By the early 1970s, Free was one of the biggest-selling British blues rock groups; by the time the band dissolved in 1973, they had sold more than 20 million albums around the world and had played more than 700 arena and festival concerts. "All Right Now," remains a rock staple, and had been entered into ASCAP's "One Million" airplay singles club.
Rolling Stone has referred to the band as "British hard rock pioneers". The magazine ranked Rodgers No. 55 in its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", while Kossoff was ranked No. 51 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Free were signed to Island Records in the UK and A&M Records in North America. Both labels became part of the PolyGram group in 1989, then Universal Music Group in 1998; UMG now controls the band's catalogue worldwide.
Most remarkable about the birth of Free was the young age of the band members who came together to rehearse and play their first gig on the evening of 19 April 1968 at the Nag's Head pub, which was at the junction of York Road and Lavender Road in Battersea, London. Bass player Andy Fraser was 15 years old, lead guitarist Paul Kossoff was 17, and both lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke were 18. By November of that year, having been given the name Free by Alexis Korner, they had recorded their first album Tons Of Sobs for Island Records and, although it was not released until the following year, the album documents their first six months together and contains studio renditions of much of their early live set.
Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke first became friends in the R&B band Black Cat Bones but they wanted to move on. Paul Kossoff saw vocalist Paul Rodgers singing with Brown Sugar while visiting the Fickle Pickle, an R&B club in London's Finsbury Park. He was immediately impressed and asked if he could jam with Rodgers onstage. Along with Kirke, they began the search for a fourth member. Alexis Korner recommended Andy Fraser to the band, who at the age of 15 had already been playing with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Korner also provided the name "Free" the newly formed band
Unlike their previous albums Tons of Sobs and Free, Fire and Water, released in 1970, was a huge success, largely due to the album containing the hit single "All Right Now", which reached No. 1 on the UK rock music charts, No. 2 on the UK singles chart and No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album reached No. 2 in the UK charts and No. 17 on the U.S charts making it the most successful Free album. "All Right Now" became a No. 1 hit in over 20 territories and recognized by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 for garnering 1,000,000 plus radio plays in the US by late 1989, and in 2000 an award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 radio plays in the UK.
Highway was their fourth studio album, recorded extremely quickly in September 1970. Highway performed poorly in the charts, reaching No. 41 in the UK and No. 190 in the US.
In 1971, due to differences between singer Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser, the drug problems of guitarist Paul Kossoff, and inconsistent record sales, the band broke up. This led to the release of the live album called Free Live!. Early in 1972 the band set aside their differences and reformed in an effort to save Kossoff from his growing drug addiction, and in June of the same year released Free at Last.
But all was not well with the band. Bassist Andy Fraser left the band in mid-1972 due to Paul Kossoff's unreliability in being able to perform at shows or even showing up. The remaining members recruited Japanese bass player Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, who had worked with Kossoff and Kirke during Free's initial split, recording Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit and what would be Free's final album, Heartbreaker. Kossoff was replaced by Wendell Richardson in 1973, but shortly thereafter Free disbanded with Rodgers and Kirke going on to form Bad Company that same year. Fraser went on to form the band Sharks and later The Andy Fraser Band, and Kossoff formed the band Back Street Crawler.
With Kossoff in better health again in late 1975, he was delighted that ex-colleagues Rodgers and Kirke asked him to join them on stage for two nights. A British tour was set to begin on 25 April 1976 with Back Street Crawler headlining with Bad Company in support of Back Street Crawler's second album, but again Kossoff's drug addictions contributed to a drastic decline in the guitarist's health. On a flight from Los Angeles to New York City on 19 March 1976, Paul Kossoff died from drug-related heart problems at the age of 25. After parting with Bad Company in 1982 Rodgers went on to explore the heavy blues stylings of Free again in his solo career during the 1980s and 1990s, and in the bands The Firm and The Law.
More recently Rodgers has joined the remaining members of Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor), as vocalist. In September 2008, Queen + Paul Rodgers released their first studio album The Cosmos Rocks. Rodgers also performs Free and Bad Company songs whilst on tour with Queen, in addition to the traditional Queen songs and new cuts from their most recently released album. Currently, Rodgers and Kirke are once again on tour with Bad Company.
Andy Fraser died on 16 March 2015.
Personnel Members
Classic lineup
Andy Fraser - bass, piano (1968–1971, 1972; died 2015)
Simon Kirke - drums (1968–1971, 1972–1973)
Paul Kossoff - guitar (1968–1971, 1972–1973; died 1976)
Paul Rodgers - lead vocals, piano (1968–1971, 1972–1973)
Later members
John "Rabbit" Bundrick - keyboards (1972–1973)
Tetsu Yamauchi - bass (1972–1973)
Wendell Richardson - guitar (1973)
Discography :
1969 Tons of Sobs
1969 Free
1970 Fire and Water
1970 Highway
1972 Free at Last
1973 Heartbreaker
2) Free is a hardcore band
3) Free consists of four of the final five Have Heart members - Patrick Flynn, Kei Yasui, Shawn Costa, and Ryan Hudon - in addition to the band's 2009 bassist, Austin Stemper. On November 29, 2015, the group released a four-track, self-titled demo recorded by Trevor Vaughan (Sex Positions, Soul Control) in their home of New Bedford, MA.
Honky Tonk Women
Free Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She tried to make me upstairs for a ride
She had to carry me right across her shoulder
'Cause I just can't seem to drink her off of my mind
She's a honky tonk woman
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
I had to put up a one heck of a fight
The lady said she'd covered me with roses
She broke my nose and then she broke my mind
She's a honky tonk woman
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
She's a honky tonk woman
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
She's a honky tonk woman
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
She's a honky tonk woman
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
In Free’s song Honky Tonk Woman, the singer is sharing his experiences with a woman from two different locations: Memphis and New York City. In Memphis, he meets a woman in a bar who tries to seduce him, and he struggles to get her off his mind. In New York City, he engages in a fight with a woman who promised to shower him with roses but instead broke both his nose and his mind. Despite her actions, he still desires her, exclaiming “gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl.”
The lyrics convey a sense of danger and excitement, as the singer is drawn to this woman who represents the wild and reckless culture of a honky tonk (a type of bar that typically features country music and dancing). The repetition of the phrase “gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl” emphasizes his desire and captures the urgency of his attraction.
Line by Line Meaning
I met her, just a barroom queen in Memphis
I encountered her in a bar in Memphis, where she ruled the place as the queen of the honky tonk
She tried to make me upstairs for a ride
She attempted to entice me to go upstairs for a sexual encounter
She had to carry me right across her shoulder
I was too drunk to walk, so she had to carry me over her shoulder
'Cause I just can't seem to drink her off of my mind
I cannot stop thinking about her even when I try to drown my thoughts with alcohol
She's a honky tonk woman
She is a woman who frequents honky tonk bars and lives a wild, carefree lifestyle
Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme
I want and desire her intensely
I met her either say in New York City
I also met her once in New York City
I had to put up a one heck of a fight
I had to resist her advances and put up a great struggle
The lady said she'd covered me with roses
She promised to shower me with love and affection
She broke my nose and then she broke my mind
She physically injured me and destroyed my mental state
Gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl
I desire her to be mine and fulfill my fantasies
She's a honky tonk woman
She is a woman of loose morals and wild nature, living life on the edge
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Abkco Music Inc.
Written by: KEITH RICHARDS, MICK JAGGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind