In 1964, Elektra Records produced a compilation album of various artists entitled The Blues Project which featured several white musicians from the Greenwich Village area who played acoustic blues music in the style of black musicians. One of the featured artists on the album was a young guitarist named Danny Kalb, who was paid $75 for his two songs. Not long after the album's release, however, Kalb gave up his acoustic guitar for an electric one. The Beatles' arrival in America earlier in the year signified the end of the folk and acoustic blues movement that had swept young America in the early 1960s. The ensuing British Invasion was the nail in the coffin. Seeing the writing on the wall, Kalb gave up acoustic blues and switched to rock and roll, as did many other aspiring American musicians during this period.
Danny Kalb's first rock and roll band was formed in the spring of 1965, playing under various names at first, until finally settling on the Blues Project moniker as an allusion to Kalb's first foray on record. After a brief hiatus in the summer months of 1965 during which Kalb was visiting Europe, the band reformed in September 1965 and were almost immediately a top draw in Greenwich Village. By this time, the band included Danny Kalb on guitar, Steve Katz (having recently departed the Even Dozen Jug Band) also on guitar, Andy Kulberg on bass and flute, Roy Blumenfeld on drums and Tommy Flanders on vocals.
The band's first big break came only a few weeks later when they auditioned for Columbia Records, and failed. The audition was a success, nevertheless, as it garnered them an organist in session musician Al Kooper. Kooper had begun his career as a session guitarist, but that summer, he began playing organ when he sneaked into the "Like a Rolling Stone" recording session on Bob Dylan's seminal album Highway 61 Revisited. In order to improve his musicianship on the new instrument, Kooper joined the Blues Project and began gigging with them almost immediately.
Soon thereafter, the Blues Project gained a record contract from Verve Records, and began recording their first album live at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village over the course of a week in November 1965. While the band was known for their lengthy interpretations of blues and traditional rock and roll songs (making them, along with the Grateful Dead, rock's first "jam band"), their first album saw them rein in these tendencies because of record company wariness as well as the time restrictions of the vinyl record.
Entitled simply Live at the Café Au Go Go, the album was finished with another week of live recordings at the cafe in January 1966. By that time, vocalist Tommy Flanders had left the band and was not replaced. As a result, Flanders appears on only a few of the songs on this album.
The album was a moderate success and the band toured America to promote it. While in San Francisco in April 1966, during the height of the city's Haight-Ashbury culture, the Blues Project played at the Fillmore Auditorium to rave reviews. Seemingly New York's answer to the Grateful Dead, even members of the Grateful Dead who saw them play were impressed with their improvisational abilities.
Returning to New York, the band recorded their second album and first studio album in the fall of 1966, and it was released in November. Arguably better than their first album, Projections was certainly more ambitious than their first album, boasting an eclectic set of songs that ran the gamut from blues, R&B, jazz, psychedelia, and folk-rock. The centerpiece of the album was an 11-and-a-half minute version of "Two Trains Running", which, along with other songs on the album, showed off their improvisational tendencies. One such song was the instrumental, "Flute Thing", written by Kooper and featuring Kulberg.
Soon after the album was completed, though, the band began to fall apart. Al Kooper quit the band in the spring of 1967, and the band without him completed a third album, Live At Town Hall. Despite the name, only one song was recorded live at Town Hall, while the rest was made up of live recordings from other venues, or of studio outtakes with overdubbed applause to feign a live sound.
The Blues Project's last hurrah was at the Monterey International Pop Festival held in Monterey, California, in June 1967. By this time, however, half the original line-up was gone and most of their early magic was, too. Al Kooper had formed his own band and played at the festival as well, but no sort of reunion was in the offing. Guitarist Steve Katz left soon thereafter, followed by founder Danny Kalb. A fourth album, 1968's Planned Obsolescence, featured only drummer Roy Blumenfeld and bassist Andy Kulberg from the original lineup. Upon the album's completion, the remaining members formed Seatrain.
In 1968, Al Kooper and Steve Katz joined forces once again to fulfill a desire of Al Kooper's to form a rock band with a horn section. The resulting band was Blood, Sweat & Tears. While Kooper led the band on its first album, Child Is Father to the Man, he did not stick around for any subsequent releases. Katz, on the other hand, remained with the band into the 1970s.
