Tag: Simon Kirke

Bad Company – Can’t Get Enough

This song is worn out but I still get excited when I hear that intro! You also have one of the top vocalists in his generation…Paul Rodgers. I’ve always loved the feel of this song. The lyrics won’t challenge Dylan at any point but the feel makes up for it.

The band combined singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke from the band Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs from the band Mott the Hoople, and bassist Boz Burrell from King Crimson.

This song was their debut single off of their debut self-titled album. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #15 in the UK. The album Bad Company peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #27 in New Zealand in 1974.

I will never understand why Mott The Hoople turned this song down. It was written by Mick Ralphs when he was still with Mott the Hoople, but the band rejected it. When Ralphs joined Bad Company, they didn’t mind it one bit. Ralphs also brought “Movin’ On” with him, which became the group’s next single, as well as “Ready For Love,” which he originally recorded with Mott The Hoople, but redid the song with Bad Company.

Bad Company had just formed and they were signed by Peter Grant (Zeppelin’s manager) to Led Zeppelin’s new Swan Song record label. This was by far the label’s best signing of outside artists…the most successful anyway. Grant traveled with Bad Company and gave them a lot of attention during this period. After a couple of years, no artist at Swan Song would get much attention.

They recorded the album with Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio at Headley Grange. That is where Zeppelin recorded a few of their albums.

Simon Kirke: “We were scattered all over this country house. Bad Company were doing their first album and I believe it was one of the first songs that we did. I was in the basement, Boz [Burrell] the bass player was in the boiler room, Mick Ralphs and Paul Rodgers were up in the main living room where the guitar amps were. So, in order to get their attention, because we couldn’t see each other, I did the count: ‘1, 2… 1, 2, 3…’ and then I did this ‘guh-brah’ to get everyone’s attention. And that’s how we kicked it off. It was born out of necessity.”

Can’t Get Enough

Well I take whatever I want
And baby I want you
You give me something I need
Now tell me I got something for you
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on and do what you do

I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love

Well it’s late and I want love
Love that’s gonna break me in two
Don’t hang me up in your doorway
Don’t hang me up like you do
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on and do what you do

I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love

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Maggie Bell – Wishing Well

When I heard Maggie Bell a few years ago…the Scottish-born singer blew me away with her voice. A very big Janis vibe to her. I’ve read that she was called the UK’s Janis Joplin but she had her own style.

This song was on the album Suicide Sal released in 1975 on Led Zeppelin’s new record label Swan Song. The song was composed by John “Rabbit” Bundrick, Simon Kirke, Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, and Tetsu Yamauchi. Wishing Well was a song by the band Free and it was originally released in 1972. Maggie puts her spin on it and I love it.

Jimmy Page played on this album and I love the funky bass groove that opens the song. The song didn’t chart but she would later have a top 40 song in the UK with the song Hazell.

Maggie Bell was the former lead singer of Stone The Crows. Peter Grant signed the band and had big plans for them. He was the most powerful manager in rock at that time because of Led Zeppelin. The band would come to a tragic end though. Guitarist Leslie Harvey was electrocuted and died on stage at the Top Rank in Swansea on May 3, 1972. He was the only one in position on the stage. Bell has said: “It was a fluke, we were standing at the side of the stage; we hadn’t even started yet. Leslie said to the audience: ‘There’s a technical hitch,’ and he touched the microphone and the guitar. And that was it.”  The road crew overlooked one loose ground wire.

Steve Howe of Yes helped fill in for some shows for the band after that. Jimmy McCulloch then joined them and they released an album with some songs by Harvey and a couple by McCulloch who would later join Paul McCartney and Wings. The band was over in 1973 but Peter Grant continued to manage Maggie til the early eighties.

Bell was in shock for years afterward but she said:  “I thought to myself: ‘Am I going to give all this up and go back up to Scotland and have two kids?’ I mean, this was a dream we’d planned. Peter said there would be no legal problems if I didn’t want to carry on. I said no, there was a plan. I was going to make sure that I finished the journey. I’m seventy-six years old, I’m still doing it. I mean, the body’s falling apart, but the voice is still fabulous!”

Pat Blythe: The Women of Blues Part Four – Maggie Bell | Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say

You can hear Maggie Bell sing on Every Picture Tells Story by Rod Stewart. She was credited as having “vocal abrasives.” I don’t think I ever heard Maggie Bell on American radio which is a shame.

Wishing Well

Take off your hat, kick off your shoes
I know you ain’t goin’ anywhere
Run ’round the town singin’ your blues
I know you ain’t goin’ anywhere.

You’ve always been a good, good friend of mine,
But you’re always sayin’ “Farewell”
And the only time that you’re satisfied
Is when you dream from the wishing well.

Throw down your gun you might shoot yourself.
Or is that what you’re tryin’ to do?
Put up a fight you believe to be right
Someday the sun will shine through.

You’ve always been a good, good friend of mine,
But you’re always sayin’ “Farewell”
And the only time you’re satisfied
Is when you dream, dream from the wishing well.

And I know what you’re wishing for
Love in a peaceful world
Love in a peaceful world
Love in a peaceful world

You’ve always been a good, good, good friend of mine,
But you’re always sayin’ “Farewell”
And the only time that you’re satisfied
Is with your feet in the wishing well.