By Brad Gallagher:
I love the mountains. The beauty and majesty of those snow covered peeks looming so high in the air. Visible from many miles away as they sit lording over all of the rivers and valleys of the lowlands. I am especially fond of the mountains of the Cascade Range on the west coast of the United States. For many years I lived in the shadow of Oregon’s Mt Hood and spent many winter days skiing her slopes. And, when I was a bit younger than I am now, I climbed and summited seven of the thirteen Cascade Range Volcanoes. Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, South Sister, Mt Shasta, and Lassen Peek. Once I even had the experience and joy of skiing in the Rocky Mountains in Jackson Hole, but to my regret I have never had the privilege of climbing in the Rockies.
Today’s story is about the Rocky Mountains, and in particular the origin of the song “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh. Well, maybe it isn’t as much about the Rockies themselves as it is about the song.
As The Story Goes:
Back in May of 1968, a young man named Joe Walsh joined up with a small band out of Cleveland who called themselves “The James Gang” (reportedly maned after the outlaw Jesse James and his gang). Walsh was in college at Kent State at the time, which is where he met his band mates, and as time went on, The James Gang grew in popularity, behind the singing and writing talent of Walsh, and signed a record deal in 1969. Over the next couple years they release three albums with great success, however, Walsh got tired of the management, and the pressure of doing most of the song writing, and in December of 1971 he left the group.
After leaving The James Gang, Walsh was offered a place in the band “Humble Pie” replacing Peter Frampton who had recently left, but he turned them down and moved to a dormant mining town in the Rockies outside of Boulder Colorado. It was there that he formed his next band, “Barnstorm”, and continued on with his music career.
One day while he was out mowing his lawn he had somewhat of an epiphany. The lyrics to a song came to him as he was mowing the grass and gazing up at the Colorado Rocky Mountain range. It was so sudden, like turning on a light switch. He ran into his house and began writing down the words to “Rocky Mountain Way.
“Spent the last year
Rocky Mountain Way
Couldn’t get much higher”
“And we don’t need the ladies
Crying ’cause the story’s sad
‘Cause the Rocky Mountain Way
Is better than the way we had”
Describing his current life and the relief of having left the city and all the pressures he was under there.
“Well, he’s tellin’ us this
And he’s tellin’ us that
Changes it every day
Says it doesn’t matter
Bases are loaded and Casey’s at bat
Playin’ it play by play
Time to change the batter”
This part referring to his old management back in Cleveland when with The James Gang. Acknowledging his need for a change.
The song is a bluesy/rock masterpiece featuring the use of a Talk Box, which was used to combine Walsh’s words with his guitar cords, making a very unique sound which became part of the personality of the song. It was released on the 1973 album “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get”, and was an almost instant hit rising to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Years later as a member of the Eagles, he played this song live many times in concert, and it was adopted by both the Colorado Rockies baseball team and the Denver Broncos football team and played at many of their home games.
But lets get back to his lawn. As it turns out, Walsh was so caught up in getting the lyrics written down so he wouldn’t forget them, that he neglected to turn off the lawn mower before he ran into the house. Unfortunately, the lawn mower was self propelled, and managed to propel itself across his lawn and into his neighbor’s rose garden. He described the incident this way:
“It kept moving and went into the neighbour’s yard and ate her rose bushes. Cleared a little path straight through. So those lyrics wound up costing me, I don’t know, maybe fifteen hundred bucks. But it was well worth it. The neighbour, though, she was pissed. I said to her, ‘You don’t understand! I got the words!’ But she just looked at me.”
These days lawn mowers have an automatic kill switch that cuts the power when you let go of the handle. Too bad they didn’t back then. Oh well! I’m sure the proceeds from the song were enough to cover the damage. I guess he was just doing things the Rocky Mountain Way.
So now you know. Come back and see me soon right here at As The Story Goes.
Check out Rocky Mountain Way live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x4El47O8Zs
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AS THE STORY GOES 