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We're an American band…
We're an American band…
We're coming to your town, we'll help you party it down.
We're an American band…
Parole semplici e dirette, copertina scarsa ed essenziale. E’ così che si presenta uno dei migliori dischi mai realizzati a marchio USA, da uno degli ultimi gruppi che riempì gli stadi americani negli anni ‘80. I Grand Funk nacquero come gruppo hard-blues col nome di “Grand Funk Railroad”, grazie al lead-singer e chitarrista Mark Farner, il bassista Mel Schacher e il batterista Don Brewer, tre ottimi musicisti che vengono troppo spesso dimenticati. Più tardi vi si affiancò anche il tastierista/cantante Craig Frost, il quale portò nel gruppo una vena di hard rock.
La band è famosa più che altro per le spettacolari performance live, al punto tale che la critica assegna loro il titolo di “loudest band in the world”, ovvero la band più rumorosa del mondo. “We’re An American Band” è un disco dal facile ascolto, diretto ed immediato, che parla di feste, donne, alcool e della vita “on the road”, aprendo proprio con la title-track, una fantastica autocelebrazione di una band spaccaculo, il cui ritmo ha il potere di coinvolgerci fin dalle prime note. Il pezzo, scritto e cantato dal batterista, diventa subito uno dei capisaldi della band, immancabile nella scaletta dei concerti successivi. Il ritmo trascinante non è da meno in “Stop Lookin’Back”, i cui fraseggi di chitarra e basso si intrecciano in un alternarsi di linee melodiche, colorate dagli accenti di organo e dei piatti, con tanto di piccolo solo finale di batteria, una perla incastonata fra l’oro della canzone.
Dopo il discutibile episodio di “Creepin”, si arriva alla strepitosa “Black Licorice”, uno dei pezzi più travolgenti del disco, che si fa ascoltare ai massimi livelli, in cui Frost dona dei vocalizzi degni di Ian Gillan dei tempi d’oro, e un assolo di tastiera che non ha niente da invidiare a John Lord in suono e abilità; alla fine del pezzo, paragonabile ad un’esplosione collettiva, la band ci lascia di nuovo respirare, con un pezzo lento ma intenso, “The Railroad”, dove si riconosce finalmente la voce del grande Mark Farner, col suo accento americano e la sua calda timbrica, suggellata dalla parte corale. Per ogni amante del basso elettrico, suonato in modo ritmico e sincopato, “Ain’ t Got Nobody” è una vera chicca, una di quelle canzoni che ascolterei all’infinito, senza stufarmi mai… “Walk Like A Man” è un bel pezzo, superata solo da “Loneliest Rider”, il brano più emozionante del disco. Mark Farner, la cui nonna era indiana, scrisse questa canzone come dedica all’etnia che da sempre fu vittima di persecuzioni da parte dei coloni bianchi.
Tra le bonus track, le canzoni “Hooray” e “The End” (in cui è percepibile un’influenza Deep-Purpleliana) sono di ottimo livello, avrebbero dovuto essere parte del disco originale. La All American Band per eccellenza sfornò questo disco nel 1973, e rimane tutt’oggi uno dei più belli dell’intera discografia, purtroppo poco conosciuto.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 We're an American Band (03:28)
Out on the road for forty days
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze
Sweet, sweet Connie, doin' her act
She had the whole show and that's a natural fact
Up all night with Freddie King
I got to tell you, poker's his thing
Booze and ladies, keep me right
As long as we can make it to the show tonight
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
Four young chiquitas in Omaha
Waitin' for the band to return from the show
Feelin' good, feelin' right and it's Saturday night
The hotel detective, he was outta sight
Now these fine ladies, they had a plan
They was out to meet the boys in the band
They said, "come on dudes, let's get it on"
And we proceeded to tear that hotel down
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're an American band
We're comin' to your town
We'll help you party it down
We're an American band
We're an American band, wooo
We're an American band, wooo
We're an American band, wooo
03 Creepin' (07:04)
Hey, everybody won't you lend me your ear,
There's something to fear, it's here, and that's clear.
Men gettin' rich off rapin' the land,
I can't understand, why we don't take them in hand.
Woah, oh ... Lord, I don't want to be their fool no more.
I don't want to be their fool no more.
Open eyes, but you're sleepin',
You best wake up 'fore tomorrow comes creepin' in.
'Fore tomorrow comes creepin' in.
Feel that our lives are in the hands of fools,
Loosin' their cool, it's us that they rule.
Too many people sittin' dead on their ass,
They ain't got no class, people, this time must pass.
Woah, oh ... Lord, I don't want to be their fool no more.
Hey ... I don't want to be their fool no more.
Open eyes, but you're sleepin',
You best wake up 'fore tomorrow comes creepin' in.
