Joe Walsh – “Meadows”

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by Joe Walsh & Patrick Cullie - Copyright 1973 Songs of Universal Inc., Barnstorm Music Inc. and Belkin Music Company

We dive into the electrifying atmosphere of live music on this episode, as we take a detour from studio recordings to explore the raw energy and spontaneous magic of live performances. This time around, we’re sizing up “Meadows” by Joe Walsh, from his dynamic 1976 live album, You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind.

Join us as we trace the origins of Joe Walsh’s musical journey and examine the intricate layers of “Meadows,” from the driving guitar riff that hooks you in, to the dual drummers and star-studded band lineup that includes the likes of Don Felder, Jay Ferguson, and Willie Weeks. With two drummers, two keyboard players, and a percussionist, you’ll discover how this ensemble manages a tight, uncluttered sound that defines true musicians. Whether you’re a die-hard Joe Walsh fan or just love the thrill of a great live album, tune in and turn it up.

“Meadows” (Joe Walsh & Patrick Cullie) Copyright 1973 Songs of Universal Inc., Barnstorm Music Inc. and Belkin Music Company

TRANSCRIPT:

We are back once again for another edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. We’re here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, and I’m your host, Brad Page. Each episode, I pick one of my favorite songs, and we delve into it together to see how it works: what goes into making it a great song? As always, musical knowledge or experience isn’t a prerequisite here. We don’t get into music theory or anything too technical. We’re just going to use our ears and sharpen our listening skills.

Now, usually on this show, we focus on studio recordings, where we can examine how a song was put together, the choices made during production and recording. But in the next few episodes, I want to take a look at some live recordings. There are a lot of great live albums out there, some pretty popular and some really famous ones. You know the ones I’m talking about– from “Frampton Comes Alive” to “Kiss Alive”, Allman Brothers “At the Fillmore East”, Thin Lizzy “Live and Dangerous”, Humble Pie “Performance Rocking The Fillmore”, I mean, there’s just so many great live albums.

But what I want to do is go off the beaten path a little bit and play some probably less familiar tracks that highlight different aspects of what I love about my favorite live albums. This time, we’re looking at a track by Joe Walsh from his 1976 live album, “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind”. This is a song called “Meadows”.

Joseph Fiddler was born in Kansas in 1947, but he was an army brat and moved around a lot. His father was killed in a plane crash in Okinawa, Japan, when Joe was only a year and a half old. His mother would later remarry when Joe was five, and he took his stepfather’s surname, Walsh.

Like many kids, he was insecure. Never felt like he fit in. But he had a talent for music. His mom was a classical piano player. Maybe he inherited that from her. He got a guitar when he was about ten years old, but it was hearing The Beatles for the first time that really kicked him into gear.

He went to college at Kent State in Ohio and gigged around regularly with a band called The Measles, and eventually hooked up with the James Gang out of Cleveland and became their guitar player. The James Gang was originally a five-piece. But when their keyboard player and lead singer quit right before a gig in Detroit, Joe stepped up and became their lead vocalist as well.

The James Gang built a following, got a recording contract and released three albums between 1969 and 1971, and they had a pretty big hit with the song “Funk #49”.

But Joe was restless with the limitations of that band, and quit the James Gang in ’71.  He put together a band called Barnstorm and recorded a couple albums with them, which were really marketed as solo albums. The second album featured “Rocky Mountain Way”, which of course became a big hit.

It was around this time that Joe had met Irving Azoff, who became his manager. Azoff was also managing a little band called The Eagles.

In April of 1974, his wife was driving his daughter to school when someone ran a red light and crashed into them. His wife was knocked unconscious, but his four-year-old daughter suffered major head trauma and didn’t survive. As you can imagine, it was heartbreaking and pushed Joe further into alcohol and cocaine abuse.

At the end of 1974, he released his next album titled “So What”. A number of The Eagles appeared on various tracks on that album, and within a year or so, Joe would become a permanent member of The Eagles.

