Allman Brothers Band - "Melissa"
Dec 31, 2004 23:17:24 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2004 23:17:24 GMT -5
Even though this wasn't much of a Hot 100 hit (#86) and it was before Billboard had a Rock chart, this song still gets tons of play at classic rock radio. It's a beautiful, heartwrenching song. I'm particular fond of the whining electric guitar on this song. I think it helps complement the emotional lyrics and vocal performance well. I'll post the All Music Guide commentary. It's pretty lengthy.
A plaintive country-rock ballad, "Melissa" finds the Allman Brothers in melancholy mood on their first outing after the death of founder Duane Allman, the 1972 LP Eat a Peach. Written by Gregg Allman and Stephen Alaimo, the song was an FM radio hit and propelled the album to commercial success. It is a classic rock radio staple to this day.
One of the great soul singers, Gregg Allman sounds absolutely bruised and ravaged on "Melissa." His voice constantly struggles with the pitch on the original recording, the ultimate effect of which is to convey deep vulnerability and weariness. Allman also plays a ringing acoustic guitar, organ, and piano on the track. Throughout the entire arrangement, Dickey Betts soars on wistful guitar lines through a slap-back tape-echo effect and a volume pedal that allows the musical runs to float in and out like a pedal steel. He hits some notes that he chooses to leave hanging, sustaining for impossible lengths, saying so much with single notes that fade away. It is one of his career-making performances. For all the beautifully lyric guitar work, though, the track is heavy on the rhythm, with two drummers — Jaimoe Johanson and Butch Trucks — locked into the same groove as Allman's doubled acoustic tracks.
The lyrics offer a slightly fresh take on what is now the cliché analogy of the musician as a gypsy, with a woman in every port, but always returning home to the one who is true: "Crossroads, seems to come and go/The gypsy flies from coast to coast /Knowing many loving none/Bearin' sorrow havin' fun/But back home he'll always run/For sweet Melissa." There are some lines that seem more inspired and original than others, like "No one hears his lonely sighs/There are no blankets where he lies/Though in his deepest dreams the gypsy flies/To sweet Melissa." And with such lines as "Lord will he lie, beneath the plain?/Will his spirit fall away?" one wonders how much Allman was thinking of his departed brother when he wrote the song.
One of the great soul singers, Gregg Allman sounds absolutely bruised and ravaged on "Melissa." His voice constantly struggles with the pitch on the original recording, the ultimate effect of which is to convey deep vulnerability and weariness. Allman also plays a ringing acoustic guitar, organ, and piano on the track. Throughout the entire arrangement, Dickey Betts soars on wistful guitar lines through a slap-back tape-echo effect and a volume pedal that allows the musical runs to float in and out like a pedal steel. He hits some notes that he chooses to leave hanging, sustaining for impossible lengths, saying so much with single notes that fade away. It is one of his career-making performances. For all the beautifully lyric guitar work, though, the track is heavy on the rhythm, with two drummers — Jaimoe Johanson and Butch Trucks — locked into the same groove as Allman's doubled acoustic tracks.
The lyrics offer a slightly fresh take on what is now the cliché analogy of the musician as a gypsy, with a woman in every port, but always returning home to the one who is true: "Crossroads, seems to come and go/The gypsy flies from coast to coast /Knowing many loving none/Bearin' sorrow havin' fun/But back home he'll always run/For sweet Melissa." There are some lines that seem more inspired and original than others, like "No one hears his lonely sighs/There are no blankets where he lies/Though in his deepest dreams the gypsy flies/To sweet Melissa." And with such lines as "Lord will he lie, beneath the plain?/Will his spirit fall away?" one wonders how much Allman was thinking of his departed brother when he wrote the song.
