Song Lyric Sunday: The Wrecking Crew (Who?)

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It is probably to my shame that until now I had never heard of the Wrecking Crew, hence the question in my title, as I’m guessing I may not be the only one. According to Wikipedia, The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of Los Angeles–based session musicians who played on a great number of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognised back in the day, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered to have been one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in music history. For today’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim has invited us to play something these guys featured on and, having looked at lists of their participation, this wasn’t an easy one to slim down – these guys were everywhere! Take a look at Jim’s post Rock’s Greatest Studio Band to learn more about them. I’ve chosen two of their involvements to play today, my lead one being one of the great songs from one of the great albums:

There are many videos of live performances of this one, but I decided to go with the original album version even though it only has the album sleeve to accompany it. Given that the Wrecking Crew weren’t involved in those live shows it rather seemed to defeat the point of today! Before I forget, here are the lyrics, a masterpiece of songwriting:

I am just a poor boy
Though my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station
Running scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie

Asking only workman’s wages, I come looking for a job
But I get no offers
Just a come-on from the whores on 7th Avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there, la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie

Then I’m laying out my winter clothes
And wishing I was gone, going home
Where the New York City winters aren’t bleeding me
Leading me, going home

In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains

Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie

Etc…

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Simon

The Boxer lyrics © Sony/atv Songs Llc

The Boxer was the opening track on side two of the Bridge Over Troubled Water album, which was released in January 1970: Simon & Garfunkel’s fifth and final offering as a duo before they went their separate ways later that year. It topped the charts in the UK, the US and in many other countries, won a total of six Grammy Awards, and has sold more than 25m copies. It is a remarkably good album, and is one that I still play to this day – not a dud track on it. This song had already been released as a single, in March 1969, and reached #6 in the UK and #7 in the US: I just about wore my copy out!

The second tune I’m playing today wasn’t as big a hit, but it still did pretty well: it was released as a single in February 1968 and made #3 in the US and #12 in the UK. My reason for adding it in today is that, unlike many of the other songs that the Wrecking Crew played on, I actually bought both of these from my pocket money. Remember this one?:

As was well documented at the time, The Monkees didn’t play many of the instruments on their records, and this one is a case in point: that guitar intro wasn’t played by Mike Nesmith, as the video might suggest, but by Louis Shelton of the Wrecking Crew. He was known as Magic Fingers, and you can probably hear why from this! I was 14 when this came out, very much in the target age group for the band and their tv show, which was essential Saturday teatime viewing for my sister and me – and we even converted our parents to it, too. Happy days, and the Sixties are still my favourite musical decade. But no doubt everyone says that about the time at which their tastes were being developed. Looking back on the various lists of songs the Wrecking Crew played on, the Sixties does seem to have been their heyday, and their influence was widespread, so this was a good choice by Jim for an SLS theme.

That’s all for today. I’m off to see what others have played for this, in the hope that I’ll find lots more great music. See you again for Tuesday Tunes? Hope so 😊

43 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: The Wrecking Crew (Who?)”

  1. Pingback: The First Day After August | Take It Easy

    • I’m sorry if I’ve shattered any illusions, Janet! He was a decent guitarist but at that point the record company didn’t let them play on their releases. It’s a pretty good intro, isn’t it 😊

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  3. Pingback: Tuesday Tunes 162: A Wrecking Crew Encore | Take It Easy

      • Was that the live interactive exhibition? I’ve seen clips of it and it looks fantastic. The obvious suggestion for a related music post would be Don McLean’s ‘Vincent’ 😊

        Was this the weekend you were seeing Jackson Browne in concert? If so, I hope you enjoyed it!

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  6. Pingback: “The Only Living Boy In New York!” Paul Simon Breaks Up With Art Garfunkel Over “Catch-22!” – johnrieber

  7. Wonderful post Clive. There are some wonderful studio musicians on recordings that never get any public recognition. About a year ago, I listened to an interview with Paul Simon. It was in the form of a retrospective and he talked about The Wrecking Crew and their talent.