But in November 1975, before he officially joined The Eagles, Joe was invited to appear on “Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert”, one of the all-time great rock music TV shows. So many great performances on that show, and they’re worth watching just for Don Kirschner’s awkwardly stiff introductions. Classic.

Anyway, Joe put together an all-star band and filmed a live show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on November 26, 1975. It was broadcast on Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert and billed as “Joe Walsh And Friends”. I don’t believe the video of that show was ever officially released; you can find it on YouTube, but the quality is pretty rough. But some of those tracks were released as a live album in March 1976. It was called “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind”.

This was the height of live album mania, of course. “Frampton Comes Alive” came out that same year, but this album was a relatively concise single LP. It doesn’t feature everything from the Don Kirchner footage, but it’s really well recorded and well performed. And it’s one of those live albums where I prefer most of these versions over the original studio versions.

This episode we’re listening to the song “Meadows”, which is the second track on this live album. First, let’s have a quick listen to the original studio version, which was released on Joe’s second solo album called “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” in 1973.

The live version is a few beats-per-minute faster, as is often the case, but I think the riff and the groove of this song really benefit from being faster. It just feels, well, livelier. And the performance is just great. I mean, look at the lineup of this band:

Of course, you’ve got Joe Walsh on guitars and vocals; Don Felder of The Eagles, also on guitar; Jay Ferguson on keyboards– e was in Jo Jo Gunne and Spirit. We covered one of his Spirit songs in a previous episode. He also had a big solo hit in the seventies called “Thunder Island”.

You also have David Mason on keyboards. This isn’t the Dave Mason who played in Traffic. This is a different David Mason who spent some time playing in Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. You have the great Willie Weeks on bass; he was one of those go-to players. He was on records by David Bowie, George Harrison, Donnie Hathaway, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder. He just played on tons of albums.

And then there are two drummers on this song, both playing together. Andy Newmark and Joe Vitale. Again, both highly regarded session players. Each of them has a credit list a mile long.

Plus you have a percussionist, Rocky Dzidzornu, also known as Rocky Dejon. He played on tons of tracks, including “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones. Now that is what you call an all-star lineup.

Now, let’s get into the track. It begins with Joe Walsh playing the riff before the whole band joins in. I gotta say, this is one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. So let’s just hear those guitars for a second.

Let’s go back and hear the full band version. And remember, besides two guitars and bass, there are two keyboard players, two drummers and a percussionist all playing together. But notice it doesn’t sound cluttered. Nobody’s over playing. They’re very tight. Those are signs that you’re dealing with real professionals here.

The verses are a little mellower. The keyboards come more to the front. Jay Ferguson is playing piano while David Mason is on the organ. And of course, Joe Walsh with the lead vocal.

Let’s try to bring up the piano and the organ so you can hear how they interact.

I wouldn’t describe Joe Walsh as a typical singer. There’s a lot of quirks to his voice, but I’ve always loved it. It’s unmistakably him. I think he sounds great on the next part of this verse, so let’s hear that.

The riff comes back. Listen to that bass part by Willy Weeks.

Here’s the next verse. Some things are left unspoken some things are handed down the circle stands unbroken sending it back around.

Around during the verses, Andy Newmark is playing the traditional drum kit, but Joe Vitale is just adding fills, playing kettle drums with a pair of mallets. Listen for that.

Now at this point, we come to a new section featuring a guitar solo played by Don Felder. This is different than the studio version. There’s no guitar solo here on that version.

Now if you listen closely, you can hear a buzzing sound, probably coming from one of the guitar amplifiers.  These days, they’d be able to remove something like that, but I kind of like it when these things are left in. It makes it feel like a genuine live recording, that they’ve captured something real. Let’s bring up Don Felder’s guitar.

