Fire and Water | Take It Easy

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play a song that made a great album closer, as he tells us in his appropriately titled post, The End. The last time we had this theme, back in December 2023, I played A Day In The Life, from The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album, and I did consider playing it again, but only for a moment. That would, I think, have been cheating, and there are plenty more great songs out there that fit the bill.

So instead I’m going with the closing track of one of my all time favourite albums, whose closing track just happens to be the band’s signature song. It’s an audio only clip, I’m afraid, as I wanted to give you the full length album version, as distinct from the cut down one that was released as a single. You can see the album sleeve above, so you probably already know that my song for today is All Right Now, by Free, the closing track on Fire and Water:

And as this is SLS, and in case you aren’t already word perfect, here are the lyrics:

There she stood in the streetSmiling from her head to her feetI said, “Hey, what is this, now baby”, maybeMaybe she’s in need of a kiss

I said, “Hey, what’s your name, baby?Maybe we can see things the same”Now don’t you wait or hesitateLet’s move before they raise the parking rateOw

All right now, baby, it’s all right nowAll right now, baby, it’s all right now

Let me tell you now

I took her home to my placeWatchin’ every move on her faceShe said, “Look, what’s your game, baby?Are you tryin’ to put me in shame?”I said, “Slow, don’t go so fastDon’t you think that love can last?”She said, “Love, Lord aboveNow you’re tryin’ to trick me in love”

All right now, baby, it’s all right nowAll right now, baby, it’s all right now

Yeah, it’s all right now

WooOh yeahOwLet me tell you all about it nowOwYeah

Took her home, yeah, to my placeWatching every move on her faceShe said, “Look, what’s your game?Are you trying to put me in shame?”“Baby, ” I said, “Slow, slow, don’t go so fastDon’t you think that love can last?”She said, “Love, Lord aboveNow he’s trying to trick me in love”

All right now, baby, it’s all right now, yeahAll right now, baby, it’s all right nowAll right now, baby, it’s all right, yeahAll right now, baby, baby, baby, it’s all rightAll, all right now, yeahIt’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, yeahAll right now, baby, it’s all right now

Yeah, we’re so happy together, owIt’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all rightEverything’s all right, yeahHoo-ooh

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Andy Fraser / Paul Bernard Rodgers

All Right Now has become a classic rock song through the years. The single version – which comes in at 4’14” – was released in May 1970, and became a huge hit. It spent five weeks at #2 in the UK, stuck behind Mungo Jerry and In The Summertime: how we wished they could have swapped places, even just for one week, but sadly it wasn’t to be. According to the band’s drummer, Simon Kirke, the song was written by Free bassist Andy Fraser and singer Paul Rodgers in the Durham Students’ Union building after the band had played there. He said: “All Right Now was created after a bad gig in Durham. We finished our show and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. It was obvious that we needed a rocker to close our shows. All of a sudden the inspiration struck Fraser and he started bopping around singing ‘All Right Now’. He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.” Andy Fraser has largely agreed with this, though Paul Rodgers also got a credit for the writing. That chart placing earned it a Platinum Disc in the UK for 600,000 sales, and it was a big hit in many other countries too, reaching #4 in the US, Canada and Sweden, #5 in Germany, and #6 in Austria, among others.

The Fire and Water album came out in June 1970, and included the full length song of 5’31” – an early verse is brought back in after the instrumental break, if you hadn’t worked that out. It also peaked at #2 here in the UK, spending three of its eighteen week run in that position. It was less successful elsewhere, though it did make a fairly respectable #17 in the US. I didn’t actually buy the album until the following year, due to a shortage of funds until I found a regular weekends and holidays job. By then we had moved to Folkestone, where there was a wonderful record shop tucked away in a side street on the way to the harbour, which could have quite slow business on a Saturday morning. Rachel, who ran the place, and I became friends and often used to spend time choosing an album we thought the other would enjoy. She played the first side of this one, saying “I think you’ll like this,” and she was so right! She earned a sale that morning, and I’ve loved the album ever since. And I got it at a ‘mates rate’ price too!

On the strength of the hit single Free headed that year’s Isle of Wight Festival, and I thought I’d play you their performance from that as a bonus:

They had a pretty good turnout, didn’t they, and Andy Fraser was right about this being a good way to close a concert – and an album!

That would be it for today but I’d like to add in a quick plug. Last Thursday I posted the first of my monthly reviews in a new format – with added music – and something seems to have happened to it. I follow my own blog as a check: I am certain that this post never appeared in the WordPress Reader, it wasn’t all that user friendly when it came to leaving likes or comments, and overall views have been considerably lower than normal. So, in case you missed it, here’s another chance to see it:

A New View Of July

If you didn’t see that before, I hope you can take a look now. Many thanks if you do!

That’s definitely it for today. Enjoy your Sunday, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 🎶