'Fore tomorrow comes creepin' in.
Woah, oh ... yeah, tomorrow comes creepin'.
Oh ... hear me cryin' 'cause the people like me,
That long to be free, are not actually.
Please everybody won't you hear this song,
Help a country that's wrong, to someday be strong.
Woah, oh ... Lord, I don't want to be their fool no more.
No! Lord, I don't want to be their fool no more.
Open eyes, but you're sleepin',
You best wake up 'fore tomorrow comes creepin'.
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Creepin' ...
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
Tomorrow comes creepin'.
04 Black Licorice (04:47)
Whooo ... wheee!
You there, comin' up the stair, the feelin' is ice-blue cold.
Shake, it's more than I can take, I'm startin' to lose control.
Watch out, what's that noise, there's somebody at the door.
It must be Black Licorice, she come back to make me cry some more.
Time, ain't on my side, I'm losin' it more each day.
Licorice, licorice.
She's got evil in her eyes, and catnip is her taste.
Licorice, licorice.
She wraps me up in her slender legs, her hot black skin to mine.
Licorice, licorice.
Ple ... ple ...please, don't touch me, oh, I know I'm dead this time.
Oh, oh, yeah ... Licorice, yeah, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, yeah, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, yeah, Black Licorice.
Licorice.
Licorice.
Licorice.
Licorice.
Licorice, yeah, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, yeah, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, licorice, Black Licorice.
Licorice, licorice.
Licorice, woah, Black Licorice.
05 The Railroad (06:12)
Up each morning at five o'clock,
Seem like the noon-day sun ain't never gonna' stop.
The work is hard in a railroad yard,
Hey, hey, gotta' make it today to punch a time card.
Workin' on the railroad.
CHORUS
Oh, you know, the railroad is a mighty good line,
Come on and ride the railroad, one more time.
Oh, you know, the railroad is a mighty good line,
Come on and ride the railroad, one more time.
Dirt and sweat, runnin' down my back,
Workin' on the railroad.
Work all day long up and down the railroad tracks.
Workin' on the railroad.
I'm a God fearing man, and with many I stand,
Workin' on the railroad.
And with God we've been working, all hand in hand.
Workin' on the railroad.
CHORUS
Oh, you know, the railroad is a mighty good line,
Workin' on the railroad.
Come on and ride the railroad, one more time.
Workin' on the railroad.
Oh, you know, the railroad is a mighty good line,
Come on and ride the railroad, one more time.
06 Ain't Got Nobody (04:28)
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
And I don't know why, but I'm startin' to cry.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
And I can't figure out how I'm gonna' get by.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
I don't know why, I been down all season,
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
'Cause there ain't no reason for the girl to be leavin' me.
CHORUS
I don't know how I'll ever get by without you.
Nobody, no ... nobody.
I'm startin' to realize my fate.
Nobody, no ... nobody.
I'm ready to make up and give another try to live with you.
Nobody, no ... nobody.
I hope for our love and us, it's not too late ... too late.
Nobody, nobody.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
Oh, and I don't really think that she'll ever come back.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
If she don't come back, I'll have a love attack.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
And my tears are like rain, fallin' down on my face.
I ain't got nobody since she left me.
'Cause I know she's the girl that I'll never replace.
CHORUS
CHORUS
07 Walk Like a Man (04:07)
CHORUS
Walk like a man, and talk like a man.
Walk like a man, hey baby, you can call me your man.
A little girl asked me what am I gonna' do,
When I get old and blue and worn clear through?
And I say by that time I ought to be in my prime,
I'm gonna' strut like a cock until I'm ninety-nine.
I'm gonna' ...
CHORUS
Sometimes I feel it's gettin' late.
In life -- all that settlin' down can wait,
'Till my routine days all seem the same.
Right now, I've got to get on out, I've got to make my day.
I'm gonna' ...
CHORUS
CHORUS
08 Loneliest Rider (05:14)
A long, long time ago there lived an Indian boy,
When he came upon this Earth he brought his family joy.
A paranoid young brave was he, inside his frame was some misery,
He heard the other warriors talking angrily 'bout the white man taking over his country.
CHORUS
What he didn't know, is that some day his ma would be crying.
What he didn't know, is that some day his tribe would be dying.
What he didn't know, is that some day his father'd be gone.
What he didn't know, is that some day he'd be all alone.
None of the stories in the schoolbooks said it, the truth is gone and they're tryin' to forget it.
The history books are all one-sided, the truth is gone and their trying to hide it.
Who had the land 'till we came around? The Indian made his life from the ground.
And what about the boy that this story's about? Where his tee-pee once stood there now is a town.
CHORUS
He was the loneliest rider on the plain.
He was the loneliest rider on the plain.
He was the loneliest rider on the plain.
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