James was only 18-years old when he captured the attention of guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, who marveled at this prodigious guitar talent, and immediately decided to take him on the road through the Canadian prairies, and later the United States. It wasn't long after that the young musician began opening for the likes of John Lee Hooker, ZZ Top, Steve Winwood and Keith Richards, Colin's 1988 self-titled debut Colin James was the fastest-selling album in Canadian music history featuring the smash hits "Why'd You Lie?”, “Voodoo Thing” and “Five Long Years". It featured a team of three top producers, including Tom Dowd (Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers), Danny Kortchmar (Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young) and Bob Rock (Jann Arden, Michael Bublé, Bush, The Cult, Loverboy, Sarah McLachlan, Metallica).
James followed up his record-breaking debut with a strong 1990 release, Sudden Stop, which was produced by Joe Hardy (.38 Special, Steve Earle, The Jeff Healey Band, ZZ Top ). This release has two top forty radio hits: "Just Came Back" and, "Keep On Loving Me Baby", and features Bonnie Raitt singing backing vocals on "Give It Up". This sophomore album further helped established Colin's integrity as an artist to lookout for.
James formed The Little Big Band in early 1990's and would eventually release a trilogy of CDs fronting this 1930's-50's style punchy horn section band, playing classics and originals featuring his stellar guitar fills and confident vocals. The first Colin James and The Little Big Band was released in 1993, and it was produced by Chris Kinsley (The Cult, Duran Duran, Psychedelic Furs, The Rolling Stones). The second Colin James and The Little Big Band II was released in 1998 on Warner Music, while the third, Colin James & The Little Big Band 3 was distributed on Maple Music in Canada and Universal Music Group globally in 2006, and he would eventually do a fourth with the band, a holiday album Colin James & The Little Big Band Christmas.
In 2008 he took home three Maple Blues Awards (Toronto Blues Society), which included Entertainer of the Year, while his release Limelight also went gold in Canada.
James released his twelfth album Rooftops and Satellites on October 6th, 2009, and it was a return to his guitar Blues-Rock roots. The album was primarily co-written by Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Lee Harvey Osmond) and Thomas "Tawgs" Salter, co-writer and producer of Lights' debut and Josh Groban's Awake, and it has generated four Canadian radio singles, “Man’s Gotta Be A Stone”, “Lost Again”, “Wavelength” and “Johnny Coolman.”
2011's 'Take It From The Top: The Best Of’ pays tribute to James's career's first 23 years and serves as a celebration of Colin’s return back where he started his recordings, Virgin/EMI. This Greatest Hits collection also features two newly recorded tracks, “It’s Gonna Be Alright“ as well as an innovative cover of the Buddy Miles' classic “Them Changes”, that were recorded in Vancouver with veteran producer Bob Rock (Michael Bublé, Metallica), reuniting the two after almost twenty years.
On June 12th, 2012, James released his fifteenth album, appropriately entitled Fifteen, which was produced by Joe Hardy (ZZ Top, Brooks & Dunn, Jeff Healey, Steve Earle), who had handled three of Colin's previous album productions including his successful sophomore release. Colin co-writes with Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady) on the opener “Sweets Gone Sour” and the rocker “I Need You Bad.” Colin also re-teamed with Tom Wilson and Thomas “Tawgs” Salter on four high-octane tracks, including the bluesy “No Time to Get There” and the driving “Stone Faith,” the album’s first single.
Fifteen also features two beautiful co-writes with Ron Sexsmith that reveal Colin’s seductive side: “Finally Wrote a Song for You”, a soulful love ballad; and “Shoulder to Cry On,” a moving acoustic number that highlights his vocal range, while closing the album. The disc also features some inspiring covers, including John Lennon's "Jealous Guy", Peter Green's (Fleetwood Mac) "Oh Well", [artis]Foy Vance’s gospel-tinged “Shed A Little Light,” and Allen Toussaint's funky "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley", which has perhaps become best known by Robert Palmer's cover.
On February 3, 2015, James released Hearts On Fire which was produced by Colin Linden at House of Blues Studios in Nashville, and this twelve track collection is distributed by Universal Music. The title track and all but two of the songs were written or co-written by Colin.
In 2016, James was named an inductee into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame presented by FACTOR (The Canadian Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings). In addition to this honour, Colin headlined the Western Canadian Music Awards Show at Casino Regina on October 13th, 2016, kicking off BreakOut West’s 14th year of celebrating Western Canada’s talent.
James's studio album Blue Highways features thirteen Classic Blues covers from guitar-hero greats like Blind Willie McTell, Freddie King, Peter Green, and Robert Johnson. The CD was released on October 16th, 2016. Recording and Production was primarily handled in Vancouver by Colin James and Dave Meszaros, with recording and mixing assistance from Eric Mosher, Chris Stringer and Jason Jaknunas. Blue Highways is being distributed by True North Records, and iTunes.
Over his illustrious career, James has earned 16 Maple Blues Awards, and he has worked and toured with the 'who’s who' in the international music scene (in alphabetical order): Luther Allison, Jann Arden, The Chieftains, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Tom Dowd, Buddy Guy, Johnny Hallyday, John Hammond Jr., Gordie Johnson, Albert King, Bobby King and Terry Evans, Danny Kortchmar, Lenny Kravitz, Little Feat, The Memphis Horns, Craig Northey, Bill Payne, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Bob Rock, The Rolling Stones, Roomful Of Blues, Carlos Santana, Mavis Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Wilson, Betty Wright and ZZ Top. In addition to writing most of his own material, his music has been covered by artists like Maria Muldaur, Johnny Halliday and Lucinda Williams.
