LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MAY 25, 2019…ON THIS DATE 49 YEARS AGO FREE RELEASE ONE OF THE GREAT ROCK SONGS OF OUR TIME ‘ALL RIGHT NOW’.
THE SONG ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT BECAUSE THE BAND HAD JUST PLAYED A GIG AT A COLLEGE, AND EVERY ONE OF THE GROUPS SONGS AT THE TIME WAS VERY SLOW TEMPOED. DRUMMER SIMON KIRKE EXPLAINED:
“All Right Now’ was created after a bad gig in Durham, England. Our repertoire at that time was mostly slow and medium paced blues songs which was alright if you were a student sitting quietly and nodding your head to the beat. However, we finished our show in Durham and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. When we got into the dressing room, it was obvious that we needed an uptempo number, a rocker to close our shows. All of sudden, the Inspiration struck (bass player Andy) Fraser, and he started bopping around singing ALL RIGHT NOW… He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes.”
THE SONG WAS A MEGA-HIT, AND WAS SO SUCCESSFUL, IT MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE EVENTUAL BREAK-UP OF THE GROUP.
ACCORDING TO SINGER PAUL RODGERS:
“Really it was just a one-off for us, and when the follow-up to ‘All Right Now’ died a death – it was called “The Stealer” – and the album that followed, Fire and Water, from which ‘All Right Now’ was taken, when that didn’t do very well, we took it to heart and the band broke up. So, in an indirect way, ‘All Right Now’ was not very good for the band, I have to say.”
HERE’S A GREAT LIVE VERSION OF ‘ALL RIGHT NOW’
