Crossroads

[Johnny Robbo]

First of all, I'm not entirely sure that this is eligible for the Beatles Black Album Fest. I was halfway through recording it when I realised that it's not a Paul McCartney composition, just an arrangement he did of an existing tune, written by Tony Hatch. I'll leave it up to the powers that be to decide whether to include it in the fest or not

Anyhow... the tune: It's got nothing to do with Robert Johnson or any of that "crossroads" folklore. Those of us in the UK over a certain age will remember an early evening soap opera called Crossroads, about the everday lives of the staff in a fictional Birmingham motel. It was so bad... it was BRILLIANT! All wobbly scenery; overhead boom mics dipping into shot; actors quite obviously reading from cue cards & forgetting which camera they were supposed to be playing to... as I said, Brilliantly funny! It ran from 1964-88 and at some point in the '70s, they got Paul McCartney & Wings to do a "special arrangement" (as it was always listed in the credits) of the show's theme tune. This version of the tune was always used as the playout to emphasise a big cliffhanger.

Anyway, this is my arrangement of the Paul McCartney arrangement of the tune. Macca fans can find his version of it on the 1975 Wings album "Venus And Mars". It's only about a minute in length, so I added a solo in the middle & did some twin lead guitar to pad it out a bit.

As ever...

Cakewalk Studio Instruments – drums
ORGANised VST – Hammond
Ebay bass
Tele – rhythm guitars (double tracked)
Harley Benton LP copy – lead guitars

Oh... and here's the non-Macca version of the tune that was used whenever they didn't use his version.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHTIb4UjBo4

Thanks for listening

John.

[ODH]

Great playing, Johnny.  I sufficiently of a certain age to remember Crossroads, although I don't remember the Wings version of the theme.  Didn't realise it ran through to 1988, though.

[Pine]

Well that's quite a tune John...the lead guitar parts just absolutely SOAR eh?

Nice work on the drums too, as well as the Tele rhythm tracks. The organ was a cool touch as well.

Not familiar with the original, but i'm sure you've done it justice. You are a hell of a good guitarist.

Nice post JR!!

[bruno]

Listened to this earlier, I was expecting the clapton crossroads - I must admit I hated the soap! But I really, really enjoyed this version - great melodic playing, great style. Loved the twin guitar lines, really great.
B

[cuthbert]

I haven't heard this tune before, but I love the early-to-mid-70s feel that it has. Reminds me a bit of Badfinger, as well as something Wings might have done around that time. Really nice playing and harmonized leads on this, Johnny! Superb production as well.

Unfortunately, 'Crossroads Theme' isn't on the Beatles "Black Album" playlist (refer here for the list of eligible songs), and so cannot be added to the fest. But I encourage everybody to see if there's something in the remaining list of songs that they'd like to enter for the fest - there are still 40 songs remaining!

And as general note to all, the latest festival information can always be found on the Songcrafters.org board.

Thanks,
cuth

[Speed Demon]

Excellent guitar work. A pleasure to listen to. Quite melodic.

Well done!

[Groundy]

This takes me back John,
What a crap programme it used to be, it made Benidorm look good,
Having said that this music is fanbloodytastic,
Brilliant guitar work...
Well done John........



Alex

[Redler]

Stunning playing from the start to end and the double lead sounds amazing!

Well done, Johnny!

[Kenny B]

Dig this!!! Great playing and production.

[Jean Pierre]

all is perfect in this game...

magnifique