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"We used to rehearse at a place called The Musicians Union Hall in Flint, Michigan," said Brewer. Grand Funk Railroad songwriter Mark Farner says the words to this song came to him in the middle of the night, after he prayed for musical inspiration. Usually he wrote the song, then the lyrics…but since this is one of his biggest hits, perhaps he should have been doing it the other way around all along. The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.
The Village VoiceBCloser to Home is the third studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released on June 15, 1970, by Capitol Records. Recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight.
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I am a professional musician today in part because of his influence. But these guys had a rawness that defines what rock should be, like Chuck Berry young,not too polished and dangerously fun. Decades later, "I'm Your Captain" remains a staple of many classic rock radio stations.
Authors have seen the song as an "epic of paranoia and disease" and as a tale of a man who had lost control of his life in a fashion strong enough to invoke childhood nightmares. It has been used as the subtitle for a chapter of a novel dealing with war and addictions. Comparisons have been made to Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!" in its use of the rank to mean Abraham Lincoln. Unusually for him, Farner wrote the lyric of the song first, with the words coming to him in the middle of the night after saying prayers for inspiration to write something meaningful.
Grand Funk Railroad Closer To Home I'm Your Captain Get It Together T Shirt
Weird how songs seem to have different meanings when you listen to them through the lens of different times... I haven't heard this song in many years but I ran into it today in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.. And it captures the isolation and anxiety of those of us high risk individuals kind of trapped in our homes indefinitely are feeling.
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It remains quite popular among Vietnam veterans and Farner has played it at several veterans' benefits. Farner visited and performed at The Wall in November 2007, on the 25th anniversary of the memorial's dedication. "I'm Your Captain " is a 1970 song written by American musician Mark Farner and recorded by Grand Funk Railroad as the closing track to their album Closer to Home. Ten minutes in duration, it is the band's longest studio recording. One of the group's best-known songs, it is composed as two distinct but closely related movements. Its title has been rendered in various ways across many different Grand Funk albums, including "I'm Your Captain", "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home", "Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain", "Closer to Home (I'm Your Captain)", and "Closer to Home".
"Closer To Home" remained a fan favorite and staple of their setlists. The orchestral ending was a last-minute inspiration, the song having no good close after some time of working on it. Grand Funk Railroad were consistently despised by the rock critic establishment, and "I'm Your Captain" got some of the same treatment. American Music Theatre is proud to welcome all types of shows and concerts to our stage.
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There are plenty of studies showing social isolation in humans can lead to panic, fear, extreme paranoia, depression, and suicide. In 2002 Closer to Home was remastered on compact disc with bonus tracks and also released in a limited-edition box set Trunk of Funk that contained the band's first four albums. The "trunk" has slots for twelve CDs to house the future release of the remaining eight albums that were released by Capitol.
Around the 7-minute mark a full orchestra appears to accompany the band. The orchestra eventually overwhelms the captain's voice, to the gradually fading conclusion. Will ship within 7 business days of receiving cleared payment.
This song was recorded in Cleveland and orchestra was conducted by Tommy Baker. I've always known that the song is about war-times...whatever battle you may be IN. It was written in the 70's and the Vietnam crisis was an unavoidable concern. Especially for those of draft age with their friends and cousins being taken. I believe the Who still hold the record for the loudest band . Two that come to mind right a way are the Allman Bros, and Phil Collins.
Due to the last half of the song saying "I'm Getting Closer to My Home", people assumed that the song was "Closer to Home" and mistakedly called it by the albulm name, hence the confusion on the title. Some records (i.e. various song albulms)still list the song incorrectly due to the confusion. I do not know what Mark's original intentions were for the song but like a lot of great songs the words come out easily and the song gets written in a short period of time. I like Kitty from California's comment about this being a spiritual song. I started praying just now and this song started to play in my mind.
This soon changes into a strummed acoustic guitar paired with a distinctive lead bass line from Mel Schacher, set against a steady drumbeat from Don Brewer accompanied with occasional wah wah guitar flourishes. Meghan Trainor and her producer Kevin Kadish originally wrote "All About That Bass" for another artist to record. However, after Epic Records boss LA Reid heard Meghan play a demo of the song on a ukulele, he signed the young songwriter to his label and told her she should sing it. My dad told me one of the band members had a heroin addiction and this song was a metaphor relating to that. The lyric "are you really scheming, To take my ship away from me" is about the other band members trying to get him to quit. The lyric "Everybody, listen to me, And return me, my ship" sounds like a demand to leave him alone with his addiction.
I am so glad they didn't worry about making the song short for airtime. This song is right up there with Starship Trooper by Yes. It was later released in July 1970 on the 'Closer To Home' album, with the full orchestra version.
These guys are under rated as far as rock and roll history books go. I think it's because Brittish bands of the 60's and 70's had darker lyrics. But these guys had a rawness that defines what rock should be, youg,not too polished and dangerously fun. Mark Farner is a great singer and a great guitarist in his own right.
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