few weeks…after the Beatles, she worked for Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and The Rolling Stones.

O’Dell was Peter Asher’s personal Assistant and she booked studio time for the Beatles and other artists. George Harrison was working on a Jackie Lomax session and needed a piano player. George wanted Nicky Hopkins but he was in America so O’Dell mentioned Leon Russell who visited Apple earlier that day. George was ecstatic and later on, Ringo and George played on Leon’s sessions at Trident studio. After work, she walked into the studio and they were recording this song. She began to figure out it was about her (she is a Pisces) and that was Leon’s way of saying he fell in love with her.

This is not the only song inspired by Miss O’Dell. George Harrison wrote a song called Miss O’Dell and Leon wrote another song about her called Hummingbird. Both Pisces Apple Lady and Hummingbird were on his debut album released in 1970 along with his song about Rita Coolidge that Joe Cocker covered… Delta Lady.

Leon was able to get Ringo, George, Charlie Watts, Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Bonnie and Delaney, Steve Winwood, Jim Gordon, B.J. Wilson, Mick Jagger, Joe Cocker, and more…on this album.

The album Leon Russell peaked at #60 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1970.

Leon Russell: “I met her when she was working at Apple Records. We had a little thing for a minute. She wrote an autobiography, and she sent me an advance copy. I’m sorry to say, as a young man, I was capable of some actions I’m not proud of. So I was afraid to read the advance copy, I gave it to Jackie [his bass player Jackie Wessel] and I said, ‘Will you read this and see if there’s any untoward activity in it?’ He read it and said, ‘It’s a beautiful little show-business autobiography. There’s no untowardness in it.’ So I was happy.”

Pisces Apple Lady

Get off your bottleGo down and see a friendHe’ll know what to do, lordyWhen you tell him how bad it’s beenHe said you oughta get awayTo the English countrysideThis cryin’ won’t help you now boyWhy don’t you look how many tears you’ve cried

When I got down to ChelseaI had no expectationsOh, But to get away from the delta girlAnd the painful situationBut I hardly had the timeOh, to laugh and look aroundAnd I found my heart was a-goin’ againLike a-English leaps and bounds (yeah)

And she’s a Pisces apple ladyWhen she speaks softlyShe screams,(She really got herself together) whoa-whoa (oh-oh)And she’s a Pisces apple ladyTook me by surpriseAnd I fell into a hundred piecesI said a-right before her eyes

Now were togetherAll the way to L.A.I know she that loves me‘Cause she can brighten up a smoggy dayIf I believed in marriageOh, I’d take her for my wifeAnd move on down into high gear babyFor the rest of my natural life

And she’s a Pisces apple ladyWhen she speaks softlyShe screams,(She really got herself together) yes she does (oh-oh)And she’s a Pisces apple ladyTook me by surpriseAnd I fell into a hundred piecesI said a-right before her eyes