His first musical success was as a 14-year-old guitarist in the Royal Teens, best known for their novelty blues riff, "Short Shorts". In 1960, he joined the song-writing team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine, who wrote the hit, "This Diamond Ring", for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. When he was 21, he moved to Greenwich Village.
He performed with Bob Dylan in concert in 1965 and in the studio in 1965 and 1966, including playing Hammond organ with Dylan at the (in)famous Newport Folk Festival of 1965. He worked extensively with Mike Bloomfield for a number of years after the two met as studio musicians on Dylan's legendary Highway 61 Revisited album.
In 1965, he co-formed The Blues Project and played their most famous gig at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He formed Blood, Sweat & Tears in the same year, leaving after the group's first album, Child is Father to the Man, in 1968.
Kooper played on hundreds of records, including The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, The Who and Cream. On occasion, he has even overdubbed on his own efforts, as on The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper album, as Roosevelt Gook. He discovered the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and produced their first three albums, including the single Sweet Home Alabama. Kooper also wrote the score for the TV series, Crime Story, and has also written music for several made-for-television movies. Kooper also produced a now rare album by a group called Appaloosa.
Al Kooper has published a memoir, Backstage Passes: Rock 'n' Roll Life In The Sixties (1977), now available in revised form as Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor 2007
Kooper currently teaches songwriting and production at Berklee College of Music in Boston and plays weekend concerts with his band Jimmy Vivino and The ReKooperators.
Brand New Day
Al Kooper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Was changing by leaps and bounds
It started up in the bigger cities
Than it spread to the smaller towns
The people began to smile at people
That they’d never even seen
And when Jeremiah woke me up
Well, it’s a brand new day
Brand new way, brand new day
Give it to me, alright
You know the mother called the father on the telephone
She cried, "My God I’m so upset"
She said the boy left home naked this morning
All he took was the TV set
Than the sister picked up the extension
And she said, “He’s just doing his thing”
Than the father hung up on the mother
And the children began to sing
Well, it’s a brand new day, yes
A brand new way, brand new day
We gotta put our heads together
And see where we go from there
We gotta fight for what we believe in
'Cause there’s something in the air
And it’s a brand new day, that's right
Brand new way, brand new day
I can feel it growing stronger every minute now
Twenty million shadows storming at the gates
Now how can you be surprised?
With the image of the fallen four reflected in their eyes
And though twenty million tongues are shouting now
It's only heard by a precious few
But the years of night will pass forever
When the sun comes shining through
On a brand new day
Brand new way, yes, a brand new day
Hey people, you know that it's a brand new day
Brand new way, brand new way you're walking
Brand new day, yes, a brand new way
Go ahead now
And it's alright, yes, it's alright
And it's alright now, it's alright
And it's alright, yes, it's alright
And it's alright
The song "Brand New Day" by Al Kooper is about hope, change, and the power of people to create a better world. The first verse talks about a dream the singer had, where the world was changing rapidly and people were starting to smile and connect with one another. The second verse is about a family drama where a boy leaves home with only the TV set, and the family argues and eventually starts singing together. The final verse is about the power of the people to create change, even though they may only be heard by a few. The song ends with the repeated phrase "it's alright," bringing a sense of positivity and optimism to the message.
The song was released on Al Kooper's album "New York City (You're A Woman)" in 1971 but was also included in the soundtrack of the 1995 film "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar."
Line by Line Meaning
Last night I had a dream that the world
Last night, I dreamt about the world
Was changing by leaps and bounds
It was changing drastically
It started up in the bigger cities
The change started in the big cities
Then it spread to the smaller towns
And then it spread to the small towns
The people began to smile at people
People were smiling at strangers
That they'd never even seen
Whom they had never seen before
And when Jeremiah woke me up
When Jeremiah woke me from my sleep
I was ready to live that dream
I was ready to live that dream coming true in real life
You know the mother called the father on the telephone
Mother called the father on the phone
She cried, 'My God I'm so upset'
She cried in distress
She said the boy left home naked this morning
She reported that the boy left home with just a TV set in the morning
All he took was the TV set
All he carried was the TV set
Then the sister picked up the extension
Then the sister picked up the phone
And she said, 'He's just doing his thing'
And she said that he is doing his thing
Then the father hung up on the mother
The father disconnected the call on the mother
And the children began to sing
And the children started singing
We gotta put our heads together
We need to work together
And see where we go from there
And figure out our next steps
We gotta fight for what we believe in
We must fight for our beliefs
'Cause there's something in the air
Because there is a feeling of change in the atmosphere
Twenty million shadows storming at the gates
Millions are eagerly awaiting change
Now how can you be surprised?
Why would you be surprised?
With the image of the fallen four reflected in their eyes
With the image of four fallen ones still fresh in their memory
And though twenty million tongues are shouting now
Though millions of people are shouting now
It's only heard by a precious few
Their voices are only heard by a select few
But the years of night will pass forever
But the darkness will pass eventually
When the sun comes shining through
When the good times are here again
Hey people, you know that it's a brand new day
People, it's a new day
Brand new way, brand new way you're walking
A new way of life, a new path for you
Brand new day, yes, a brand new way
A new dawn, a new start
And it's alright, yes, it's alright
Everything is okay
And it's alright now, it's alright
Everything is okay now
And it's alright, yes, it's alright
Everything is okay
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: AL KOOPER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind