Tony Joe White was the youngest of seven children who grew up on a cotton farm near Oak Grove, Louisiana. He first began performing music at school dances, and after graduating from high school he performed in night clubs in Texas and Louisiana.
In 1967, White signed with Monument Records, which operated from a recording studio in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee, and produced a variety of sounds, including rock and roll, country and western, and rhythm and blues. Billy Swan was his producer.
Over the next three years, White released four singles with no commercial success in the U.S., although "Soul Francisco" was a hit in France. "Polk Salad Annie" had been released for nine months and written off as a failure by his record label, when it finally entered the U.S. charts in July 1969. It climbed to the Top Ten by early August, and eventually reached No. 8, becoming White's biggest hit.
White's first album, 1969's Black and White, was recorded with Muscle Shoals/Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan, and featured "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie", along with a cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman". "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" was covered by Dusty Springfield on her album Dusty in Memphis also recorded in 1969.
Three more singles quickly followed, all minor hits, and White toured with Steppenwolf, Anne Murray, Sly & the Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and other major rock acts of the 1970s, playing in France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and England.
In 1973, White appeared in the film Catch My Soul, a rock-opera adaption of Shakespeare's Othello. White played and sang four and composed seven songs for the musical.
In late September 1973, White was recruited by record producer Huey Meaux to sit in on the legendary Memphis sessions that became Jerry Lee Lewis's landmark Southern Roots album.[citation needed] By all accounts,[citation needed] these sessions were a three-day, around-the-clock party, which not only reunited the original MGs (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. of Booker T. and the MGs fame) for the first time in three years, but also featured Carl Perkins, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere & the Raiders), and Wayne Jackson plus The Memphis Horns.
1980s
From 1976 to 1983, White released three more albums, each on a different label. Trying to combine his own swamp-rock sound with the popular disco music at the time, the results were not met with success and White gave up his career as a singer and concentrated on writing songs.
1990s comeback
In 1989, White produced one non-single track on Tina Turner's Foreign Affair album, the rest of the album was produced by Dan Hartman. Playing a variety of instruments on the album, he also wrote four songs,[2] including the title song and the hit single "Steamy Windows". As a result of this he became managed by Roger Davies, who was Turner's manager at the time, and he obtained a new contract with Polydor.
The resulting album, 1991's Closer to the Truth, was a commercial success[citation needed] and put White back in the spotlight. He released two more albums for Polydor; The Path of a Decent Groove and Lake Placid Blues which was co-produced by Roger Davies.
In the 1990s, White toured Germany and France with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton, and in 1992 he played the Montreux Festival.
In 1996, Tina Turner released the song "On Silent Wings" written by White.
2000s
In 2000, Hip-O Records released One Hot July in the U.S., giving White his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. The critically acclaimed The Beginning appeared on Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists including Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Michelle White, on Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, on New West Records in 2006. In 2004, White was the featured guest artist in an episode of the Legends Rock TV Show and Concert Series, produced by Megabien Entertainment.
In 2007, White released another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, as well as the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White. Elkie Brooks recorded one of White's songs, "Out of The Rain", on her 2005 Electric Lady album. On July 14, 2006, in Magny-Cours, France, White performed as a warm-up act for Roger Waters' The Dark Side of the Moon concert. White's album, entitled Uncovered, was released in September 2006 and featured collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, and J.J. Cale.
The song "Elements and Things" from the 1969 album ...Continued features prominently during the horse-racing scenes in the 2012 HBO television series "Luck".
In 2013, White signed to Yep Roc Records and released Hoodoo. Mother Jones called the album "Steamy, Irresistible" and No Depression noted Tony Joe White is "the real king of the swamp." He also made his Live...with Jools Holland debut in London, playing songs from Hoodoo.
On October 15, 2014, White appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside the Foo Fighters to perform "Polk Salad Annie". Pointing to White, Letterman told his TV audience, "Holy cow! ... If I was this guy, you could all kiss my ass. And I mean that."
In May 2016, Tony Joe White released Rain Crow on Yep Roc Records.[8] The lead track "Hoochie Woman" was cowritten with his wife, Leann. The track "Conjure Child" is a follow up to an earlier song, "Conjure Woman."
