| Rola: | You Can All Join In |
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| Traducción: | Puedes unirte a nosotros | |
| Intérprete: | Traffic | |
| Compositor: | Dave Mason | |
| Disco: | Traffic | |
| Productor: | Jimmy Miller | |
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This second album by Traffic opens with "You Can All Join In", a Dave Mason song with a lovely little hook:- any old words, steps, life, according to which verse you are currently listening. In “You Can All Join In” would you find a yakety sax for flower children and, of course, you can all join in on 'You Can All Join In', a nice, saxophone-led shuffle which is sure stolen from some old folk ditty, but I don't mind, it's classy. The acoustic rhythm is a lot of fun and the silly sax snorts are catchy. the album opening with Mason’s quirky You Can All Join In. And, as I mentioned earlier, it is crisp rock, with lead guitar and saxophone working superbly together. Melodic, with whimsical lyrics, it is nevertheless a lovely piece of blues rock. “Here’s a little song you can all join in with / It’s very simple and I hope it’s new / Make your own words up if you want to / Any old words that you think will do, yeah / Yellow, blue, what’ll I do? Maybe I’ll just sit here thinking / Black, white, stop the fight, does one of these colours ever bother you?” This was at a time when the Beatles had taken music apart and recreated it in their own image. Anything was possible, and Mason was proving he knew there were virtually no limits to what he could write about. “Here’s a little dance you can all join in with / It’s very simple and I hope it’s new / Make your own steps up if you want to / Any old steps that you think will do / Left, right, don’t get uptight, keep in line and you’ll be alright / Clap hands, move around, make sure no one puts you down.” The existential angst which many felt as the cold war intensified – and became decidedly hot in places like Vietnam at this time – is probably part of the reason for these cynical observations. Experimentation with drugs may well also have been a factor. “Here’s a little world you can all join in with / It’s very simple and I hope it’s new / Make your own life up if you want to / Any old life that you think will do / Love, yeah, it’s nothing new, there’s someone much worse off than you are / Help me set them free, just be what you want to be.” |
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| Duración: | 03:39 |
| Año: | 1968 |
| Formato: | 7" |
| A la venta: | 01/10/1968 |
| Lado B: | Withering Tree |
| Disquera: | Island Records |
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Steve Winwood - guitarra eléctrica, bajo y coros Chris Wood - saxofón tenor Jim Capaldi - batería y coros |
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You Can All Join In
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Puedes unirte a nosotros
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Here’s a little song you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own words up if you want to: Any old words that you think will do. Yellow, blue, what’ll I do? Maybe I’ll just sit here thinking. Black, white, stop the fight. Does one of these colours ever bother you? Here’s a little dance you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own steps up if you want to: Any old steps that you think will do. Left, right, don’t get uptight. Keep in line and you’ll be alright. Clap hands, move around. Make sure no one puts you down. Here’s a little world you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own life up if you want to: Any old life that you think will do. Love you, it’s nothing new. There’s someone much worse off than you are. Help me set them free. Just be what you want to be. |
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Let’s start with a review of the lyrics. Here’s a little song you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own words up if you want to: Any old words that you think will do. Yellow, blue, what’ll I do? Maybe I’ll just sit here thinking. Black, white, stop the fight. Does one of these colours ever bother you? Here’s a little dance you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own steps up if you want to: Any old steps that you think will do. Left, right, don’t get uptight. Keep in line and you’ll be alright. Clap hands, move around. Make sure no one puts you down. Here’s a little world you can all join in with: It’s very simple and I hope it’s new. Make your own life up if you want to: Any old life that you think will do. Love you, it’s nothing new. There’s someone much worse off than you are. Help me set them free. Just be what you want to be. Perhaps the first thing to confess about these lyrics is that they don’t stand alone very well as poetry. That is, there is nothing particularly deep, subtle or powerful about the way the words work on the listener. This admission is not a damning one, however, since the whole point of rock is that the words don’t have to stand on their own. But having gotten this admission out of the way, let’s see what the words do offer us. There’s a pleasant combination of repetition and progression going from one verse to another, as the singer proceeds to talk first about the song, then a dance, then finally the entire world. The overall theme of the song is one of liberation, telling the listener to “make your own life up if you want to: any old life that you think will do.” At the same time, though, there is a theme of responsible community: issues of race relations, conformity and love for your fellow man are all raised, if not exactly dealt with. More convincingly, the singer tells us that “you can all join in” — with the song, the dance, and ultimately the world. All in all, pleasant sentiments. It is the music, however, that lends authority to the words. First, the structure of the song seems borrowed from a square dance, or a reel, or some other sort of communal folk dance. This immediately adds resonance and authenticity to the lyrics, reminding us of simple communities of the past in which some of the lyrics were very literally true: people did take turns calling out different lyrics and dance steps for each verse of the song. Then there are the track’s infectious rhythms, woven