The Wrecking Crew | Take It Easy

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 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 😊