Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Grinnin'

One of my favorite Crowes songs is Grinnin'. The history of the song is really interesting. I remember when the Band (1997 Boot) surfaced a few years ago (that was a great day!). There was a song that was called OK By Me on the boot - the song was Grinnin'. That arrangement (not the same take) appeared as Grinnin' on Lost Crowes' Band. Why is it called Grinnin'? The word grinning isn't even in the song.

Take a look at our Crowesbase record for the song...

http://www.crowesbase.com/songlisting.cfm?SongID=71

Grinnin' was an early track in the Tall sessions - as of this moment its not known if it was worked on after the initial rehearsal sessions. Tall session versions of the song have - to put it nicely - a lack of lyrical clarity. The riff was cool. The jam was cool. The lyrics were cool, but very sloppy. The result: the song was retired for a few years. It was played live in 1995 a total of three times - each with different lyrics. Finally, it reappeared during the sessions for Band. The final version of the song didn't even contain the word grinning - early versions did. Yet, the song had been kicked around for so long that the band continued to refer to it as Grinnin' during the sessions until it was finally renamed "Okay By Me". The finished Band album kept OK as the title, but that album was scrapped.

In 2006 a version of Band was released on Lost Crowes. A number of differences can be seen on the album - different song order, different takes of some songs, "louder" mastering, the replacement of Smile and Only A Fool with Peace Anyway, and finally the name of Grinnin' for was restored to OK/Grinnin.

For fans of the Band version of Grinnin', I really recommend seeking out one or all of the live versions that circulate of the 1995 Grinnin'. The live version smokes. For those who aren't all that into the Band version, I think that recommnedation goes double. The arrangement of the original is different. The chorus is more jammy and less orchestrated (if that's the right way of putting it). Both are good, but my nod still goes to the 1995 version - not for the lyrics so much as the arrangment.

http://www.crowesbase.com/songsearch.cfm?SongID=71

http://www.crowesbase.com/songlisting.cfm?SongID=162

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