On the Road Again (Canned Heat song)

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“On the Road Again”

Single by Canned Heat from the album Boogie with Canned Heat
Released	June, 1968
Format	7" 45 RPM
Genre	Blues
Length	5:01 (album version) 3:28 (single version)
Label	Liberty
Writer(s)	Floyd Jones, Alan Wilson

"On the Road Again," a song by the blues group Canned Heat, was released as a single in August 1968. It reached the top ten on the Top 40 popular music charts and appeared on their 1968 album Boogie with Canned Heat as well as the 1969 compilation The Canned Heat Cookbook.

"On the Road Again" was adapted by Alan Wilson from a song of the same name recorded in 1953 by Floyd Jones (July 21, 1917 - December 19, 1989), a Chicago blues musician. [1]. Jones' song was itself an adaptation of "Big Road Blues," recorded in 1928 by Delta blues musician Tommy Johnson.

With his knowledge of Eastern music, Wilson used a tambura drone to give the song a hypnotic effect and a psychedelic edge. The song features Wilson as the lead singer and harmonica player. The B-side of the single was "World in a Jug."

[edit] Covers

Love Sculpture, the British blues band lead by Dave Edmunds, covered the song on their first album Blues Helping which was released at the end of 1968.

Pete Townshend performed "On the Road Again" (as well as another Canned Heat song, "Going Up the Country") in his 1998 concert series, most notably at Woodstock (August 15) and at the House of Blues, Chicago (August 16). The latter concert was partially recorded as the CD A Benefit For Maryville Academy and included "On the Road Again."

An electro-rock cover version of the song by the French band Rockets appeared on their 1978 album On the Road Again. A similar version was released in a 2006 single by the Belgian band Telex. Andy Prieboy covered the song on his 1990 album ...Upon My Wicked Son. Katie Melua recorded it for her 2005 album Piece by Piece. The Jeff Healey Band covered the song in the film Roadhouse. It is also on the Battlefield Vietnam soundtrack.

[edit] Harmonica Retuning

On The Road Again is famous for its Harmonica solo, which has a note played in it that is very mysterious as it is not playable without an Overblow. Alan Wilson retuned his Harmonica's Six Hole up a half step.