Simply one of the greatest rock songs ever written. I don't know what it's about; weariness of constant travel and hard work, I guess (Winwood had been working his ass off for years recording and touring with Spencer Davis, Traffic (first incarnation), and Blind Faith when he recorded this). JBMD was originally intended to be a Winwood solo album and instead became a Traffic reunion (Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi) reunion album. Winwood played most of the instruments and did most of the vocals, with the other two doing some vocals, Wood playing flute and sax (and occasional keyboards) and Capaldi playing drums. But on this song alone, Winwood played the brooding Hammond B3 (one of the greatest Hammond solos on a rock record), the plangent lead guitar, the bass, and the piano, as well as doing the vocals. Just an incredible song from an incredible album by an incredible group. In Winwood's frequent present-day (2010: the two just collaborated on the third Crossroads Blues Festival in the past four years in the suburbs of Chicago) collaborations with Eric Clapton, Clapton is recognized as the superstar- and I don't disagree that Clapton is one of the greatest blues and rock guitarists who ever lived- but Winwood, the keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist, with the bluesiest white man's voice this side of Eric Burdon, and composer/arranger, is the greater all-around musician.
Simply one of the greatest rock songs ever written. I don't know what it's about; weariness of constant travel and hard work, I guess (Winwood had been working his ass off for years recording and touring with Spencer Davis, Traffic (first incarnation), and Blind Faith when he recorded this). JBMD was originally intended to be a Winwood solo album and instead became a Traffic reunion (Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi) reunion album. Winwood played most of the instruments and did most of the vocals, with the other two doing some vocals, Wood playing flute and sax (and occasional keyboards) and Capaldi playing drums. But on this song alone, Winwood played the brooding Hammond B3 (one of the greatest Hammond solos on a rock record), the plangent lead guitar, the bass, and the piano, as well as doing the vocals. Just an incredible song from an incredible album by an incredible group. In Winwood's frequent present-day (2010: the two just collaborated on the third Crossroads Blues Festival in the past four years in the suburbs of Chicago) collaborations with Eric Clapton, Clapton is recognized as the superstar- and I don't disagree that Clapton is one of the greatest blues and rock guitarists who ever lived- but Winwood, the keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist, with the bluesiest white man's voice this side of Eric Burdon, and composer/arranger, is the greater all-around musician.