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.
Love Theme From The Landlord
Al Kooper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Soon you'll understand
While he makes you into a woman
He becomes a man
The tenderness you lend to her
With every touch of your hand
Will make her feel just like a woman
The lyrics to Al Kooper's song Love Theme From The Landlord describe the process of becoming a woman and a man through the physical and emotional connection between two people. The lines "Let him hold you, let him touch you, soon you'll understand" suggest a level of trust and vulnerability that is necessary for intimacy to occur. As the woman is touched and handled by the man, she is transformed into a woman, while the man is transformed into a man. The lyrics also describe the importance of tenderness in the physical and emotional connection, as the line "The tenderness you lend to her, with every touch of your hand, will make her feel just like a woman while you become a man" suggests.
Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of the power dynamic that occurs in a relationship, as well as the importance of tenderness and mutual respect. The idea of two people becoming more fully realized versions of themselves through their connection is a romantic sentiment that has resonated with many listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
Let him hold you, let him touch you
Allow him to embrace and caress you
Soon you'll understand
You'll realize the true depth and nature of your relationship
While he makes you into a woman
Through his actions and love, he helps you mature into womanhood
He becomes a man
As he helps you grow, he himself grows and matures into manhood
The tenderness you lend to her
The gentle love and care you show her
With every touch of your hand
With every gentle gesture and physical expression of love
Will make her feel just like a woman
It will help her embrace her femininity and feel like a mature woman
While you become a man
As you provide love and care, you mature and grow into manhood
Contributed by Mason V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.