Midnight Rider
Song Writing
I tried to write a song once. Just once. Man was it hard. I had no way to write it to a melody. No way to match the words with the flow of music. So instead, I write about music. I am not a musical guy but I like music a lot. That is, music that resonates with me. My roots go back to classic rock. I like the blues too. Certain songs pique my curiosity, and I look into their background. What motivated someone to write them?
While visiting the Big House in Macon, Georgia, where the Allman Brothers Band lived, I took a photo of the lyrics to Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider.” That compelled me to look into its writing. Turns out the song involves a break-in, a roadie’s casual remark, and a farmhouse known as Idlewild South.
The first time “Midnight Rider” came out it was the second single from the Allman Brothers second studio album, Idlewild South, 1970, Capricorn Records. Gregg Allman began composing it at a rented farmhouse on a pond outside Macon, Georgia. The song came to Allman out of nowhere and it came fast. It took him just an hour to complete a rough draft, but he hit a roadblock, you could say. The song’s third verse, a vital part of the song in his mind, was going nowhere. It just not would come to him.
Late at night, he talked it over with roadie Kim Payne. Gregg kept singing the song over and over to the point that it annoyed a very tired Payne. Said Payne, “So I just threw out the line, ‘I’ve gone past the point of caring/some old bed I’ll soon be sharing.’”
That comment gave Allman what he was searching for and he and Payne, tired or not, broke into Capricorn Records to make a demo of the song. Gregg Allman’s solo version of the song, released in 1973, gave it its biggest chart success, a top 20 hit in the U.S. and Canada. The song appeared on Gregg Allman’s album, Laid Back. Chuck Leavell played piano on it. Said Allman, “He’d give you exactly what you wanted, without any questions, and if he embellished on a song, he made it even better.”
For me, it was an autumn visit with Chuck Leavell that gave me the chance to tour the Big House, of which I had heard big tales. Walking through it room by room, I relived the early 1970s, a time when the Allman Brothers music was riding high, and I relived my days at graduate school at the University of Georgia. For a brief time I felt young again.
Other musicians covered “Midnight Rider,” including Willie Nelson and Joe Cocker. The song enjoyed a good reception. Gregg Allman’s solo version was featured in the opening scenes of the 2004 remake of Walking Tall.
The lyrics consist of 17 lines and the song runs four minutes and 27 seconds. It ran into legend, this song that came out of nowhere that contained a casual remark. Some consider “Midnight Rider” Gregg Allman’s signature recording.
Back to that break-in. Attribute it to the excitement of seeing a song come to life. I don’t think Gregg and Kim got into trouble for breaking into Capricorn Recording Studios. Why should they? The song made the studio some silver dollars and did its part to enhance the legend of Gregg Lenoir Allman, that American musician, singer and songwriter who grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, which the Allman Brothers Band fused with rock music, jazz, and occasionally country
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This is my favorite Allman Brothers song! I first discovered it in college as well, but in the 90s!
My wife and I recently visited the Big House on a Sunday afternoon - what a great way to spend an afternoon. I found it interesting to look across the street, at the big church sitting over there, and wondering how many Sunday mornings the worshipers might have looked across the street at the remnants of the previous nights jam sessions.