Marshall Tucker Band – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway

This wraps up my southern week…I hope you enjoyed it. Toy Caldwell was their guitar player and he could match up with any guitarist from other bands.

This song was on their self-titled debut album released in 1973. Even though Take the Highway might not be as famous as some of the band’s other hits, it’s still a total winner that deserves a spot on playlists.

There is no Marshall Tucker in The Marshall Tucker Band. The name refers to a blind piano tuner from Columbia, South Carolina. They saw the name on a door key where they used to rehearse and decided it would make a good name for their band.

The mix between the flute (Not a southern rock standard) at the beginning with Caldwell’s great guitar licks along with his powerful singing sets this song off.

This album contained the classic Can’t You See. Their 1973 album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 100 in 1973.

Many say that Toy Caldwell was the soul of that band. He was a Marine in the 60s and served in Vietnam. After getting injured he was able to go home and started to play music with his high school friends. Toy and his brother helped start Marshall Tucker.

Toy left Marshall Tucker in 1984. Contributing to his leaving was the fact that his brother… co-founder of the band and bass guitarist Tommy Caldwell, was killed at age 30 in an automobile accident on April 28, 1980. Toy’s other brother Tim Caldwell, on March 28, 1980, one month before Tommy’s death, was killed at age 25 in a collision in South Carolina.

Gregg Allman: When we wanted to get away from our old ladies, we’d head on down to Grant’s Lounge, which was a great place to hang out. We saw a lot of bands, including Marshall Tucker, or Mother Tucker, as we called them. Toy Caldwell was a good friend of mine…was Marshall Tucker—he made that band what it was.

Take The Highway

Take the highwayLord knows I’ve been gone too longLot of sad daysOne day you’ll turn around and I’ll be gone

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHear me say

I’ll be back somedayBut darling, please don’t wait for me too longThere’s just one place I can’t stayMemories of your love still lingers on

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHear me say

I’ll be back somedayBut darling, please don’t wait for me too longThere’s just one place I can’t stayMemories of your love still lingers on

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayMake me stay

Take the highwayTake the highwayTake the highwayTake the highway

And the time has finally comeFor me to pack my bags and walk awayHere me say

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A Concert of The Mind…Fantasy Park

Imagine a concert in 1975 with The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and more. Well, it happened! Sorta. Rod Serling did all of the radio promos. It would be one of his last projects…he would pass away before it aired.

It was a 48-hour-long rock concert (Fantasy Park) that was aired by nearly 200 radio stations over Labor Day weekend in 1975. The program, produced by KNUS in Dallas, featured performances by dozens of rock stars of the day and even reunited The Beatles. It was also completely imaginary, a theatre-of-the-mind for the 70s.

The “concert” consisted of live and studio recordings by the artists with live effects added to make it sound legit.

The show had college students hitchhiking all over America hoping to get to Fantasy Park. In New Orleans when the concert aired, the IRS came knocking on the doors of WNOE trying to attach the gate receipts to make sure the Feds got their cut! Callers were asking where they could get tickets to this amazing show.

The show was so popular in Minnesota that they played it again in its entirety the next year…now that people knew it wasn’t real and weren’t looking for tickets. The greatest concert that never was. Fantasy Park had their own emcee and special reporters covering the weekend event giving you the play-by-play details along with some behind-the-scenes updates.

The concert would always be halted due to rain on a Sunday morning to allow the locals to get in their regular (usually religious) programming. The whole event ended promptly at 6 pm on Sunday.

Now people look for the full 48-hour tapes of the show. They are a hot collector’s item. Rod Serling passed away on June 28, 1975.

