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WCSX Classic Cuts : Rocky Mountain Way

WCSX Classic Cuts Joe Walsh: Rocky Mountain Way Hook: Hey, what’s that wild wah-wah sound? Released: 1973 Album: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get Writers: Rocke Grace, Kenny…

Joe Walsh onstage

NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 09: Joe Walsh performs onstage during “Love Rocks NYC! A Change is Gonna Come: Celebrating Songs of Peace, Love and Hope” A Benefit Concert for God’s Love We Deliver at Beacon Theatre on March 9, 2017 in New York City.

Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

WCSX Classic Cuts

Joe Walsh: Rocky Mountain Way

Hook: Hey, what's that wild wah-wah sound?

Released: 1973

Album: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get

Writers: Rocke Grace, Kenny Passarelli, Joe Vitale and Joe Walsh

Stats: "Rocky Mountain Way" was Joe Walsh's first Top 40 hit, reaching number-23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song propelled The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get into the Top 10, where it peaked at number-six.

Background: "Rocky Mountain Way" was the track that truly launched Joe Walsh's solo career after he'd left The James Gang. It was one of the first hits to feature the talk box, which Peter Frampton made famous on Frampton Comes Alive three years later. "Rocky Mountain Way" owes a nod to Sly and the Family Stone's 1969 song "Sex Machine," as both songs have similar solos and the use of the talk box.

Under the Covers: Triumph and Ozzy Osbourne have covered "Rocky Mountain Way."

Joe Walsh on why musicians need good sound systems in their cars. OC:...my car. [laughs.] :17