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Song Stories

“Midnight Rider”

The Allman Brothers Band | 1970

This brooding blues-rock ballad is despairing even by the standards of on-the-run road songs, finding the singer down to his last silver dollar, wearing clothes he doesn't even own. Co-written by Gregg Allman with Allman Brothers roadie Kim Payne, "Midnight Rider" became a hit in the early 1970s for both Joe Cocker and, as a solo recording, Gregg Allman himself. According to Allman, it wasn't written about a specific person but "seemed like the type of thing you'd listen to when you're traveling – I've always kind of dug that."

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“Marquee Moon”
Television | 1977
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“I and Love and You”
The Avett Brothers | 2009

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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