Eat A Peach – The Allman Brothers Band

“You can’t help the revolution, because there’s just evolution … Every time I’m in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace” – Duane Allman

My favorite Allman Bros album, and one of my favorite albums of all time. Duane‘s last studio work before his death.

I’ve already written about “Little Martha” and “Blue Sky”, which can be found here and here, respectively, so I won’t feature them here. I also decided to exclude “Mountain Jam“, “One Way Out“, and “Trouble No More” since those are live recordings from the At Fillmore East album, which in my opinion may be the greatest live album of all time, and there is a very high chance I will feature it as an album of the month at some point in the future. This leaves us with four songs, and for this reason, there will be no bonus section.

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

It’s really hard for me to declare which ABB song is my absolute favorite. “Whipping Post” would probably be my “put on the spot” answer, specifically the Fillmore East rendition. However, a close second, and certainly my favorite of the Brothers in terms of lyrics, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” was penned by Gregg soon after his older brother’s death, saying “it was the only thing I knew how to do right then.” I believe that the musical side of the song had already begun to take form before his passing, but nothing had been recorded. He has also said that the song originally and still had to do with servicemen returning from Vietnam. Duane and Gregg’s father, Willis, was a lieutenant in the Army and landed on the beaches in Normandy.

With the help of God and true friends, I’ve come to realize
I still have two strong legs, and even wings to fly

So I, ain’t a-wastin time no more
‘Cause time goes by like hurricanes, and faster things

Gregg’s heavy drawl on “hurricanes and faster thangs” is extremely pleasing to hear as a southerner.

Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uWQszeuX2A

Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsK73ygfpPU

Les Brers in A Minor

Another Dickey instrumental, “Les Brers” roughly translates to “The Brothers” in French. The song actually evolved from an improvised solo that Dickey played during a performance of “Whipping Post”. Berry Oakley‘s bassline here is one of the coolest in the ABB catalog and is so much fun to focus in on. Berry would pass away almost a year to the day that Duane did, about three blocks from the spot in an eerily similar fashion. Dickey’s playing is outstanding, of course, as it always is, especially on their instrumentals. The percussion from Jaimoe and Butch is also great. A lot of people think of this as a Betts-centric song, but in my opinion, the rhythm section steals the show.

Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP2nE_pemG0

Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37eT_13yJmk

Melissa

Gregg actually wrote “Melissa” at the Evergreen Motel in Pensacola, in 1967, before the ABB came to be. It was Duane’s favorite song that Gregg had written, and Gregg performed it at Duane’s funeral. Originally, Gregg had no intention of bringing it to the band, saying that he thought it was “too soft” to be an Allman Brothers song. Duane’s death led to beautiful song to be recorded as a tribute.

There’s a bit of discourse on what the song is named for, with some thinking it was named after one of Gregg or Duane’s guitars. Gregg had written the song, saying most of the lyrics just came to him naturally with the melody, but he was having trouble coming up with a name. After playing around with “Delilah,” he settled on “Melissa” from a chance encounter, saying –

“It was my turn to get the coffee and juice for everyone, and I went to this twenty-four-hour grocery store, one of the few in town. There were two people at the cash registers, but only one other customer besides myself. She was an older Spanish lady, wearing the colorful shawls, with her hair all stacked up on her head. And she had what seemed to be her granddaughter with her, who was at the age when kids discover they have legs that will run. She was jumping and dancing; she looked like a little puppet. I went around getting my stuff, and at one point she was the next aisle over, and I heard her little feet run all the way down the aisle. And the woman said, “No, wait, Melissa. Come back—don’t run away, Melissa!” I went, “Sweet Melissa.” I could’ve gone over there and kissed that woman. As a matter of fact, we came down and met each other at the end of the aisle, and I looked at her and said, “Thank you so much.” She probably went straight home and said, “I met a crazy man at the fucking grocery.”

Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71xvwVQABvw

Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggeab0lKz2c

Stand Back

Stand Back feels a bit overlooked to me, but I do believe it was the last song Duane recorded. Written by Gregg and Berry, this is such a damn funky song. The bass work on this track is top-notch, with some super bluesy lyrics and vocals. Duane is Duane-ing at his best, playing the hell out of the slide. The drumming just has an air of coolness and smoothness about it. I love Gregg’s work on keys as well. It is just a great example of classic Allman Brothers sound.

Just when all began to fade
I reached out threw the ace of spades
I put her on a train to the Everglades

Swampy and funky, the boys remind us that, while Macon is their home, they’re still from Florida.

Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddm67pzoBzY

Live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A8PgufJMJI