Another thing to note about that section is that Joe Vitale switches from playing drums to playing synthesizer. So there’s only one drummer during that section, but there’s actually three keyboard parts.

At this point, the song builds back into the final verse, but there’s still plenty more of the song left to go.

We’re back to two drummers playing here. And this drum fill coming up is one of the few times where it’s very clear there are two drummers on this song.

Some more tasty playing by Willy Weeks on bass and a nice little Joe Walsh guitar lick here.

Now this is interesting: this is where the song seems like it should end. But they add a whole new section– and this is not part of the original studio version. Jay Ferguson is going to play a little bit on piano and then we’re going to get some extended guitar playing from Joe Walsh and Don Felder. That’s Joe Walsh on the right and Don Felder on the left. This is the kind of dueling guitars that these two would perfect on Hotel California, but they did it here first.

And here’s another new piece of music. Again, this is not part of the original studio recording, either. Jay Ferguson is once again going to take the lead on piano and now Joe Walsh is going to take a solo on his own. Let’s bring up Joe’s guitar for a little bit.

Joe Walsh – “Meadows”.

You can find the video of this performance on YouTube. Just search for “Joe Walsh Meadows live” and you’ll find it. It’s worth watching. Joe wears this goofy coon-skin cap through the whole performance. It looks ridiculous, but that’s Joe. It’s such a great performance though.

Of course, The Eagles would go on to massive success before imploding in 1980. Joe continued making solo records, but he descended deeper into alcoholism and drug dependency. When The Eagles started talking about reforming in 1992, they told Joe straight up they couldn’t do it unless he cleaned himself up. And he did. He got sober, and against all odds, Joe Walsh is still with us today– looking, playing and sounding great.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. We’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode. If you missed any of our previous shows, you’ll find them all on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or look for them in your favorite podcast app.

Be sure to share your thoughts on this song, or any of the other songs we’ve talked about, on our Facebook page; just search for “I’m In Love With That Song” on Facebook and you’ll find us. And of course, you can always send an email to lovethatsongpodcastmail.com.

And if you’re hankering for even more music related podcasts, well, the Pantheon Podcast Network has a bunch of other great music related shows, just waiting for you to discover them. So check them out.

And as always, if you’d like to support this show, the best thing that you can do is to tell someone about it. Recommend it to your friends, your family, or your coworkers, because your endorsement carries a lot of weight. So thank you.

I’ll see you again soon. Thanks for listening to this edition of “I’m In Love With That Song” featuring “Meadows” by Joe Walsh.

RESOURCES:

Joe Walsh
https://www.joewalsh.com/

The James Gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gang

Kent State University
https://www.kent.edu/

Jo Jo Gunne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Jo_Gunne

Spirit (Band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(band)

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(American_band)

Willie Weeks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Weeks

The Eagles
https://eagles.com/

Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kirshner%27s_Rock_Concert

The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get (Album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smoker_You_Drink,_the_Player_You_Get

Hotel California (Song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California_(Eagles_song)

Jackie Shane – “Any Other Way”

William Bell - Published by Bais Music (BMI) & Irving Music (BMI)

Throughout the tapestry of music history, certain figures stand out not just for their talent but for their sheer courage and resilience. Count Jackie Shane among them– a groundbreaking black trans woman who made a mark on the music scene in the 1950’s and 60’s. In our latest podcast episode, we delve into the life and legacy of Jackie Shane, a trailblazer whose story is as compelling as her music.

“Any Other Way” William Bell – Published by Bais Music (BMI) & Irving Music (BMI)

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome back to the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast– dreaming, screaming and streaming to you through the Pantheon Podcast network. My name is Brad Page, host of the show, and each episode here, I pick one of my favorite songs, and we kind of do the audio equivalent of taking out the magnifying glass and getting a close-up look at the song, uncovering all the elements that make it a great song.

