But is it? Is it really? Love Is All Right - acoustics to the fore!

IT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU!

AND ME TO, FOR THAT MATTER

"Love Is All Right" (and yeah, it's All Right, not Alright which to me isn't a real word) is another one from the initial '75 sessions though unlike "Fall On Me" it was written after recording had begun. I'm playing my Ovation Custom Balladeer, my first good acoustic. Like the guitars used in the previous track it was lost in the burglary. There are two guitar tracks - rhythm and lead - bass (a simple pattern mixed way too low) and drums. There's just one voice - no harmony because I ran out of tracks and didn't want bounce down for one vocal. When we perform the song live there's a harmony vocal on the line "It's gonna happen to you". I remember recording the lead guitar in the bedroom because there wasn't as much ambient echo. There was no tape trickery - every track except lead guitar was the first take. I recorded in my usual backwards fashion - vocal and guitar first and everything else added later.

The song was written fairly quickly in a rush of emotion and creativity, sitting in the kitchen with my guitar and a notepad. I hesitate to say what it's about because I'd rather the listener draw their own conclusions. I think I got the Ovation during the sessions because acoustic guitar is not present on the songs recorded at the beginning but it appears in the later recordings. I didn't own that guitar for long before it was stolen. It broke my heart to lose it. It made me feel like Neil Diamond. Even though I've had lots (and lots) of guitars since then I've never owned another Ovation. Maybe I will someday, but probably not. But maybe. Nah. The problem with Ovations is the round back makes them almost impossible to play sitting down. It just slides off your lap like a greased cat. Also the sound is pretty bright and I don't think they age very well being made of plastic or whatever that material is. 

My friend I can't let this happen to you

There's still so much we've gotta do

My mouth could not keep singing and my hands they couldn't play

When I saw them smother your freedom in lace and drive you away

But what can I do? It's gonna happen to you

My friend I can't stand to see you this way

But I there isn't that much I can say

I've seen you with your freedom and now I see you in chains

I've been to the scene of the murder where they washed the blood down the drains 

As I passed through - It's gonna happen to you

Love is all right as long as you don't get taken

Love is all right as long as you don't get taken

Love is all right but when you get taken you're through

It's gonna happen to you

My friend I can't let this happen to you

But I know you don't see things like I do

I see the windows broken and the sun shining down

And I see your car all painted up and rollin' out of town

What can I do? It's gonna happen to you

It's gonna happen to you, it's gonna happen to you and me, too

And me, too

The artist as a young Dylan fan: for several years I took part in an annual Dylan birthday fest

         put on by the unstoppable T.J. Hunt's Spirit Vibrations. I was a fan and imitator then and now.

The creative process is a funny thing. "Fall On Me", a simple 3-chord pop ditty, took years to write and almost a month to record while "Love Is All Right" , a far more complicated song both lyrically and musically, was written and recorded practically the same day (I think I re-did lead guitar the next morning).

Even though I had at least basic tracks for almost two dozen songs - probably  more - in those first three months, "Fall On Me" and "Love Is All Right" were the only two that found their way onto the finished album. Another, "Lend A Hand" showed up as a bonus track when Won Out was released on CD and of course  "Whatever You Want" ended up as the B-side of the bonus single released with the 2nd run of the LP. Both songs will be discussed later. There are several worthy outtakes that were completed or nearly so that deserve to be included in this, if less for for their sonic perfection than for what they add to the story. "Love Is All Right" finds me in Dylan mode, with lyrics more important than the backing. Not that it's anywhere near as good. As the sessions went on I was moving from my pure pop period into singer-songwriter land, where Bob is the king. Back in the middle and late 60's everyone went from wanting to be the Beatles to wanting to be Bob Dylan (even the Beatles themselves) and here I was 10 years later making the same transition. That's a big part of the reason that many of the first songs recorded were dropped in favor of newer ones - I was changing, growing up as a musician and songwriter. 

Here we are, 25 years later, still Love Is All Right-ing. Note the added harmony that I should have, but was too lazy to, add when I recorded it. 

Igloo for now.

Extra stuff: When recording began for Won Out I was 23. My favorite albums at the time were 

Blood On The Tracks, John Lennon's Walls and Bridges, The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell and Clang of the Yankee Reaper by the great Van Dyke Parks. I was a big fan of The Residents and, of course, the mighty Neil Young. All would find their way, noticeably and not very, into my musical influences. All are still high on my ever-changing "favorite albums of all time" list, although I did get kinda tired of the Dylan album. There's only so much anger, sadness and heartbreak you can take...even though without those 3 Stooges of emotion there might be no songs except "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Speaking of the Stooges I have a funny book called The Last of the Moe Haircuts that outlines and dissects their influence on 20th century society. It's supposed to be funny and tongue-in-cheek (never try to talk that way) but it works as a serious sociological study. To me anyway. But I'm no sociologiwhatchamacallit, so what do I know? Also speaking of The Stooges - Iggy Pop!