Bands at Fantasy Park

Chicago
Elton John
Led Zeppelin
Joe Walsh
Cream
Shawn Phillips
Pink Floyd
Carly Simon
James Taylor (& Carol King)
Poco
Alvin Lee
Eagles
Linda Rondstadt
Dave Mason
Steve Miller
John Denver
Beach Boys
War
Grand Funk
Yes
Deep Purple
Rolling Stones
Cat Stevens
The Who
Rolling Stones
Moody Blues
Marshall Tucker Band
Allman Brothers Band
Seals & Crofts
America
Joni Mitchell
Doobie Brothers
Loggins and Messina
Crosby/Stills/Nash/Young
Bob Dylan
Beatles

Here is 10 minutes of it here.

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Marshall Tucker Band – Heard It In A Love Song

A song that takes me back to being a kid riding in my sister’s Vega…she kept a case of oil in the hatchback because it used it daily…but the AM radio worked great.

A great song written by the super talented Toy Caldwell. This is the Marshall Tucker Band’s biggest hit on the Pop charts, and remains their best-remembered song.

The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #5 in Canada in 1977. It was on their album Carolina Dreams. The album peaked at #23 in the Billboard Album Charts and #7 in Canada.

Toy Caldwell was the soul of that band. He was a Marine in the 60s and served in Vietnam. After getting injured he was able to go home and started to play music with his high school friends. Toy and his brother helped start Marshall Tucker.

Toy stayed with Marshall Tucker until he left in 1984. Contributing to him leaving was the fact that his brother… co-founder of the band and bass guitarist Tommy Caldwell, was killed at age 30 in an automobile accident on April 28, 1980. Toy’s other brother Tim Caldwell, who on March 28, 1980, one month prior to Tommy’s death, was killed at age 25 in a collision in South Carolina.

Toy Caldwell died February 25, 1993.

From Songfacts

In spite of its up tempo, it’s rather sad. Written by Toy Caldwell, the song is about a man who has lived on the road from town to town and affair to affair. Here, he’s been with a woman who’s been good to him and who he actually loves, but he can’t stay with her because the call of the road is too strong.

Toy Caldwell, who died of heart failure in 1993, was the band’s guitarist and wrote most of their songs. His wife Abbie Caldwell told us: “He didn’t read music, and played by ear. He jotted down words on any piece of paper available.”

Mark Chesnutt recorded this as the title track of his 2006 album Heard It in a Love Song.

Heard It In A Love Song

I ain’t never been with a woman long enough for my boots to get old
But we’ve been together so long now, they both need re-soled
If I ever settle down, you’d be my kind
And it’s a good time for me to head on down the line

(Heard it in a love song, heard it in a love song)
(Heard it in a love song) can’t be wrong

I’m the kind of man who likes to get away
Who likes to start dreamin’ about tomorrow today
Never said that I loved you, even though it’s so
Where’s that duffle bag of mine, it’s time to go

(Heard it in a love song, heard it in a love song)
(Heard it in a love song) can’t be wrong

I’m gonna be leavin’ at the break of dawn
Wish you could come but I don’t need no woman taggin’ along
Gonna sneak out that door, couldn’t stand to see you cry
I’d stay another year if I saw a teardrop in your eye

(Heard it in a love song, heard it in a love song)
(Heard it in a love song) can’t be wrong

I never had a damn thing but what I had, I had to leave it behind
You’re the hardest thing I ever tried to get off my mind
Always something greener on the other side of that hill
I was born a wrangler and a rounder and I guess I always will

(Heard it in a love song, heard it in a love song)
(Heard it in a love song) can’t be wrong

Marshall Tucker Band – Fire On The Mountain

And there’s fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there

This morning there will be 3 southern rock songs. Two well-known and one of my favorite album cuts. I live in the south…so I don’t know if it is a self-conscious thing with me but I don’t feature much southern rock. When some of my classmates were listening to Lynyrd Skynrd, Marshall Tucker, and The Allman Brothers…my feet were stuck firmly in the UK in the 1960’s…and really they never left…I just expanded some.

Now, I see music fans that really get into this music in Germany, UK, and all over the world. It’s made me appreciate what was in my own backyard.

