Blind Faith – Well All Right

This song came up during the comments of the 1969 Max Picks…and I wanted to cover it.

Blind Faith was a supergroup composed of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. This song was not written by one of those gentlemen…it was written by Norman Petty, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin…a Buddy Holly song.  Blind Faith used this as the flip side to Can’t Find My Way Home.

Clapton wanted a  more low-keyed band than Cream. Clapton and Winwood thought about asking Duck Dunn and Al Jackson of Booker T and the MGs to be the rhythm section but when Ginger Baker showed up at rehearsals…the band was set. Winwood became enthusiastic about being in a band with Baker… Clapton was hesitant but went ahead with it. Finally, the group was completed when the bassist for Family… Ric Grech joined the trio to make it a quartet.

When they first started to rehearse, Steve Winwood was playing the bass lines on his organ but he came to the conclusion they needed a real bass player. Clapton admired Rick Grech since the days when that band was known as The Farinas. Winwood said “I knew he was a good singer and could play great, and that was the guy we wanted. We didn’t even consider any other bass players. Once Rick was around – and he seemed like a nice guy – it was just very casually accepted that he was in the band.”

The first Blind Faith concert was a big one. It was in Hyde Park London, with around 100,000 people watching. They all thought they weren’t prepared enough for the concert. They also did a tour in the US but Eric started to hang out with Delaney and Bonnie more during the tour. He and George Harrison would play with them frequently.

Their discography is brief…one album but it’s a great one.

Ginger Baker: “We got to Stevie’s cottage in the middle of a field, and I settled down at Jim Capaldi’s drum kit and we just played for hours. Musically, Stevie and I got along wonderfully. He was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever worked with. What I didn’t know then was that Eric would probably rather have worked with Jim Capaldi. It’s a curious thing with me and Eric. I regard him as the nearest thing I’ve got to a brother, but we always found it difficult to talk about personal things. He never explained, for example, that he wanted it all to be a much more low-key affair than Cream had been.”

Steve Winwood on recording the album: “They were full of people hanging out, Eric had a lot of bohemian friends and liked to record with people around. The only thing I remember not being very pleased with was ‘Can’t Find My Way Home.’ It was only when I heard it again later that I realized how good it was.”

Well All Right

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’m not working.
Well all right, let people say
That those foolish kids can’t be ready
For the love that comes their way.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.