The group formed in 1961 as The Sunliners, and, after changing their name to "Rare Earth" were signed to Motown in 1969. The band was the first act signed to a new Motown imprint that would be dedicated to white rock acts. The record company didn't have a name for the new label yet, and the band jokingly suggested Motown call the label "Rare Earth." To the band's surprise, Motown decided to do just that.
The main personnel in the group included Gil Bridges (saxophone and vocals ), Pete Rivera a.k.a. Peter Hoorelbeke (lead vocals and drums), John Parrish a.k.a. John Persh (bass guitar, trombone and vocals), Rod Richards (born Rod Cox, guitar), Edward "Eddie" Guzman (congas and assorted percussive instruments) and Kenny James (born Ken Folcik, keyboards). The personnel lineup changed considerably over the years, with three members of the group dying during the 1980s and 1990s, and the only original member currently left in the group is Bridges.
Rare Earth had a number of Top Ten hits in the 1970-1971 period, including covers of The Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (which was used in the documentary video It's Time) and "Get Ready". The cover of "Get Ready" was their biggest hit, peaking at #4 on the US pop charts, a better performance than the original. They did not chart significantly after 1971, although they continued to record into the 1980s. Their 1973 album Ma, written and produced by Norman Whitfield, is considered their best overall work, and features their version of "Hum Along and Dance".
The group gained a bit of notoriety when it was mentioned dismissively in the lyrics to Gil Scott-Heron's landmark 1970 poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which included the line, "The theme song [to the revolution] will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth."
Rare Earth, which continues to perform at corporate events and on the oldies circuit, appears to have had the last word, however; bits from their recordings have been used as samples on recordings as diverse as Beck's "Derelict", Black Sheep's "Try Counting Sheep", Peanut Butter Wolf's "Tale of Five Cities", Scarface's "Faith", NWA's "Real N****z Don't Die" and Eric B. and Rakim's "What's Going On". Their hit "I Just Want to Celebrate" was also used in a major national advertising campaign by Ford Motor Company. "Get Ready" was used on the soundtrack to EA Games Battlefield Vietnam.
There is another band with the same name:
2. Rare Earth began as an R&B band called the Sunliners in Detroit in 1961. Of the musicians who would be part of the band dubbed Rare Earth, only sax player Gil Bridges and drummer Pete Rivera were present. John Parrish joined on bass in 1962. Rod Richards became a guitarist with the group in 1966. Keyboardist Kenny James came into the fold the same year. After years of doing the club circuit, the group changed their name to Rare Earth and released Dreams/Answers on Verve. The album received little reaction and the group was picked up by Motown Records as the first act on their yet-to-be-named new label. Rare Earth suggested to Motown that the label name their new subsidiary after the band and Rare Earth Records was born.
When they set out to record their first album, they essentially ran out of material and did a 21-minute rendition of the Temptation's "Get Ready" to fill out the space. The album was making no headway on the charts for a long period of time. So they took the first three minutes of "Get Ready," released it as a single and it made its way into the U.S. Top Ten list, peaking at number four. Pulled along by the success of the single, the album also began to sell, breaking the Top 20, and Rare Earth's career was officially on its way. The second album, Ecology, was released in June of 1970, a couple months short of a year after "Get Ready" had been put out. Interestingly enough, Ecology was not really the group's second album, but their third. An album entitled Generation was recorded as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. When the film stalled at the box office, the album was shelved. Still, Ecology would yield not one, but two hit singles. The first was "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (another Temptations cover), which also broke the Top Ten. The second single, "Born to Wander," did not fare quite so well, but did make the Top 20. The album was catapulted to number 15.
Not wanting to lose momentum, One World followed almost exactly a year after Ecology, and yielded another hit single in a longtime classic, "I Just Want to Celebrate." The song peaked on the pop charts at number seven and the album broke the Top 50. They released a live album in December of the same year. For the next album, Willie Remembers, the group insisted on doing all originals, a move that was not common around the Motown camp. Unfortunately, for a band trying to prove a point, the album never reached the type of sales of previous records. Indeed, it stalled out at number 90, and the single "Good Time Sally" didn't even break the Top 50.
Motown tightened the creative grip on the group and original producer Norman Whitfield, who had worked with the group on earlier albums, was brought in to save the day. The resulting album, Ma, was released in May of 1973 and fared just a little better than Willie Remembers, peaking at number 65. The label was not pleased and sent the group into the studio to record with Stevie Wonder. That pairing did not really gel, though, and only two tracks were recorded, neither of which were released. Instead, the label sought to release another live album, trying to regain the spark that Rare Earth had had. That project also fell by the wayside, though.
What followed was a series of lineup changes and legal battles, and the group stopped touring altogether in 1974. The following year Rare Earth, in a new lineup, released Back to Earth. The album did a bit better than the previous one, reaching number 59 on the charts. The single, appropriately entitled "It Makes You Happy (But It Ain't Gonna Last Too Long)" stalled just outside the Top 100. A disco-oriented excursion entitled Midnight Lady was released in 1976, but failed to really go anywhere. To make matters worse, Rare Earth Records was discontinued altogether. The band had broken up by this time.