The Blues Project, with a modified lineup, reformed briefly in the early 1970s, releasing three further albums: 1971's Lazarus, 1972's The Blues Project, and 1973's Original Blues Project Reunion In Central Park (which featured Al Kooper but not Tommy Flanders). These albums did little to excite the public, however. Since then, the group's activity has been confined to a few sporadic reunion concerts.
I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
The Blues Project Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Oh momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Early in the morning
About the break of day
I fall down and I pray
I think about my woman
My woman who's long gone
I can't keep from crying sometimes
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Oh momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Later in the evening
I watch the sun go down
I think about my woman
But my woman Lord she ain't around
My heart is filled with sadness
And my eyes are filled with tears
I can't keep from crying sometimes
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Oh momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I can't keep from crying sometimes
The Blues Project's song, "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes," is a lamentation of lost love and the pain of losing a loved one. The lyrics are essentially a repeated refrain about crying, which is punctuated by two vignettes that capture moments of remembrance and grief. The first verse talks about falling down on his knees early in the morning, thinking about his woman who is "long gone." The later verse moves to watching the sunset, thinking about his woman and feeling a deep sense of sadness and loneliness.
The song captures the universal human experience of grieving and the inability to shake it off. Throughout the song, the singer attempts to pray and to distract himself from his thoughts, but the emotions remain visceral and present. The repetition of the lines, "I can't keep from crying sometimes/Oh momma she's dead and gone/And I know I'm all alone/I can't keep from crying sometimes," reinforces the underlying melancholic melody and the feelings of loss and pain.
Overall, this is a beautiful blues song that perfectly captures the universal human experience of grief and loss. The poignant lyrics, the mournful melody, and the emotive vocals all blend together to create a powerful, impassioned piece of music.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't keep from crying sometimes
I am unable to control my emotions and often find myself crying.
Oh momma she's dead and gone
The person's mother has passed away.
And I know I'm all alone
The person feels isolated and without support.
Early in the morning
At the start of the day.
About the break of day
As the dawn begins to break.
I fall down on my knees
The person kneels in a position of prayer or supplication.
I fall down and I pray
The person prays for help or guidance.
I think about my woman
The person reflects on someone they love or have loved.
My woman who's long gone
The person's partner is no longer present in their life.
Later in the evening
As the day progresses towards night.
I watch the sun go down
The person observes the setting of the sun, a symbol of the passage of time.
But my woman Lord she ain't around
The person's partner is absent or unavailable.
My heart is filled with sadness
The person experiences profound feelings of sorrow.
And my eyes are filled with tears
The person is crying due to their emotional state.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AL KOOPER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
johnny zell
I can't keep from cry sometimes
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Early in the morning about the break of day
I fall down on my kness I fall down and I pray
I think about my woman my woman who's long gone
I can't keep from cry sometimes
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I cant keep from crying sometimes
SOLO
Later in the evening
I watch the sun go dowm
I think about my woman
But my woman lord she ain't around
My heart is filled with sadness
My eyes are filled with tears
I can't keep from cryin sometimes all right
I can't keep from crying sometimes
Momma she's dead and gone
And I know I'm all alone
I cant keep from crying sometimes
Michael Nagin
These guys were incredible live! I saw them probably around 1967 in the Village, must have been at Cafe Au Go Go or possibly caught them again at the Night Owl Cafe. If I'm not mistaken may have caught Mike Bloomfield sitting in with them, but definitely Al Kooper was there along with Danny Kalb. Great music scene back then right before the opening of the Fillmore. Saw Hendrix down there as well, along with the Lovin Spoonful!
Thomas Kiechle
Mike Bloomfield amazing creative genius.
Carolyn Zaremba
I saw them in Cleveland in 1966. I was still in high school. Met them after the show and hung out with Danny Kalb. I was SO jailbait.
Carolyn Zaremba
Same here. Met them when they played Cleveland in 1967. Blew me away.
GuitarJay
It is criminal that more people aren't hip to the greatness of the Blues Project and Danny Kalb!
tufahijica
@serferten http://www.thebluesproject.com/Tour.html
serferten
Keep this fantastic group alive online!!
GuitarJay
Wish I lived there! Next time I visit, I'll try to see if he's playing.
Gerard Savage
Still occasionally perform around NYC and NE.
Omixochitl
I bought this album when I was 14 years old! Loved it so much...I played it over and over