| "Seven Bridges Road" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Steve Young | |
| from the album Rock Salt & Nails | |
| B-side | "Many Rivers" |
| Released | 1969 |
| Format | 7" vinyl |
| Recorded | 1969 |
| Genre | Country |
| Length | 3:22 |
| Label | Reprise |
| Writer(s) | Steve Young |
| Producer | Paul Tannen |
| "Seven Bridges Road" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Eagles | ||||
| from the album Eagles Live | ||||
| B-side | "The Long Run (live)" (4:08) | |||
| Released | December 15, 1980 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl | |||
| Recorded | July 28, 1980 | |||
| Genre | Folk/Country | |||
| Length | 3:02 | |||
| Label | Asylum 2051 | |||
| Writer(s) | Steve Young | |||
| Producer | Bill Szymczyk | |||
| Eagles singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Seven Bridges Road" is a song written by American musician Steve Young, recorded in 1969 for his Rock Salt & Nails album. It has since been covered by many artists, the best known version being a five-part harmony arrangement by Iain Matthews recorded by the Eagles in 1980.
Contents |
Background [edit]
Steve Young was inspired to eventually write "Seven Bridges Road" during a sojourn in Montgomery, Alabama in the early 1960s: according to Young "a group of friends...showed me [a] road [that] led out of town...after you had crossed seven bridges you found yourself out in the country on a dirt road. Spanish moss hung in the trees and there were old farms with old fences and graveyards and churches and streams. A high bank dirt road with trees. It seemed like a Disney fantasy at times. People went there to park or get stoned or just to get away from it all. I thought my friends had made up the name 'Seven Bridges Road'. I found out later that it had been called by that name for over a hundred years." Woodley Road, a rural road running south from the outskirts of Montgomery which features seven bridges, has been widely identified as the song's locale although Young himself has never evidently endorsed this identification or otherwise provided an official name for the road which inspired his composition.
Composition and recording [edit]
Young wrote "Seven Bridges Road" in the mid-1960s and would recall: "It was put together over a period of several years. Sometimes I'd say [to myself] 'good song'. Then I'd say nobody could relate to a song like this."[1] Young did play a completed version of the song at a gig in Montgomery and would recall: "it got a big reaction. I was very surprised and thought it just because it was a local known thing and that was why they liked it." When Young did approach a Hollywood-based music publisher in 1969 with "Seven Bridges Road" he was advised the song "wasn't commercial enough."[1] and "Seven Bridges Road" was not originally intended for inclusion on the Rock Salt & Nails album: in fact Young states album producer Tommy LiPuma "didn't want me to record original songs. He wanted me to be strictly a singer and interpreter of folk songs and country standards[2]
However, in Young's words: "One day we ran out of songs to record [for Rock Salt & Nails] in the studio[3]...I started playing 'Seven Bridges Road'. LiPuma interjected: 'You know I don't want to hear original stuff.' But [guitarist] James Burton said: 'Hey this song sounds good and it is ready, let's put it down[2]... After it was recorded LiPuma, had to admit that, original or not, it was good."[3] Subsequent to the song's introduction on Rock Salt & Nails, Young remade the song twice, on his 1972 album entitled Seven Bridges Road and on his 1978 album No Place to Fall.
In a 1981 interview Young would say of "Seven Bridges Road": "Consciously when I wrote it, it was just a song about a girl and a road in south Alabama. Now I think there's almost a mystical thing about it."[1]
Eagles version [edit]
The Eagles recorded "Seven Bridges Road" for their Eagles Live concert album, essentially replicating the arrangement of the 1973 Ian Matthews version. Long utilized by the Eagles as a pre-concert backstage vocal warm-up, [4] "Seven Bridges Road" showcased the band's close harmony singing; the first and last verses feature all five Eagles singing in five-part harmony. Issued as a single, with "The Long Run" (live) as its B-side, the Eagles'"Seven Bridges Road" reached #21 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 becoming the group's final Top 40 hit until "Get Over It" by the reunited band in 1994: as "Get Over It" peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #31, "Seven Bridges Road" remains the Eagles' final Top 30 Hot 100 hit. "Seven Bridges Road" also became the third Eagles' single to appear on the Billboard C&W chart, there reaching #55.[5] At the time the Eagles' charted with "Seven Bridges Road" the song's composer Steve Young commented: "I didn't like the Eagles' version at first. I thought it was too bluegrassy, too gospel. But the more I hear it, the better it sounds."[1]
Ricochet version [edit]
Ricochet, who had been performing "Seven Bridges Road" in concert to effusive response, recorded the song in 1998 in the sessions for the intended album release What a Ride produced by Ron Chancey and Blake Chancey. In April 1999 "Seven Bridges Road" became the third advance single released from What a Ride, that album's release having been delayed when neither of its first two advance singles reached the upper C&W chart. A video was prepared to promote "Seven Bridges Road": shot in sepia tone, this video mostly comprised footage shot on Woodley Road - see the Background section above - depicting trysting couples at various apparent points of time in the 20th century. Although the video for "Seven Bridges Road" received strong support from CMT the single itself only rose to #48 on the C&W chart, and the release of its parent What a Ride album was canceled. However "Seven Bridges Road" was included on the 2000 Ricochet album release What You Leave Behind and was issued as the B-side of that album's first single "Do I Love You Enough" which reached #45 C&W.[6] Also "Seven Bridges Road" is performed live by Ricochet on the band's 2004 concert album The Live Album.
Other versions [edit]
1970 • Eddy Arnold on his album Standing Alone
• Joan Baez on her album One Day at a Time as a duet with Jeffrey Shurtleff
1970 • Rita Coolidge on her album Rita Coolidge
• Tracy Nelson/Mother Earth on her album Bring Me Home
1973 • Ian Matthews on his album Valley Hi: this 4/4 time version introduced
- the arrangement which, with minor modifications, would be followed by the Eagles (see section above).
1981 • Neal Hellman on his album Appalachian Dulcimer Duets
1982 • Josh Graves on his album King of the Dobro
• Lonzo and Oscar on their album Old and New Songs
1983 • Atlanta recorded "Seven Bridges Road" in the sessions for their
- Pictures album: omitted from Pictures the track served as B-side for the single "Sweet Country Music" (#5 C&W 1984)
1990 • The Carter Family on their album Wildwood Flower
1996 • FireHouse on their album Good Acoustics
2001 • Dolly Parton on her album Little Sparrow. Parton was a fan of the
- Eagles' version especially liking its harmonies: for her version Parton sang harmony with sisters Becky and Sonya Isaacs. Parton's 2006 compilation The Acoustic Collection: 1999-2002 featured a remix of the track augmented with vocals by Kasey Chambers, Norah Jones and Sinéad O'Connor.
2003 • Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe on their album A Place So Far Away
2007 • Alan Jackson recorded the song for the album Live at Texas Stadium
- with George Strait and Jimmy Buffett.
• Nash Street on their album Carry On
Citations [edit]
- ^ a b c d Gadsden Times (January 28, 1981): p. 6.
- ^ a b Einarson, John (2001). Desperados: the roots of country rock. New York: 1st Cooper Square Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-8154-1065-2.
- ^ a b "American Songwriter". Retrieved 2013-05-02.
- ^ Felder & Holden 2008, p. 124.
- ^ "Eagles chart history". Allmusic. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 351. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
Sources [edit]
- Felder, Don; Holden, Wendy (2008). Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001). Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978047045240 Check
|isbn=value (help). - Mann, Brent (2005). Blinded by the Lyrics. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-2695-5.
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