The album Bad Mouthin' was released in September 2018 again on Yep Roc Records. The album contains six self-penned songs and five blues standards written by, amongst others, Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker. On the album White also performs a cover of the Elvis Presley song Heartbreak Hotel. White plays acoustic and electric guitar on the album which was produced by his son Jody White and has a signature Tony Joe White laid back sound.
In 1969, deep voiced southern songsmith Tony Joe White had a U.S. Top 10 hit with his classic swamp rock tune "Polk Salad Annie". His bluesy songs have been covered by dozens of artists ranging from Elvis Presley and Tim McGraw, to Dusty Springfield and Tina Turner. His latest release in a forty plus year career is 2013's "The Gift".
Born in 1943, White was the youngest of seven children in a part-Cherokee family raised on a cotton farm, and first showed an interest in music at the age of 16 when he heard an album by Lightning Hopkins. He later began performing at school dances and night clubs, first as Tony and the Mojos and then as Tony and the Twilights.
After moving to Memphis in the late 1960's, White was signed to Monument records and his first single release was a Ray Stevens song "Georgia Pines".
White's 1969 debut album, Black And White, featured originals such as "Willie And Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie," and psychedelic ode to the west coast "Soul Francisco" which became a hit in France. The album also featured a cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman". His follow up record for Monument was "...Continued" followed by Tony Joe in 1970, his last for Monument.
By 1970 he released The Train I'm On marking the fifth album in Tony Joe White's career, and his second recorded for Warner Bros. it was produced by Jerry Wexler and recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. Johnny Cash had White as a guest on his tv show twice, and in Europe White gained legendary status following a successful debut at the historic Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. White's 2nd record on Warner Bros. in 1971 was a self titled disc recorded in Memphis with The Memphis Horns.
In late September 1973, White was recruited by producer Huey P. Meaux to sit in on the legendary Memphis sessions that became the landmark Southern Roots album of Jerry Lee Lewis.
By all accounts, these sessions were a three day, around the clock party, which not only reunited the original MGs (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson Jr. of Booker T. and the MGs fame) for the first time in three years, they also featured rockabilly icon Carl Perkins, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere and the Raiders), and Wayne Jackson and The Memphis Horns.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s White toured in support of artists including Creedence Clearwater Revival and James Taylor. In the 1990s Tina Turner recorded four of his songs for her multi-platinum selling album Foreign Affairs, including the world-wide hit "Steamy Windows". With the advent of that project, White formed an alliance with Turner's manager, Roger Davies and his career began to soar.
In 1991 he signed with Remark, issued the Closer To The Truth album and spent the next two years touring Europe in support of Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker, among others. He cut two more albums for Remark, 1993's Path Of A Decent Groove and 1995's Lake Placid Blues, the latter garnering the first of two nominations for "Best R & B Album" from the Nashville Music Awards, (the second being, The Best Of Tony Joe White, a 1996 retrospective of his work on Warner Brothers). French audiences eagerly embraced White as the ‘Swamp Fox’ and in 1998, he became the subject of a French produced documentary: Tony Joe White-The Man From Down South.
In 1999, White went back to his roots and recorded One Hot July, in the swamps of Louisiana. He then toured Australia and Europe once again in support of the critically acclaimed album. In 2001, Audium and Koch Entertainment released The Beginning - a stripped-down acoustic album that received worldwide recognition and five star ratings in virtually every country.
Throughout the years, White has had songs recorded by dozens of major artists including Elvis, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Hank Williams Jr, John Mayall, and Waylon Jennings. Brook Benton had a huge hit with Rainy Night In Georgia, and Rory Gallagher did a cover of White's song "As The Crow Flies" on his live album Irish Tour. More recently, White has worked with Marc Bryan of Hootie & The Blowfish and Michael McDonald. He has written and performed jingles for McDonalds and Levi's 501 Blues and been featured on movie soundtracks for Millennium, Selena and Hotspot. His music has also been featured in two HBO original films, and has a DVD out entitled Live from Austin, TX. in 2006 Rhino records compiled all of White's late 60's Monument albums into a deluxe ltd edition 40 CD boxset called "Tony Joe White - Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings"
Another recent CD release is Heroes and Heroines, on his own label, Swamp Records. White says he created the company with his son Jody White, so that he could continue to produce music his way. His "Uncovered" came out in 2006 and features collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, Waylon Jennings & Shelby Lynne.
