Midnight Rider: Difference between revisions

| misc = {{External music video|header=Official Audio|{{YouTube|CoCaPJWqa28|"Midnight sampleRider"}}}}

"'''Midnight Rider'''" is a song by the American rock band [[the Allman Brothers Band]]. It was the second [[Single (music)|single]] from their second studio album, ''[[Idlewild South]]'' (1970), released on [[Capricorn Records]]. The song was primarily written by vocalist [[Gregg Allman]], who first began composing it at a rented cabin outside [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. He enlisted the help of [[roadie]] Robert Kim Payne to complete the song's lyrics. He and Payne [[burglary|broke into]] [[Capricorn Records|Capricorn Sound Studios]] to complete a demo of the song.

While the original Allman Brothers release of the song did not chart, "Midnight Rider" was much more successful in cover versions. Gregg Allman's solo version of the song, released in 1973, was its biggest chart success; it was a top 20 hit in the U.S. and Canada. A cover by [[Jamaica]]n singer, Paul Davidson, represented its biggest peak in the United Kingdom, where it hit number ten. Country artist [[Willie Nelson]] also recorded a version of the song that peaked at number six on U.S. country charts.

"Midnight Rider" originated during the group's time spent at Idlewild South, a $165-a-month farmhouse they rented on a lake outside [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=92}} Allman felt free to smoke [[marijuana]] with no police around, which contributed to his writing at the cabin.{{sfn|Allman & |Light|2012|p=153}} Its genesis was quick: the song came to him out of nowhere, and he completed a [[rough draft]] in just over an hour of writing.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=74}} He found himself stuck on the song's third verse, which he regarded as an especially important component of the song: "it's kind of the epilogue to the whole thing," he later wrote.{{sfn|Allman & |Light|2012|p=153}} In the middle of the night, he went to [[roadie]] Kim Payne, who was keeping watch over the band's warehouse, where they kept their equipment.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=74}} Payne helped him write the first two lines of the third verse: "We were getting high and, honestly, he was starting to irritate me—because he was singing this song over and over and I got sick of hearing the band play the same shit over and over again until they got it right," Payne later recalled. "So I just threw out the line, 'I've gone past the point of caring / some old bed I’ll soon be sharing.'"{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=74}}{{sfn|Freeman|19951996|p=73}}

Allman wanted to record it immediately, but had no keys to [[Capricorn Records|Capricorn Sound Studios]], which was adjacent to the warehouse. They phoned both producer Johnny Sandlin and Paul Hornsby who "told us to go to hell, come back in the morning," according to Payne.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=75}} Intent on recording the song, Allman and Payne broke into the building, with Payne smashing a window on a door to allow him to unlock it.{{sfn|Freeman|19951996|p=73}} After managing to turn on the recording console and microphones, Allman recorded a demo by himself on acoustic guitar.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=75}} Unable to find the band members, he enlisted friend Twiggs Lyndon to perform bass guitar on a rough demo, though Lyndon did not know how to play the instrument. Allman instructed him to play the bassline he had envisioned and Lyndon practiced it multiple times to prepare.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=74}} He later found Allman Brothers drummer [[Jaimoe]] and had him perform [[congas]] on the demo. In the final studio recording, [[Duane Allman]] plays acoustic guitar, as he had enough studio experience to produce a nice acoustic sound.{{sfn|Paul|2014|p=79}}

Gregg Allman called it "the song I’m most proud of in my career."{{sfn|Allman & |Light|2012|p=153}}

:''But I'm not gonna let 'em catch me, no ...''

:''Not gonna let 'em catch''

In early 1976, a [[reggae]] version by the [[Jamaica]]n singer, Paul Davidson, on the Tropical Records label, reached #10 in the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref>[http://www.everyhit.com/searchsec.php "Search results"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012195559/http://www.everyhit.com/searchsec.php |date=2008-10-12 }} EveryHit.com. Retrieved 2009-07-31.</ref><ref>{{youtube|OHPaDLF7iEQ|Midnight Rider}}|</ref>

Many other versions have been recorded as well, starting in 1971 with Drummer [[Buddy Miles]] on his "A Message to the People" LP on Mercury Record.- when jazz guitarist Maynard Parker released a 1973 version on an album named for the song.<ref>{{cite web|url={{Allmusic|class=album|id=r145169|pure_url=yes}} |title=''Midnight Rider'' by Maynard Parker |publisher=[[Allmusic]] |access-date=2007-08-17}}</ref> Since that time, the song has gone on to be The Allman Brothers Band's most covered song,<ref name="amgsong" /> performed by artists ranging from [[country music|country]] legend [[Waylon Jennings]] to [[punk rock]] legend [[Patti Smith]]; from [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] fiddler/singer [[Alison Krauss]] to [[ska]] revivalists [[Bad Manners]] to [[doo-wop]] vocalists [[The Drifters]]. [[O.A.R. (band)|O.A.R.]] also covers Midnight Rider frequently at live shows,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=17:987220 |title=Song search results for "Midnight Rider" |publisher=[[Allmusic]] |access-date=2007-08-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603090016/http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg |archive-date=June 3, 2009 }}</ref> as well as [[Bon Jovi]] guitarist [[Richie Sambora]], who sometimes uses it as an intro to [[Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi song)|Wanted Dead or Alive]]; during his solo shows but also with his main band, he had also sung "Midnight Rider" before the mentioned. [[Buckcherry]] has also played "Midnight Rider" before live, [[Michael McDonald (singer)|Michael McDonald]] does a rendition of "Midnight Rider", and it has also appeared on a [[Hank Williams, Jr.]] album. [[Bob Seger]] covered the song on his long out of print ''[[Back in '72]]'' album. An edited and remastered version of his version, which eliminates the breakdown and Seger's scatting towards the end of the track, appears on his 2009 ''[[Early Seger Vol. 1]]'' album. In 2009, [[Stephen Stills]] included the song on his 1978 Thoroughfare Gap album, and later played "Midnight Rider" in 2009 on ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'', saying that he and Gregg Allman used to sing it together. In summer 2010, he and his bandmates in [[Crosby, Stills and Nash]] performed the song on their European tour, during a covers section in their set.

Gregg Allman's solo version is featured during the opening scenes of the 2004 remake of ''[[Walking Tall (2004 film)|Walking Tall]]''.

[[Fury in the Slaughterhouse]] covered this song on their 2002 album ''The Color Fury''.

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|27|artist=Joe Cocker|song=Midnight Rider|accessdateaccess-date=September 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="Billboardhot100.1"}}

! Chart (1973–741973–1974)

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|19|artist=Gregg Allman|song=Midnight Rider|accessdateaccess-date=September 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="Billboardhot100"}}

! Chart (1975–761975–1976)

{{singlechart|UK|10|artist=Paul Davidson|song=Midnight Rider|accessdateaccess-date=September 13, 2015|rowheader=true|refname="UK"|date=1976-01-18}}