Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, New Yor… Read Full Bio ↴Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter, producer and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he didn't stay with the group long enough to share its popularity.

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.

In My Own Sweet Way
Al Kooper Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Kooper

I have seen you in the morning
Standing naked in the sunlit bay
Let me wrap my arms around you
Let my good old love surround you
Let me love you in my own sweet way

I can’t help myself when I get the fever
When your body calls out my name
You are lookin’ so good to me
Got your juices runnin’ through me
Let me love you in my own sweet way
Let me love you today

Wont you stay here & be my lady
You can stay here every night and day
Cant you see I want to show you
All the ways I want to know you

Let me love you in my own sweet way
Baby woncha let me love you today

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of “In My Own Sweet Way” reveal a speaker’s desire and affection towards someone he has seen standing naked in the sunlit bay. The singer then expresses a fervent desire to love her but only in his own sweet way. He seems to be confident that his affection is mutual and that the woman he is attracted to is looking “so good” to him, as if her bodily and sexual charms are overpowering him. The singer even admits that he cannot help himself from being attracted to her, to the point of having a fever when he sees her.

The singer paints the picture of a carefree and spontaneous romance without judging, over-analyzing or planning it too much. He invites his love interest to stay with him and, in a way, owes his partner the promise of “showing all the ways he wants to know her.” The singer’s admission that his love is sweet and good in his own way suggests that he is content with his own approach to love, life and intimacy.

Interestingly, the song is not autobiographical as the singer and songwriter, Al Kooper, is a happily married man whose concern for his wife's reaction to the song delayed its release. It also has interesting associations with film, as director Hal Ashby used the song in his film "Looking to Get Out" and Al Kooper himself worked as a music supervisor for several major films while in L.A. in the early 90s.

Line by Line Meaning

I have seen you in the morning
I have witnessed your beauty in the morning sunlight

Standing naked in the sunlit bay
You were standing naked in a bay filled with the sun's light

Let me wrap my arms around you
Let me embrace you tightly

Let my good old love surround you
Let my longstanding love encompass you

Let me love you in my own sweet way
Let me express my feelings for you in my unique style

I can’t help myself when I get the fever
I cannot resist my passion when it is ignited

When your body calls out my name
When your body yearns for my attention

You are lookin’ so good to me
You are very attractive to me

Got your juices runnin’ through me
Your passion is affecting me

Let me love you in my own sweet way
Let me express my love in my unique style

Let me love you today
Let me express my love to you right now