White has played recent high profile slots including the 2008 New Orleans Jazz Fest and on In July 14, 2006 in Magny-Cours, France, as a warm-up act for Roger Waters' Dark Side Of The Moon concert.
www.tonyjoewhite.com
As the Crow Flies
Tony Joe White Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Will I ain't so far from you
As the crow flies, baby
Will I ain't so far from you
But since I don't have wings
I can't get home as fast as I want to
As the crow flies, baby
Will I ain't so far from you
Will I ain't so far from you
But since I don't have wings
I can't get home as fast as I want to
In a dream last night
Where I heard you call my name
In a dream last night
Where I heard you call my name
Well, I took it as an omen
And I jumped on the very first weight train
Yeah, as the crow flies
Well, you don't know baby
How I miss you sweet caress
Well, you don't know baby
How I miss you sweet caress
When I'm in your lovin' arms
I swear I make my very best
As the crow flies, baby
That's how I'm on my way
As the crow flies, baby
I'm on my way
But don't stop runnin'
I can get home for the break of day
Get home for the break of day (x7)
The song "As the Crow Flies" by Tony Joe White is a blues rock ballad that tells the story of a man who is far away from the one he loves, but is determined to make his way back to her. The chorus, "As the crow flies, baby, well I ain't so far from you, but since I don't have wings, I can't get home as fast as I want to" portrays the frustration of the singer who is unable to reach his lover as quickly as he wishes he could. He explains that in a dream, he heard her call his name and took it as a sign to make his way back to her. The lyrics suggest that while the distance between them may be great, his love for her is strong enough to motivate him to make the journey.
The verse, "Well, you don't know baby, how I miss your sweet caress. When I'm in your lovin' arms, I swear I make my very best," reveals the depth of the singer's feelings for his lover. It shows that he is not just physically distant from her, but also emotionally longing to be with her. The final verse, "But don't stop runnin', I can get home for the break of day," expresses the urgency of the singer's desire to be with his lover and encourages her to wait for him until he arrives.
Line by Line Meaning
As the crow flies, baby
I'm not very far away from you
Will I ain't so far from you
I am trying to convey that I am not too far away from my lover
But since I don't have wings
I don't have the ability to fly like birds in the sky
I can't get home as fast as I want to
It is taking me longer to get back to my lover than I would like
In a dream last night
I had a dream last night
Where I heard you call my name
You called my name in my dream
Well, I took it as an omen
I interpreted the dream as a sign
And I jumped on the very first weight train
I decided to take the first train back to you
Yeah, as the crow flies
I intend to make the trip back as efficiently as possible
Well, you don't know baby
You may not realize
How I miss you sweet caress
I am longing for your loving embrace
When I'm in your lovin' arms
I feel complete and content when I am with you
I swear I make my very best
I genuinely try to be the best version of myself when we are together
That's how I'm on my way
I am en route in the most direct manner available to me
But don't stop runnin'
Please keep waiting for me
I can get home for the break of day
I will arrive back in your arms by daybreak
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: TONY JOE WHITE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Winterstick549
It's a real shame so many of you find it impossible to appreciate both Tony and Rory's versions.
null
I LOVE both versions!! If it wasn't for Rory's "Irish Tour '74," I would've never checked-out Tony. Tony an exceptional singer, composer, and musician,
Tadhg Bean-Bradley Music
Great track I found as a result of Rory’s cover. Love both versions, completely different to each other.
Robert Donaldson
Rory Gallagher introduced me to this song 40 plus years ago. I'm just getting around to hear the original. Procrastination is my specialty
Paul Hezard
It's a very good version indeed, but Tony's blues is soooo funky!!
Simon Wyatt
Such a good track, thanks for sharing.
Shardash odysseo58
A Great Bluesman.....rip
Big Tex
Tony Joe's version all the way! Swamp funk baby!!
Thor Nil
As a Rory Gallagher fan I like this version. I did not feel people were putting down one version or the other. When someone plays a song that means he likes that song and the person who wrote it. It's like comparing Carol by Chuck Berry or the Stones. It makes no sense.
Jussi T
I don't think the reason why Rory covered this song was that he didn't like the original song. Just saying! He must've respected Tony Joe White so I don't get the hateful comments. Rory's version is very special to me, but I don't think it's even fair to compare the two songs because they are completely different. And I think that no matter how good a cover version of a song is, it wouldn't excist without the original song and that's good to remember.