It’s time to pay respect to the memory of American guitarist Ed King (1949-2018), who was born 75 years ago today. He co-founded the band Strawberry Alarm Clock, who had a number 1 hit in the US with Inscense and Peppermints in 1967.
Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints
However, Ed King is arguably best known for his time in Lynyrd Skynyrd (72-75), were he co-wrote several songs, among them what may be the band’s signature song, Sweet Home Alabama. It was Ed who came up with the iconic guitar riff of the song. I know I posted this song when Garry Rossington passed last year. But Ed was not in it. So here’s another version, with Ed counting in “One, Two, three” and doing most of the soloing. Cheers to Ed King’s memory
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
In an interview I once saw with Ed King, he told how the song came to be. Some of the guys were in Skynyrd’s rehearsal space, and Ed was messing around on the guitar when he stumbled upon a riff that sounded good. When he kept repeating it, singer Ronnie van Zant got up from the couch and came over. He whispered something in Ed’s ear, and told him to keep working on it. What Ronnie whispered was the opening lines to what was to become Sweet Home Alabama. In this simple manner a classic song was born.
Here is another “What could have been”. English guitar player Paul Kossoff would have turned 74 today. He’s best known from Free, who got quite big for a short while around 1970. After Free broke up, he formed Back Street Crawlers, and did some work with among others Ken Hensley and John Martyn.
Paul Kossoff was a very talented guitarist, but unfortunately he had problems. He struggled with drug addiction from his early teens, and March 1976 his problems finally got the best of him. He was only 25 years old. What could have been. I raise my glass to the memory of Paul Kossoff
Patti Smith & Fred “Sonic” Smith - People Have the Power
American guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith of MC5, would have turned 75 or 76 today (the Mighty Internet is a little ambivalent here). Anyways, he is also known as Patti Smith’s husband. He inspired the song Frederick from her Wave album.
Patti also once told that the line from her best known song that goes “Have I doubt when I’m alone, Love is a ring, the telephone” is inspired from when she was sitting in New York waiting for Fred to call from Detroit. Phones was another thing back then than it is today
Fred Smith passed away in 1994 at the age of 46. Here’s to his memory
I mentioned the song Frederick above. It’s such a fine song, so while we’re at it.
Patti Smith Group - Frederick (for Fred “Sonic” Smith)
Bear with me, I got on a bit of a guitarist extravaganza today. Lots of memories here. Good memories it is
It’s the weekend soon, might as well get a head start
Here’s one to the singer Ronnie Drew (1934-2008) who would have turned 90 today
PS: Now this censoring system is getting really weird. I can write words like kill, maim, torture, mutilation, ______ and so on, but God forbid ■■■■■■■
I was once censored on one of these forum pages, when I wrote that well known word that describes what we all (well most of us, I assume) do at night, which can involve snoring. Obviously I can’t write the word as you wouldn’t see it!
Happy Birthday to William Thomas Medley, best known as Bill Medley, who is turning 84 today! He was one half of the American vocal duo The Righteous Brothers, who had a few big hits back in the 1960’s, some of which have become staples in the history of modern popular music.
The Righteous Brothers’ signature song is You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, which is may be a fitting tribute on this day. Happy Birthday to Bill Medley
The Righteous Brothers - You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
The Righteous Brothers is still going today. In fact they are currently on their farewell tour, and are performing live today in Las Vegas, albeit with a replacement for the original “brother” Bobby Hatfield, who passed away in 2003.
Let us celebrate the memory of a drummer called Animal! No, it’s not the drummer in the Muppet Show band! I’m talking about Phil “Philty Animal” Taylor. the (almost) original drummer in Motörhead. He would have turned 70 today, if he hadn’t passed away in 2015. The day after Phil died , Lemmy is quoted saying: “I’m feeling very sad at the moment, in fact devastated because one of my best friends died yesterday”. A little less than seven weeks later, Lemmy himself passed.
As legend will have it, Phil got his nickname because taking a shower was not a part of his daily routines. And of course he was a wild and crazy party animal too. What is sometimes forgotten amid all the legends, is that Phil Taylor was a very skilled drummer, who had studied drumming at the Leeds College of Music.
So here’s to the memory of a great and philty drummer. To Phil Taylor’s memory
Motörhead - Poison
With all due respect to Phil Campbell and Mickey Dee, this is the classic Motörhead line-up. None of them are with us any more, so let this one also be for Lemmy and guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clark.
