Average White Band

"Wasn't I Your Friend" written by Larry John McNally

Average White Band

"Wasn't I your friend, didn’t we face the good and bad together, when you were a friend of mine…”

So cool to hear Average White Band singing my song. My version appeared on my debut Columbia album, one of my groove songs as opposed to my Irish poet songs that came later.

They were a group of Scottish guys playing straight-up old-school RnB with no apologies. Here's one of my favorite songs of theirs, "Schoolboy Crush":

Hamish Stuart, the lead singer, became a friend of mine before he moved back to the UK to tour in Paul McCartney's band. When AWB was at its peak, they were kings in New York City. They played on many New York recording sessions, and were living the high life with Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records bon vivant. How fickle fame and fortune can be. The hits stopped coming, and the band disintegrated.

I had a girlfriend who was in radio promotion. That was where I lost my innocence. I naively thought that radio stations plowed through every album release, and chose the songs they loved, to play on the radio. Have you heard of payola? It was and may still be, a very organized system. No record got played in Philadelphia if it didn't go through Fred DeSipio. Station managers at radio stations in cities as small as Bangor, Maine enjoyed trips to Hawaii and more, from being "friends" with the record promotion people. Still, there are artists like Bonnie Raitt who had built a huge fan base from their live shows, making them less dependent on hit radio. Certainly, there have been great top 40 radio hits that have been the soundtrack of our lives, but also great album cuts, for example, John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery", also part of the soundtrack.

For some, songs may just be a sort of background noise that helps mitigate the stress and isolation of day to day life. Some people sleep with the TV on all night for some kind of creature comfort. For others, music is a very personal choice, a way to help navigate the joys and sorrows of our lives. When I'm listening to vinyl at home I'll often pick up the needle and play the song over and over again, until it sinks in. There is a McNally Waters song on Spotify called "Hey Romeo" where I discuss this.

I wish Average White Band had continued making records, whether they were having hits or not. Of course, there may have been other reasons why the band called it quits. I like artists that keep creating no matter what, because they want to, or even have to. Bob Dylan, and my heroes Mose Allison and Allen Toussaint kept touring and making records until they died, Bob Dylan still with us thank God.

I've never enjoyed writing, performing, and recording, more than I do now. Toussaint played a show in Madrid, went back to his hotel room, went to sleep and that was it. That is my preferred method of exiting this world, while secretly hoping that I'll live forever. Short of that, I hope my songs go on living long after my departure.