Can't Find My Way Home

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"Can't Find My Way Home"
Cant find my way home by blind faith Australian single side-B.png
Side B of Australian edition of "Well, All Right"
Single by Blind Faith
from the album Blind Faith
ReleasedAugust 1969 (1969-08)
RecordedLondon, Spring 1969
Genre Folk rock
Length3:16
Label Polydor
Songwriter(s) Steve Winwood
Producer(s) Jimmy Miller
Official audio
"Can't Find My Way Home" on YouTube

"Can't Find My Way Home" is a song written by Steve Winwood that was first released by Blind Faith on their 1969 album Blind Faith . The song was also issued as a single B-side in some countries in 1969 and as an A-side, on the RSO label in the United States, in 1977.

Contents

Origin and meaning

Winwood appears to have never spoken publicly about the origin or meaning of the song. He has said that "When I write a song, I don't like to have to explain it afterwards. To me, it's like telling a joke, then having to explain it. The explanation doesn't add to the song at all." [1]

Winwood was 21 or younger when he wrote the song. [2]

Personnel

Reception

Rolling Stone , in a review of the album, noted that the song featured "Ginger Baker's highly innovative percussion" and judged the lyric "...I'm wasted and I can't find my way home" to be "delightful". [3]

Cover versions

The song has been covered by musicians and bands of different genres, often in the style of the original.

One of the earliest to cover the track was Eric Clapton, [4] who tapped Yvonne Elliman to sing the song during his 1976–77 concert tours. [5] [6]

Brazilian singer and tropicalist composer Gilberto Gil recorded it on his 1971 studio album Gilberto Gil (a live version appeared as bonus track on CD as well).

Virtuoso slide guitarist Ellen McIlwaine covered the song twice -- once on her 1972 debut solo album "Honky Tonk Angel" and again -in a reggae-influenced synth percussion makeover- on her 1987 LP "Looking for Trouble."

American blues guitarist Bonnie Raitt sang the song during her 1972 concert series. [7] A bootleg recording with Raitt, Lowell George, John P. Hammond and Freebo has more than five million views on YouTube. [8]

American experimental rock act Swans released a cover featuring frequent collaborator Jarboe on 1989's The Burning World .

In 1990, American glam metal band House of Lords covered the song on their album Sahara .

Two notable versions have been heard on screen: one by American singer Alana Davis in 1999's The Mod Squad film, [9] and another by American bluegrass singer Alison Krauss for the 2003 soundtrack of Crossing Jordan , a television series. [10]

In 2018, Australian-American singer Rachael Price covered the song on Live from Here with Chris Thile on mandolin. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ p150, DeMain, Bill (16 April 2001). "Behind the muse : pop and rock's greatest songwriters talk about their work and inspiration". Cranberry Township, PA : Tiny Ripple Books – via Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ Song released August 1969, Winwood dob 12 May 1948
  3. ↑ Morthland, John, Rolling Stone , 6 September 1969, page 28.
  4. ↑ London Hyde Park 1969
  5. ↑ Harrison, Ed (11 December 1976). "Talent in Action". Billboard . Vol. 88, no. 50. p. 25. ISSN   0006-2510.
  6. ↑ "Yvonne Elliman - Can't Find My Way Home". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
  7. ↑ "Ultrasonic Studios, 1972 - Lowell George, Bonnie Raitt" – via www.allmusic.com.
  8. ↑ "Can't Find My Way Home - Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George & John Hammond Jr & Freebo". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
  9. ↑ Olson, Karen Applefeld (13 March 1999). "Soundtracks". Billboard . Vol. 111, no. 11. p. 22. ISSN   0006-2510.
  10. ↑ Paoletta, Michael (19 April 2003). "Reviews & Previews". Billboard . Vol. 115, no. 16. p. 29. ISSN   0006-2510.
  11. ↑ "Watch: Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price Performs on "Live From Here with Chris Thile" - Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch Records Official Website. 3 December 2018.


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