As fate would have it, though, this was not the end of Rare Earth. Instead, Barney Ales, who had presided over Rare Earth Records, started his own label Prodigal Records. He talked the group into reuniting to record the label debut. The resulting album, Rare Earth, was released in 1977 and made no real waves in the music business. Rare Earth got things together again for a marathon recording session the following year. That session yielded not one, but two albums. The first was Band Together, released in April of 1978, with Grand Slam following in September. Neither of those albums every really took off, either. The group essentially broke up in 1978, although a version of the original lineup was touring all the way into 1983. A different incarnation of the group, with just two original members, still makes the circuits.
Tobacco Road
Rare Earth Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mama died and my daddy got drunk
Left me here to die or grow
In the middle of Tobacco Road
I grew up in a dusty shack
And all I had was a'hangin' on my back
Only you know how I loathe
But it's home
The only life I've ever known
Only you know how I loathe
Tobacco Road
I'm gonna leave and get a job
With the help and the grace from above
Save some money, get rich I know
Bring it back to Tobacco Road
Bring dynamite and a crane
Blow it up, start all over again
Build a town, be proud to show
Give the name Tobacco Road
Cause it's home
The only life I've ever known
I despise you ''cause your filthy
But I love ya, 'cause it's home
The song Tobacco Road by Rare Earth was originally written by John D. Loudermilk in 1960. The song was one of the band's biggest hits, and it talks about the hardship of growing up in a place called Tobacco Road. The lyrics describe the singer's upbringing in a bunk with a drunk father and a deceased mother's leaving him with a choice to die or grow up in the harsh conditions of Tobacco Road. The singer expresses his hatred to this place and how he wants to leave the shack and earn some money to be able to rebuild the town with pride and call it Tobacco Road again.
The lyrics depict the poverty and a bleak future awaiting the residents of the Tobacco Road, and they desire to leave it all behind. However, despite their loathing and despise, there is still an underlying sense of love and attachment, making it home. This internal conflict of emotions that the singer is feeling is a common theme in the song.
Line by Line Meaning
I was born in a bunk
I was born in a small space
Mama died and my daddy got drunk
My mother passed away and my father took to drinking excessively
Left me here to die or grow
He either abandoned me to die or to grow up on my own
In the middle of Tobacco Road
This place is Tobacco Road
I grew up in a dusty shack
I spent my childhood in a dirty, rundown home
And all I had was a'hangin' on my back
The only possessions I had were those that I carried with me
Only you know how I loathe
You can only imagine how much I hate this place
This place called Tobacco Road
This is Tobacco Road, the place I despise
But it's home
Despite my disdain, it's where I come from and where I belong
The only life I've ever known
This is the only way of life I have experienced
I'm gonna leave and get a job
I plan to depart and find employment elsewhere
With the help and the grace from above
I will rely on the goodwill and blessings from a higher power
Save some money, get rich I know
By saving up, I'm confident I'll experience wealth
Bring it back to Tobacco Road
I'll bring my newfound wealth back to my hometown
Bring dynamite and a crane
I plan on destroying and rebuilding this area
Blow it up, start all over again
Using dynamite, I'll start anew and rebuild from scratch
Build a town, be proud to show
I'll construct a city that I can be proud of and exhibit to others
Give the name Tobacco Road
I'll name this new town Tobacco Road, using the name of my previous home
'Cause it's home
Despite its filth and grime, it's still where I come from
I despise you 'cause your filthy
I hate the town because it's dirty and unkempt
But I love ya, 'cause it's home
Despite my strong feelings of dislike, I love it because it's where I was raised
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: John D. Loudermilk
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
jeffrey anderson
Rare Earth is one of those bad ass bands who never got the total recognition they deserve. Not sure of their whole touring and time history, but damn these guys were awesome with everything they did.
strattuner
RARE EARTH is the best blues band in the world,i've seen them dozens of times,i was compelled to drop everything and listen to the best,inside outside,they rocked hard,unreal group
Rocky B
This song has been covered so many times. I had heard a few versions before the Rare Earth version and none of them were giving me the right sound. None of them had what i was looking for. Then one night in early 2008 i came across the Rare Earth version and it was then i finally found the winning version of Tobacco Road. Peter Rivera sounds great it easy to understand why Rare Earth was the first white band signed to Motown.
Pablo Perez
😎
Mike Lewis of 25SFP
My sentiments precisely...well stated Rocky!
Larry Smith
Agreed, but that being said, check out Jefferson Airplane's version.
BernardAquarius
This is the best version of the song which was recorded by numerous others. No wonder Barry Gordy named the label they recorded on after them or vice versa. I had the opportunity of seeing them perform in DC during the 70's. Those blue eyed brothers were full of soul, dynamite!
Michael van Brügge
Those blue eyed brothers is such a nice word. As great as this music is.
Ajay Kurichh
Of all the versions of this song, including the original, the one by Eric Burdon and the War, Lou Raul, et al, this version by RARE EARTH is undoubtedly the best. Lots of Emotional Content, you know what I mean! No other band or artist comes near Peter Rivera. True blues...!! Long live Rare Earth (with Peter Rivera being the lead singer).
Martin Petersen
Rare Earth are instrumentally interesting ...even without lyrics they are outstanding