V. AS YOU GET OLDER, THEY STOP MAKING THINGS THAT YOU LIKE…
ND: Let’s talk a little about the new album. It starts off in grand style, which seems to encapsulate the great classic rock vibe, with “My Hands Are Tied”.
AK: I was very influenced by two things on that. One was “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, and the other was the Sticky Fingers album. That’s my favorite Stones album, Sticky Fingers — I mean, to me, “Bitch” is one of the greatest ever made, that kills me. It’s like untouchable, one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard. Perfect!
For a few years there I started doing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” live. I really liked doing it, and it felt like something I could sing comfortably too. And so I said, “You know, I’ve got to write one of these kind of songs for myself.” So I set out to write something like “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in the same key; I wanted to use that same part of my voice that I was using for that, which is documented on my Soul Of A Man live album, albeit out-of-print. I was very happy that we got it recorded and out there, because I thought it was a pretty darn good version of that song.
ND: You played french horn, piano and organ on the Let It Bleed version, right?
AK: Yes, and I wrote a horn arrangement and did a session in New York with session players, and it did not go well because they could not get the Memphis feel I was looking for. So all they kept was the french horn intro, as well they should have. I used the charts I had written for the Stones on my Soul Of A Man album, and the Uptown Horns knew how to play the parts correctly.
So when I wrote “My Hands Are Tied”, I was trying to duplicate that, and then I was also very influenced by the horns on Sticky Fingers, which is funny because I actually think they were influenced by some of the horns things I had done earlier. So it is a nice cross-pollination.
ND: How did the new album’s “Going Going Gone” track come about with Dan Penn?
AK: That is really based on a lot of things that happened to me…personally. Mostly the fact that this realization hit me: As you get older, they stop making things that you like, until one day you wake up and they don’t make anything that you like. And then you are a senior citizen. [laughs] It’s an observation I have never heard anyone else make, so I thought, “I have to write a song about this.” So I sat down and wrote the first two verses in a moment; just came right out. Then I hit a brick wall; I just couldn’t go anywhere with it, so I called up Dan.
We both lived in Nashville at the time and I had written with him before, but it didn’t matter if we got together to write a song and didn’t; we just sat and laughed anyway. So he was great to be around and we had a lot in common, so I called him and said I got two verses that are crying out for some help. So he said [in a deep southern voice] “Well, why don’t you just read me them two verses,” so I read them to him and he said, “Yeah, they are pretty good, so why don’t I come over there about 8 o’clock tonight?” I said, “Man, it’s like 1 o’clock in the afternoon, can you come any sooner than that?” He said, “Well, Al…I gotta go to welding class.” And there is really no comeback to that line, you know?
So here comes Dan at 8 o’clock and says, “I been thinking ’bout those verses all day and I think I got a title for you, Al.” So we sat down and wrote the chorus because he had it in the title, and then he looked at me and said, “You know those are some mighty fine verses you got there and I think you could write two more fairly easily. I think my job is done here.” And he was GONE! [laughter] But I couldn’t have written that song without him.
VI. I DON’T SING ANYTHING I DON’T BELIEVE
ND: One of the things that is noticeable about the album is how your voice has grown, enabling you to convincingly glide through a variety of styles with what sounds like a newfound confidence. What do you attribute that to?
AK: Well, for many years, many many memorable years, unfortunately, my singing was my worst card and I really didn’t know what I could do about that. I just went ahead and tried to do the best I could, but by the time of [Blood, Sweat & Tears’] Child Is Father To The Man, there were actually people who liked it, and I just thank God for that. You know, technically I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, but certainly emotionally and passionately I have always been there. I don’t sing anything I don’t believe, and I certainly do a lot of other people’s songs, I only pick ones that reach me emotionally or spiritually. So that was something I was always OK with. No one could say that I was singing some pop thing that I didn’t care about, but I was certainly missing things like an actual great singing voice.
ND: Was that frustration compounded by your appreciation of the great soul singers?
AK: Oh man, it’s even worse than that: My favorite instrument is the human voice, so my record collecting my entire life has been collecting great singers. But at some point, approximately ten years ago, everything came together for me. Little by little I found out things I didn’t know and how to try and fix them, and then I got my voice into at least the territory of the rest of the things I’m able to do. That was a big thing for me.
When I quit in ’89, my only regret in quitting was that I couldn’t make another solo album because, A) I had some great songs, and B) my skills had improved, not just the singing but I think everything that I do — and I’m still learning, every day. Either you are learning or you are burnt out, one or the other, and I am definitely not burnt out. So when I quit, that was the one thing that sort of stuck in my craw: “Boy, I sure would like to make one more album,” you know, just so I had a better epitaph than the one in ’75.
ND: You have done countless covers through the years with your various solo and group projects, and this new album is no exception. There is a great live version of “Green Onions” included on the new album. I have noticed through the years that you seem to have a bit of an obsession with that song; is that true?
AK: Yeah, for good reason! For me that is one of the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll, and I play it whenever I can.
ND: Didn’t you play it at a baseball game once?
AK: Yes I did, in Nashville. It was a celebrity charity softball game thing and they asked me to play the field organ for it, and I couldn’t resist. It was completely weird but great — you know, there I am playing the organ and looking down from my box while George Jones was on the mound pitching! So yes, I did of course play “Green Onions”, and it sounded so cool coming through that cheesy sound at the baseball park. I thought, “Man, this is definitely one for the ol’ resume.”