National Steel
Colin James Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Through the church in to this world of sand
Picture an angle with a cigarette burnin'
With a long slow drag
She welcomes you in where you'll be
Dancing in the low light
Sweat dripping down like a dew
Scratchin' metal and a cry and moan
Fire, fire from the inside
Rhythm, like a hurricane rain
Mercy, comes after midnight
While you're washing me down with the sound of your National Steel
Took its smile on a wild rose
Born in the heat of the south
Your kisses they went to my head like a whiskey
She was a bootlegged love with her stockings rolled down
People cried to cry as a wolf starts to howl,
Howled like a midnight train
Roll on, roll on, rolled like a river
A shot of burning silver pounding through my feet like fire
Fire, fire from the inside
Rhythm like a hurricane rain
Mercy, comes after midnight
While you're washing me down with the sound of your National Steel
Mind your step as you make your way
Through the church in to this world of sand
Picture an angle with a cigarette burnin'
With a long slow drag
She welcomes you in where you'll be
Dancing in the low light
With the sweat dripping down like a dew
Scratchin' metal with a cry and moan
And riding in a bottle at the back of the room
Fire, fire from the inside
Rhythm, like a hurricane rain
Mercy, comes after midnight
Wash me down, washin' me down,
Fire, from the inside
Rhythm, like a hurricane rain
Mercy, comes after midnight
Wash me down with the sound of your National Steel
National Steel
Hm alright
The song "National Steel" by Colin James portrays a passionate and hedonistic encounter with a mysterious woman, through the use of vivid and evocative imagery. The lyrics open with a warning to "mind your step" as the listener enters a church and enters a world of sand, suggesting a spiritual or mystical quality to the encounter that is to come. The image of an angel with a cigarette, slowly inhaling, creates a sensual and almost dangerous atmosphere, as the listener is invited into a dimly lit room where bodies dance and sweat pours down like dew.
As the song progresses, the imagery becomes more intense, with references to scratchy metal and cries and moans, conjuring feelings of pain and pleasure. The repeated refrain of "fire, fire from the inside, rhythm like a hurricane rain" creates a sense of urgency and passion, as the encounter builds to a climax. The final lines, "wash me down with the sound of your National Steel", suggest a cleansing or purifying quality to the experience, perhaps hinting at a sense of redemption or transcendence.
Overall, "National Steel" is a powerful and evocative song, full of sensory detail and intense emotion. It captures the thrill and danger of a forbidden encounter, while also hinting at deeper spiritual or emotional connections.
Line by Line Meaning
Mind your step as you make your way
Be careful and watch your step as you enter this world
Through the church in to this world of sand
The journey takes you through a holy place to the desert
Picture an angle with a cigarette burnin'
Imagine a beautiful figure smoking a cigarette
With a long slow drag
Taking a slow and deep breath from the cigarette
She welcomes you in where you'll be
She greets you and invites you to a place where
Dancing in the low light
People dance in dim lighting
Sweat dripping down like a dew
Their bodies are sweating heavily
Scratchin' metal and a cry and moan
They make harsh sounds as they move and sing
Riding in a bottle in the back of a room
It feels like being trapped in a bottle at the back of the room
Fire, fire from the inside
There's an intense burning passion within
Rhythm, like a hurricane rain
The beat and pace is like a storm's downpour
Mercy, comes after midnight
Forgiveness and salvation come after the darkest time of day
While you're washing me down with the sound of your National Steel
The music from the steel guitar is like a cleansing stream washing over them
Took its smile on a wild rose
A beautiful thing emerged from the wild and untamed
Born in the heat of the south
It was created in a place of intense temperature and passion
Your kisses they went to my head like a whiskey
The feeling of their kisses was like the intoxicating effects of whiskey
She was a bootlegged love with her stockings rolled down
She was a forbidden love who rolled down her stockings for him
People cried to cry as a wolf starts to howl
The sound of a wolf's howl caused people to start crying
Howled like a midnight train
The wolf's howl was as mournful and haunting as the sound of a train at night
Roll on, roll on, rolled like a river
Time keeps moving forward like the flow of a river
A shot of burning silver pounding through my feet like fire
The feeling of adrenaline and excitement is like molten silver coursing through his body
Wash me down, washin' me down
Cleanse and purify me through the power of music
National Steel
The type of guitar used to create the powerful and emotional music
Lyrics © CCS RIGHTS MANAGEMENT CORP, Kassner Associated Publishers Ltd
Written by: CHRIS WARD, COLIN JAMES, DARYL BURGESS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Dave Fawcett
Saw him a few years ago at Haverock, was one of the highlights of that weekend, the man is second to none when it comes to talent and heart..
Pierre M
Why isn't he nominated for the R&R Hall of Fame? He is much better than the 2019 nominations.
Salvador Alien Day
Very good track on this album!
N B
Dont know why Colin never went with blues as his main theme on most albums, I prefer this to most of his jazzy pop records.
Ross Turchyn
+nathan balog He's rockabilly at heart is why, weirdest mix of humility and ego you could meet - covers the change your short at the line-up in the grocery store, then has to tell you who he is~
Jonathan Howard
One of the best tracks of all time
MrJoedabaker
my favourite song off this album. Wish he would tour with roots blues theme again!
Paul Sawyer
He could. He can do it all!!!
Joe R
Songs rarely get better than this