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  11. I think we’ve discussed this before, but I was never that big a fan of either of these groups growing up—blasphemous, I know. Yet, The Boxer is a brilliant piece of music, one I would consider right up there with any of their other songs. I’ll always associate The Monkees with one of the first boy bands. That said, I have to admit I like this tune. I watched the videos before reading your post and noticed that Mike Nesmith wasn’t actually playing during the opening. I think they could have done a better job of faking that, but then people would probably be on them for deceptive practices.😊

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    • I’m glad you liked them both, Pete, even if you weren’t a fan of either of them. The Boxer is, in my view, one of the best songs ever written, and The Monkees were just fun to see and hear. I felt these were a good mix for the theme.

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    • I’m the same, I can’t think of a song of theirs that I don’t like, especially on this album. The Monkees were fun: I didn’t really have a favourite but my sister and her friends all adored Davy.

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  13. The Crew behind thew scenes in ‘The Boxer’ and the Monkees video editor using a bit of sleight of hand for the ‘Valerie’ shoot. Cleverly done, to be fair- any budding musicians watching for tips only got to see a front-and-centre view of Davy Jones’s prodigious tambourining skills! No, I’m not taking pot shots at the Monkees,- I was one of the rare ones who LIKED their movie ‘Head’- they all seemed to want to learn and become more proficient.

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    • I’ve never seen the Head movie but I remember it got mixed reviews: everything from ‘average’ to ‘awful!’ I guess they were quite proficient at miming by the time they made this video – they’d been doing it for two years 😊

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  15. The Boxer is one of my all-time favourite songs and I have the album too – on vinyl and CD. I’m rubbish at remembering lyrices in full but I’ve nailed this one after listening to it endlessly in my life – it never ages! I saw Paul Simon live in Stuttgart in the early 90s (great although he never really moved as he stood on a box!) and Art Garfunkel in Stockholm in late 90s (not good – barely able to sing but stunning views over the capitals archipelgos). Lovely memories … off to listen once more!

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  16. From all appearances, there would have been no Sixties in Ametica without the Wrecking Crew, they were in demand for everyone from the Byrds to the Turtles. And WE NEVER KNEW until decades later. Fortunately, all the bands learned to play Wrecking Crew music on stage, but really! Had we known I’m not sure what we would have done to those records, but it would not have been pretty. That I can guarantee!
    We did accept it from the Monkees, though, because we knew they were just actors playing roles.
    The other group, like the Wrecking Crew, played in Detroit, Specifically in Motown. The Funk Brothers played on almost every Motown hit, because that was how Berry Gordy deeigned his hit-making machine. Between those two groups they pretty much owned American hit music. They all deserved better!

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    • They were an important part of so many records, largely due to a great work ethic and their sheer talent. Most of their names are probably still unknown to many – as they were to me – unless they built a solo career, like Glen Campbell.

      I’ve heard vaguely of the Motown version but again, I couldn’t name any of them. I guess they all made a good living out of it though.

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      • Berry Gordy? Good living? I wouldn’t go that far. Adequate living, more likely. Right now I cannot remember any names offhand, but there are stories and documenraries about them. The CBC did an excellent documentary a while ago. I would go look for it but I am a mite too busy at the mpment.

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      • There were a lot of names in the Wrecking Crew (again, my memory interferes) who became better known later on. I guess Jill’s post on the Wrecking Crew was before your time, or you missed it maybe. But there were a number of other music posts done on both the Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers. (Either I did one on FB, or it got lost in the shuffle.)
        Anyways, it is always good when they are given more airtime, as your friend Jim is doing. Go get them, Tiger!

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      • Hal Blaine is, I think, the only one whose name I recognised, but they were all excellent.

        Yes, you’re right, I don’t recall Jill posting about them so it must have been a while back. Or I was asleep!

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    • It’s fabulous, isn’t it. And a great album, too. I also love their music, and I’m old enough to have been into music when they started as S&G, though not their Tom and Jerry days 😊

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  19. I will be sharing a link to this story later – when I update this one, that I shared several years ago, about the reason the Simon and Garfunkel went their separate ways – it’s all about the film “Catch-22” and another great song from that album that Simon wrote in an her: “The Only Living Boy In New York”: https://johnrieber.com/2017/08/10/the-only-living-boy-in-new-york-paul-simon-skewers-art-garfunkel-over-catch-22/

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