"Glad" | ||||
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Song by Traffic from the album John Barleycorn Must Die | ||||
Released | July 1970 | |||
Recorded | February-April 1970, Island Studios and Olympic Studios, London | |||
Genre | Jazz fusion | |||
Length | 6:59 | |||
Label | Island Records | |||
Writer | Steve Winwood | |||
Producer | Chris Blackwell, Steve Winwood, Guy Stevens | |||
John Barleycorn Must Die track listing | ||||
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"Glad" is a song composed by Steve Winwood and performed by Traffic. It is the opening track on the band's fourth album, John Barleycorn Must Die, which was released in 1970. It is an instrumental running 6 minutes, 59 seconds and is heavily influenced by jazz, especially in its instrumentation and improvisational nature.
"Glad" has three distinct sections. The first section is one minute, 46 seconds long. The melody is shared by Steve Winwood, on the piano, and Chris Wood on saxophone (amplified and run through a wah-wah pedal) with melodic and rhythmic punctuations by Winwood on Hammond organ and Jim Capaldi supplying multiple percussion overdubs. The second section starts at one minute, 47 seconds into the song with Wood's saxophone playing a solo throughout this section. After a brief reprise of the opening section, the last section starts at 4 minutes, 18 seconds into the song and has a moody, contemplative feel. Long, sustained notes from Winwood's organ in the last few seconds of the song has it seamlessly flow into the second song of the album, "Freedom Rider".
The "Glad"/"Freedom Rider" sequence was a mainstay of Traffic's live shows in the 70's, with "Glad" often being extended to as long as 20 minutes through jamming and improvisation. The UK version of the 1999 CD re-release of "John Barleycorn Must Die" features an 11-minute live version of "Glad" (with the first few notes of "Freedom Rider" heard at the very end before an abrupt fade-out). "Glad" and "Freedom Rider" combined are the opening track of the "On the Road" live album, which lasts almost 21 minutes, with "Glad" itself taking up the first 16 minutes.
During 2009, the song has been played at Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood's concert tour. Clapton substitutes his guitar for Chris Wood's saxophone parts in the song and Winwood and Clapton omit the song's last section, instead transitioning into the Blind Faith rendition of Buddy Holly's "Well Alright". The song is also on Clapton and Winwood's Live From Madison Square Garden.