So let’s get this out of the way right at the outset: If you’re one of those folks who gets all bent out of shape about things being “Woke”, well, I gotta tell you, this is our wokiest episode yet. June is Pride Month, and as an old straight white guy, I am perfectly happy to stand with our LGBTQ+ friends. And on this episode, we are going to celebrate a groundbreaking figure in the history of the gay and trans community, who is largely unknown but no less important. This is Jackie Shane and a song called “Any Other Way”.

Jackie Shane was born in May 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee. She was born in a boy’s body, but from the beginning, her mind, heart and soul was a black woman. At four years old, she was putting on high heels and dresses, trying on her mom’s makeup. She lived with her mother and grandparents, and they were all supportive of Jackie.

She started singing in church when she was eight, and joined the glee club in junior high. By the time she was 13, she considered herself a woman in a man’s body and started wearing makeup to school. This couldn’t have been easy… this was the 1950’s, after all. But Jackie was confident and stubborn and determined to be herself. She learned to play drums and had her first professional gigs, playing with a trio– herself a piano player and a guitarist. Jackie would play drums standing up and singing lead. Her first recording was in 1957, playing drums on a track called “I Miss You” by Lillian Offit. Lillian’s singing isn’t anything special and the guitar is out of tune, but Jackie’s simple drum beat swings.

Jackie kept busy playing drums on more recording sessions for Excello Records, and playing a ton of live shows in and around Nashville, playing with Big Mabel, Gatemouth Brown, Little Willie John, Joe Tex and more. Around 1958, on the advice from Joe Tex, she left Nashville. She spent time touring with a carnival. The carnival eventually made its way to Canada, where Jackie split with the carnival and made her way to Montreal. It was a smart move. Being black in the South in the ‘50’s was hard enough, being openly gay… but in Canada she felt free.

Not that things weren’t hard… or weird. She was dodging the mob and at one point, was essentially kidnapped by a gangster who thought he was going to make her a star. She talked her way out of that one.

In Montreal, Jackie met a trumpet player named Frank Motley, and she joined his band, the Motley Crew. No, not that Motley Crue. The band would rotate between gigs in Montreal, Toronto, Boston and Washington DC. When they would play in Boston, they were one of the hottest tickets in town. And Jackie was the star of the show. She’d work the audience until they went wild. Tables would be turned over. It was a whole scene.

Jackie had star power, but she wasn’t outrageous. She was subtle. She did her hair and wore makeup, but she didn’t dress outlandish. Her clothes were stylish but androgynous. Her performance style was subtle, too. One musician described her as “gliding like silk”. Focused, controlled, refined in command. She could be mesmerizing.

And this was Jackie offstage, too. This was not an act. She was not a drag queen or what they used to call a “female impersonator”.  On stage or off, she was graceful, dignified and always open, honest and authentic about who she was.

In 1960, while playing the clubs in Washington DC, Frank Motley booked some studio time. After laying down a handful of his tracks, he asked Jackie to sing a few numbers. Jackie felt like she was being put on the spot. She wasn’t prepared to record anything, but reluctantly, she cut a few tracks, including a version of Barrett Strong’s “Money”. These recordings remained unreleased for years, until 1966– six years later, “Money” was released as a single on the Stop label out of Boston.

Meanwhile, Motley, Jackie and the band continued to work their circuit, building quite a following in Montreal and Toronto, as well as DC and Boston. It was while they were in Boston in 1962 that Jackie recorded the song that would be her signature tune. It was originally written and recorded by Stax recording artist William Bell. Here’s a bit of his version.

“Any Other Way” was a brand new song; t this time, it probably had only been out a few weeks before Jackie picked up on it. In fact, the band had likely only played it a handful of times before they recorded it for this session. And the clock was ticking in the studio. Time was tight, and she only had time to record one take– and she nailed it.

The song begins with a short introduction led by the horns. This is unique to Jackie Shane’s version; the original William Bell version doesn’t have this part, but it’s a major hook in Jackie’s version. The tempo is also just a little bit slower, giving a little more sultry feel to Jackie’s recording.