from vocals, hand claps, acoustic and electric guitars, and Chris Wood’s saxophone. Even today, after hearing the song repeatedly over the course of thirty-plus years, it is hard for me to listen to the song without breaking into a grin and tapping my feet. So, in a very real way, the listener does join in, responding affirmatively to the singer’s invitation. Finally there is the loose collaboration of the song’s music. Background vocals and hand claps appear at times. There is space between verse and chorus, after each chorus, and at the end of the song for improvisation. These spaces are filled by Mason on electric guitar, Wood on sax, and Mason on vocals. Dave Mason actually demonstrates his verbal suggestions, making up additional lyrics to the song while guitar and sax vamp in the background. Again, there is nothing particularly exciting about the words themselves — some of them are simply nonsense words or noises — but Mason creates the completely genuine impression that he is making them up as he goes along. He even pulls the producer into the fray, observing towards the end of the song, “There’s Jimmy Miller swinging to and fro.” (Audio clip - 200K.) The overall effect is one of people expressing their own individuality, yet working together in harmony: exactly the theme of the lyrics. And there is nothing gratuitous or self-indulgent about the recording — the whole affair clocks in at only three minutes and thirty-four seconds. I have to admit that I find this recording utterly convincing. The music exhibits the sense of cooperative democracy that was at the heart of rock music in the sixties. Each contributor’s work bears the unmistakable stamp of its creator — Mason’s folky lyrics and vocals and infectious acoustic guitar, and jazzy electric guitar stylings, Wood’s honking saxophone, Miller’s production values — yet all these contributions work together in a harmony all the more beautiful because it was clearly not planned, not arranged in advance, but simply sprang naturally out of the affinity the contributors had for each other. This was a genuinely new way of working, living and being together and — for all of its fragility — it still makes me want to ask, thirty years on, why more of our lives can’t be lived like this. |
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LADO A 1. "You Can All Join In" 2. "Pearly Queen" 3. "Don't Be Sad" 4. "Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring" 5. "Feelin' Alright" |
LADO B 1. "Vagabond Virgin" 2. "(Roamin' Thru the Gloamin' with) 40,000 Headmen" 3. "Cryin' to Be Heard" 4. "No Time to Live" 5. "Means to an End" |
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Traffic is the second album by the English rock band Traffic, released in 1968 on Island Records in the United Kingdom, and United Artists in the United States, catalogue UAS 6676. It peaked at #9 in the British album charts on October 26, 1968, and at #17 on the Billboard 200.[ In January 1968, after some initial success in Britain with their debut album Mr. Fantasy, Dave Mason had departed from the group. He produced the debut album by the group Family, containing in its ranks future Traffic bass player Ric Grech, while Traffic went on the road.[2] In May, the band had invited Mason back to begin recording the new album. Mason ended up writing and singing half of the songs on the album, but making scant contribution to the songs written by Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood. His flair for pop melody had always been at odds with the others' jazz ambitions, evidenced by the dichotomy seen for the songs on this album, and by October he was again out of the band.[3] He would return one more time for a tour and album in 1971 to run out the band's contract. |
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Traffic: Birmingham
Traffic fue un grupo de rock, procedente de Birmingham, Inglaterraformado hacia mediados de la década de los 60, y estuvo liderado por Steve Winwood, con Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, y Dave Mason, Winwood se unió a la banda después de dejar de lado al grupo con el que tocaba hasta entonces, el Spencer Davis Group. Los cuatro componentes colaboraron conjuntamente con un grupo llamado The Elbow Room, en Aston, Birmingham. Mason y Capaldi estaban ansiosos por formar un grupo, y Winwood se les unió junto con Chris Wood, y se trasladaron al campo, aislados en Aston Tirrold, Berkshire, para poder experimentar. El debut de Traffic se produjo en 1967, con el single Paper Sun en el Reino Unido. Hole in My Shoe fue su segundo single, el cual fue un gran éxito. En aquel momento empezaron las broncas entre Winwood y Mason, pese a lo cual a banda debutó con el disco Mr.Fantasy, el cual gozó de una buena recepción en el Reino Unido, no así en los Estados Unidos Los problemas con Mason se acentuaron y produjeron su expulsión del grupo, un poco antes del estreno de Mr. Fantasy. Mason estaba contento por evadir todo tipo de responsabilidad con el grupo, un contraste directo con el compositor del grupo de Capaldi y Winwood. El grupo continuó sin Mason, y Winwood no tuvo otra salida que tocar el pedal bass, el teclado, y cantar cuando el grupo comenzó a actuar en directos. El grupo sufrió mucho, ya que tenía que mantener un repertorio repleto de canciones sin la gran habilidad de Mason para componer. Mason se reincorporó a la banda en su segundo álbum, Traffic, publicado en 1968. La banda empezó a ir de gira por USA en 1968, lo que supuso la publicación al año siguiente de su tercer álbum Last Exit, en el que una gran parte del disco está grabado en vivo. Durante la gira, Mason fue despedido, y Winwood anunció la disolución de la banda. Winwood formó Blind Faith, con Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, y Ric Grech, que duró sólo un año. Los miembros que permanecieron a Traffic comenzaron un proyecto con Mick Weaver, más conocido como Wooden Frog, dicho intento se quedó solamente en eso, en un intento, ya que no pudieron grabar ningún álbum. Después de la ruptura de Blind Faith en 1969, Winwood comenzó su etapa como solista, grabando en ocasiones algún otro álbum de Traffic (sin Mason), John Barleycorn Must Die, su álbum de más éxito hasta la actualidad. |
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