Tag: Malcolm John Rebennack

Dr. John – Such A Night

I remember this well from my childhood on WMAK, an AM station in Nashville that played the hits. Dr. John (Malcolm John Rebennack) had a voice that was hard to forget along with his delivery. This one was written by Dr. John not to be confused with The Drifters song Such A Night. 

This song was from the album In the Right Place released in 1973. It’s is a delight…you have John’s New Orleans-style funk and his unique voice. When I first heard it I would have sworn he was saying “Saturday Night” instead of Such a Night when I heard him on the Last Waltz doing this song. He put a little New Orleans in everything he did.

This was his breakthrough album. It peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts. Before this album he was a musician’s musician but after he became a pop star as well. This song peaked at #42 on the Billboard 100 but Nashville must have liked it more than that…they played it a lot. 

Dr. John collaborated with legendary producer Allen Toussaint and The Meters, a huge New Orleans funk band and the results were gold. I knew I heard of Allen Toussaint before…he worked with The Band. Robbie Robertson wanted horns on Life Is A Carnival and Toussaint did it. After that, Robbie asked him to write horn parts for an entire live show. He did that over Christmas of 1971 and The Band’s live album Rock Of Ages came out of that collaboration. 

Such A Night

Such a night, it’s such a nightSweet confusion under the moonlightSuch a night, such a nightTo steal away, the time is right

Your eyes caught mine, and at a glanceYou let me know that this was my chanceBut you came here with my best friend JimAnd here I am, tryin’ to steal you away from him

Oh, but if I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else will

And it’s such a night, it’s such a nightSweet confusion under the moonlightIt’s such a night, such a nightTo steal away, the time is right

Yeah, I couldn’t believe my ear and my heart just skipped a beatWhen you told me to take you walkin’ down the streetOh yeah, you came here with my best friend JimHere I am, I’m stealin’ you away from him

Oh, but if I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else willIf I don’t do it, you know somebody else will‘Cause it’s such a night

…

Dr. John – Right Place, Wrong Time

My sister’s car in the 70s plus AM radio gave me my own soundtrack. This is one of the songs along with Leon Russell’s Tight Rope that was on the most played list on our AM station WMAK in Nashville.

Right Place, Wrong Time was Dr. John’s only trip to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #9 in 1973 and #6 in Canada. For the longest time, I thought the name was “Brain Salad Surgery”. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer later used that name for their fourth album.

The song was on the album In The Right Place released in 1973. It peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts. Before this album he was a musician’s musician but after he became a pop star.

Dr. John (Malcolm John Rebennack) put a little New Orleans in everything he did. Gregg Allman liked Dr. John when he first met him in Boston before the Allmans made it. Gregg took drugs but after seeing what John took…he thought that the Allmans were tame. Gregg was not a fan of the New Orleans gris-gris that John brought around…and he had a good reason not to be.

Gregg Allman: Dr. John also had a gris-gris situation going on too. Basically they were these bags that he had hanging around each shoulder which were leather or goatskin and smelled kinda funky. Inside the bags was this New Orleans voodoo stuff called gris-gris. He threw that gris-gris shit all in my brand-new Hammond—he was throwing whole handfuls of that shit. Gris-gris, my ass. It was gold glitter, and it went down through the keys, down into the stops, gumming the oil up. They had to take the organ apart and scrape down each piece. They said, “What is this crap?” and they charged me $190, which meant I could eat, but I couldn’t drink a cold beer for two weeks.

Dr. John: “That was my life for a long time. At the same time I was in the wrong place at the right time, and the right place in the wrong time, too. That was the problem. We’re always shifting those gears.”

Dr. John: “Originally, I felt to go commercial would prostitute myself and bastardize the music, on reflecting, I thought that if without messin’ up the music and keeping the roots and elements of what I want to do musically, I could still make a commercial record I would not feel ashamed from, I’m proud of, and still have a feel for – then it’s not a bad thing but it even serve a good purpose.”

Right Place, Wrong Time

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place and I’m wondering what it’s good for
I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a bad place but I’m having such a good time

I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a good talking-to this time
Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure my insecurity

I been in the wrong place but it must have been the right time
I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong song
I been in the right vein but it seems like the wrong arm
I been in the right world but it seems wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong

Slipping dodging sneaking creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every ho’ I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I’d have took the right road but I must have took a wrong turn
Would’ve made the right move but I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place and I wonder what it’s bad for