Everything here is very restrained; the horns pull back, the drummer is playing lightly, tapping his stick on the rim of the snare drum. It’s a classic technique. And Jackie turns in a tasteful vocal. No histrionics here, just a smooth, classy vocal.

Now, some people have pointed out that line, “Tell her that I’m happy, tell her that I’m gay”, and tried to assign some meaning to that.  But that line was already in William Bell’s original version of the song. The intent of that lyric seems pretty clear. It’s not to say Jackie was unaware of the interpretation, but let’s not read too much into that. Let’s listen to Jackie’s vocal.

That ends the first verse. And another blast of the horns sets us up for verse number two. There’s even some snare drum fills in here.

I like Jackie’s little laugh before that last line.

You can hear Jackie pop the microphone there. That’s due to what we call “plosives”. That’s when a blast of air from your mouth, from the pronunciation of certain letters, causes the microphone to distort for a split second. That’s the kind of thing you would redo, especially today. But remember, Jackie had only one take, one chance to get it done. There was no time for do-overs.

And those horns return to bring us into the third and final verse. It’s a short song, two and a half minutes– just three verses, no bridge. Here’s that last verse.

And we’ll ride out over that horn riff through to the fade.

Jackie Shane – “Any Other Way”.

Jackie continued to work up through the end of the 1960’s with Frank Motley and the Motley crew, but also with other musicians, too. In fact, George Clinton and Funkadelic wanted to work with her, but she said no. They were just a little too far out, even for Jackie Shane.

One night, Frank Motley showed up to a gig drunk and the promoter called off the show. That was too much for Jackie. She decided she’d had enough. When she told Motley that she was leaving, he lost it– pulled a knife on her and threatened her. But she stood her ground and demanded that she got paid for the gig.

She played her last shows, and in December 1971, she walked off stage after her final performance in Toronto, and left the music business forever.

She essentially disappeared. She lived out the rest of her life in private, spending time caring for her mother, who passed in 1997. She had accomplished what she wanted, and she was content to stay out of the limelight. At the age of 78, Jackie Shane passed away in her sleep in February 2019.

Jackie only recorded a handful of tracks, and there is virtually no film or video of her performances. The only one I know of is an appearance on the local Nashville TV show “Night Train” in 1965. It’s a tight, fun performance, though Jackie is pretty reserved; she did not like doing TV and I believe this was her one and only TV performance. You can find it on YouTube if you look for it.

There is one album available, a live recording called “Jackie Shane Live”. It’s been reissued and you can find that one. And if you really want to dig deeper, there is a 2-CD set called “Any Other Way” that includes an excellent booklet outlining Jackie’s story. It was written by Rob Bowman, and I borrowed liberally from that book to put this episode together. So my thanks to Rob and to the Numero Group for putting out that collection.

Jackie Shane was a trailblazer. She was courageous and brave and strong. She had to be to be out in the world as a black trans woman in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I can’t even imagine. So, if paying tribute to someone with the strength, courage, and dignity of Jackie Shane makes me “woke”, well, I’m more than happy to be woke.

Thanks for joining me here on the Pantheon Network for this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. New episodes come out on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll meet you back here then. You can catch up on all of our previous episodes on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or find the episodes on your favorite Podcast app.

If you’d like to support the show, just go tell a friend about it. Your word-of-mouth support is the best promotion I could ask for. So thanks for that.

And thanks for listening to this episode on Jackie Shane and “Any Other Way”.

REFERENCES:

Jackie Shane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Shane

Frank Motley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Motley

Excello Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excello_Records

Rob Bowman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Bowman_(music_writer)

Numero Group
https://numerogroup.com/

Any Other Way (Album)
https://numerogroup.com/products/jackie-shane-any-other-way

Night Train TV Show
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Train_(TV_series)

William Bell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bell_(singer)