My introduction to this week's tune is two-fangled as I most definitely remember hearing it back in the day but was reacquainted with it when I picked up a copy of the greatest hits of this week's featured band (for--you guessed it!--a buck at our local library sale). As I listened, it went from "Song I Kind of Liked" to "How Did I Miss How Great This Song Was?" Such are the benefits of aging and with it the acquiring of a more discerning ear....
Blood, Sweat & Tears formed in 1967 in New York City and released their debut album within a year. In what would become a theme, the band went through lineup changes almost immediately and turned to David Clayton Thomas to be their lead singer. Thomas would usher in their most commercially successful years, but they were rather short-lived and by the mid-seventies the band's best days would be behind them. They released their last studio album in 1980, and while still technically a touring band, there are no original members left, and the longest tenured member joined the band in 1989. Near as I can tell, they were not critical darlings, though their second album (this week's featured album) did win a Grammy for Album of the Year. For their career, BS & T released eleven albums (with two #1's), five live albums, sixteen compilations, and twenty-three singles (with three #2's, all of which came on--you guessed it--this week's featured album). While their heyday may have been brief, I can guarantee you there are plenty of bands that would love to have two top of the chart albums and three singles that just missed....
Fun Fact: While I'm not sure it's a record, Blood, Sweat & Tears has had 165 members since their inception. Which leads one to wonder just how many musicians there are who haven't been in BS &T (snark aside, likely thousands)....
"And When I Die" was the third single from their Grammy winning second LP, the rather adventurously named Blood, Sweat & Tears. As noted above, the single would reach #2 (with a bullet!), while the album would hit the top of the Billboard 200. The single also went to #1 in Canada (so many cool kids in the Great White North!).
Fun Fact 2: "And When I Die" was written by folk goddess (he says, even though he's not remotely familiar with her work) Laura Nyro when she was seventeen. Yup, another moment to make you wonder just what the hell you did with your life. She recorded a version as well (heard by me for the first time today, and it's killer), as did Peter, Paul, and Mary, who were actually the first to record it.
Somehow, for the second straight week I'm featuring a song written by someone who is imagining their own death and is also trying to represent said death as being not quite as bad as we all dread it will be. While last week's tune was somewhat foreboding, "And When I Die" is anything but, opening with a nice bit of harmonica before segueing into a bouncy (almost ragtime) song. The song makes the case that while death is horrible, there will be someone left to carry on for all of us after we go. Blood, Sweat & Tears (who apparently weren't fans of the Oxford Comma) were known for commingling horn sections with rock instrumentation, and make full use of that trait here. David Clayton Thomas' vocals truly carry the day, though, as his blue-eyed soul gives the song an old-time gospel feel and makes for a rousing tune. And as such, for another find addition to the annals that are Friday Night Jukebox (my go to closing...).
Lyric Sheet: "Now troubles are many/They're as deep as a well/I can swear there ain't no Heaven/But I pray there ain't no Hell..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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