This song sounds older than what it is…The chorus is catchy and is southern as you can get. Since I live in the south I have been bombarded with Southern Rock but I’ve been listening to it recently and have started to enjoy more of it.

This country-rock ballad was written by George McCorkle, guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band. Set during the California gold rush, it tells the story of a family that sets out from their home in Carolina looking to strike it rich.

The song peaked at #38 in the Billboard 100 and #81 in Canada in 1975.

Toy Caldwell played steel guitar on this track, but according to McCorkle, he played it out of tune because he had just recently bought the instrument and didn’t know how to tune it properly.

Gregg Allman: When we wanted to get away from our old ladies, we’d head on down to Grant’s Lounge, which was a great place to hang out. We saw a lot of bands, including Marshall Tucker, or Mother Tucker, as we called them. Toy Caldwell was a good friend of mine, but I wouldn’t give you a nickel for the rest of them. Toy Caldwell was Marshall Tucker—he made that band what it was.

This was The Marshall Tucker Band’s second-highest hit, the highest being “Heard It In A Love Song.” It was also one of their only two Top 40 hits.

Fire On The Mountains

Took my family away from our Carolina home
Had dreams about the west and started to roam
Six long months on a dust covered trail
They say heaven’s at the end
But so far it’s been hell

And there’s fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there

We were digging and shifting from five to five
Selling everything we found just to stay alive
Gold flowed free like the whiskey in the bars
Sinning was the big thin Lord
And Satan was the star

And there’s fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there

Dance hall girls were the evening treat
Empty cartridges and blood lined the gutters of the street
Men were shot down for the sake of fun
Or just to hear the noise of their 44 guns

And there’s fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there

Now my widow, she weeps by my grave
Tears flow free for her man she couldn’t save
Shot down in cold blood by a gun that carried fame
All for a useless and no good worthless claim

And there’s fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there

Fire on the mountain
Lightening in the air
Gold in them hills and it’s waiting for me there
Waiting for me there

Marshall Tucker Band – Can’t You See

“Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back
Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track”

A song that most garage bands can and do play at least once. A simple D-C-G and you are off to the races with this classic song. I was re-introduced it with the movie Blow. “”Till the train run out of track” is a great line.

This song has grown on me through the years. It’s simple, effective, and to the point. “That woman” left the singer high and dry.

This song was written by lead guitarist Toy Caldwell.

The mix between the flute (Not a southern rock standard) at the beginning with Caldwell’s great guitar licks along with his powerful singing sets this song off.

The song only peaked at #108 in the Billboard 100 in 1973 but was reissued in 1977 and peaked at #75 in Billboard and #39 in Canada…and has remained a classic radio staple.

From Songfacts

This became the anthem song for The Marshall Tucker Band, similar to “Free Bird” for Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was never a Top 40 hit, but was very popular on Album Oriented Radio (AOR) and continues to get a lot of airplay on Classic Rock stations.

The open in unusual – it starts with the picking of a guitar and the playing of a flute. Jerry Eubanks of the Marshall Tucker Band played the flute, giving the song a very distinctive sound – it’s not a common instrument in the world of Southern Rock.

The song was named the #1 greatest Southern Rock song ever recorded by Ultimate Classic Rock with Sweet Home Alabama as runner-up.

Said the site, “Next time you hear this song in public, take notice and you’ll make the strangest observation, especially if there is booze involved. There seems to be something about this particular song that makes the majority (very ironically) close their eyes and sway their head from left to right while singing the song’s famous ‘Can’t you see’ line. That universal connection earns this song the top spot on our Southern Rock songs list.”

Can’t You See

I’m gonna take a freight train, down at the station
I don’t care where it goes
Gonna climb me a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord,
Gonna jump off, nobody gonna know

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me

I’m gonna find me a hole in the wall, gonna crawl inside and die
That lady, mean ol’ woman Lord, never told me goodbye

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me

Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back
Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track

Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me