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.
Sam Stone
Al Kooper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sam stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
Theres a hole in daddys arm where all the money goes,
Jesus christ died for nothin I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Dont stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....
Sam stones welcome home
Didnt last too long.
He went to work when hed spent his last dime
And sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin other peoples clothes...
Repeat chorus:
Sam stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the g, i. bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes hill
Repeat chorus
"Sam Stone" is a song about a Vietnam War veteran who returns home to his family and deals with the physical and emotional aftermath of his time in the war. The song begins by describing Sam's return home, noting that the war has taken a toll on him both physically and mentally. The pain he experiences is so great that he uses morphine to ease it and becomes addicted to it. Sam's life begins to spiral out of control as he loses his job and turns to theft to support his drug habit.
The chorus of the song is a commentary on the devastating effects of war, both on the soldiers who fight them and the families who are left behind. The line "there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes" refers to Sam's heroin addiction and the impact it has on his family. The line "Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose" is an indictment of the senseless violence and loss of life that occurs in war. The song ends tragically with the news of Sam's death, having traded his house for a casket on a local hero's hill.
Overall, "Sam Stone" is a powerful song that conveys the harsh realities of war and its impact on the soldiers who fight them, as well as their families.
Line by Line Meaning
Sam stone came home, To his wife and family, After serving in the conflict overseas.
Sam Stone returned home to his loved ones after serving his country overseas in a long and arduous conflict.
And the time that he served, Had shattered all his nerves, And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
The hardships and struggles of his time served in the military had negatively impacted Sam Stone's mental and physical health greatly.
But the morphine eased the pain, And the grass grew round his brain, And gave him all the confidence he lacked, With a purple heart and a monkey on his back.
Sam Stone resorted to using drugs such as morphine to help alleviate his physical and emotional pain, leading to addiction and feelings of false confidence.
Theres a hole in daddys arm where all the money goes, Jesus christ died for nothin I suppose. Little pitchers have big ears, Dont stop to count the years, Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
The chorus represents society's disillusionment towards the military and the negative impact of addiction on families, including the children who are trying to make sense of a situation they can barely comprehend.
Sam stones welcome home, Didnt last too long. He went to work when hed spent his last dime And sammy took to stealing When he got that empty feeling For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
Sam Stone's life back home was far from easy, struggling to make ends meet and resorting to stealing to feed his addiction and numb his emotional pain.
And the gold rolled through his veins Like a thousand railroad trains, And eased his mind in the hours that he chose, While the kids ran around wearin other peoples clothes...
Despite the negative consequences and impact his addiction had, the feeling of the drugs running through his veins was too powerful for Sam Stone to resist.
Sam stone was alone When he popped his last balloon Climbing walls while sitting in a chair Well, he played his last request While the room smelled just like death With an overdose hovering in the air
The final moments of Sam Stone's life depict a lonely and tragic ending, as he overdoses on drugs while his loved ones are nowhere to be found.
But life had lost its fun And there was nothing to be done But trade his house that he bought on the g, i. bill For a flag draped casket on a local heroes hill
In the end, Sam Stone's life was reduced to nothing, even having to sacrifice his home purchased on a military bill to be buried as a symbol of patriotism and sacrifice for his country.
Contributed by Tyler R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.