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 Trap
Al Kooper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I can feel these strings of warmth encircling me
What can I do, what can I say, honey
You've taken all my reasons to be free
Such soulful shackles around my heart
That I have no will to break
What can I do, how can I move
Here inside your love trap
I cannot move a muscle
Here inside your love trap
I ain't gonna put up no fuss I'll stay here willingly
Cause all this love is killing me with tenderness
Mama Mama I love it
In times gone by I used to yearn for every smile I saw
And in their arms I'd taste their charms
Oh but never nothing more
Until you came into my life with your weaving magic spell
And in your hands this lucky man
Is like a prisoner inside a cell
Here inside your love trap
I cannot move a muscle
Here inside your love trap
I ain't gonna put up no fuss I'll stay here willingly
Cause all this love is killing me with tenderness
Mama Mama I love it
In Al Kooper's "Love Trap," the lyrics describe the feeling of being trapped in a relationship, but not necessarily in a negative sense. The singer is caught up in the love and tenderness that his partner has provided him, and he feels as though he is unable to break free from the hold that she has over him. He describes feeling warm and encircled, with no will to break free of the soulful shackles that are wrapped around his heart. The singer acknowledges that he is caught with no escape, but he doesn't express any anger or frustration about this, instead stating that he will stay in the love trap willingly.
The second verse of the song contrasts with the first, as Kooper sings about his experiences with other women prior to meeting the subject of the song. He used to yearn for every smile he saw and taste the charms of those he was with, but with the woman he is currently with, he describes himself as a prisoner inside a cell. This shift in perspective is interesting, as it shows how love can change our outlook and what we are willing to give up in order to feel its embrace.
Overall, "Love Trap" is a song that explores the feeling of being trapped in love, but not necessarily in a negative way. The lyrics acknowledge the power that love has to change us and keep us bound to another person.
Line by Line Meaning
And I can feel these strings of warmth encircling me
I'm being emotionally trapped by the warmth and care of my partner
What can I do, what can I say, honey
I'm confused and don't know how to express my feelings about being trapped in this love
You've taken all my reasons to be free
My partner has removed my desire to be independent and free, leaving me feeling trapped
Such soulful shackles around my heart
My heart feels bound and trapped by the emotional connection with my partner
That I have no will to break
I'm powerless to break free from this emotional bond
What can I do, how can I move
I'm stuck and don't know what to do to change my situation
I'm caught and there's no escape
I'm emotionally caught up in this love and can't find my way out
Here inside your love trap
I'm stuck and trapped in your love
I cannot move a muscle
I'm powerless to change anything about this situation
I ain't gonna put up no fuss I'll stay here willingly
I accept my situation and am willing to stay despite feeling trapped
Cause all this love is killing me with tenderness
The intensity of the love is overwhelming and difficult to handle
Mama Mama I love it
Despite the difficulties, I still love this intense emotional connection
In times gone by I used to yearn for every smile I saw
In the past, I used to seek out happiness in any form I could find it
And in their arms I'd taste their charms
I used to find fleeting moments of happiness in physical relationships with others
Oh but never nothing more
But those moments were never fulfilling, never more than just physical
Until you came into my life with your weaving magic spell
When my current partner came into my life, they wove a powerful emotional web around me
And in your hands this lucky man
I'm lucky to have the emotional bond with my partner
Is like a prisoner inside a cell
But that bond has left me feeling trapped and powerless to escape
Contributed by Lucy P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.