Rock & Roll 500: #20 Grand Funk Railroad – We’re An American Band
Mark Farner (of Grand Funk Railroad) performs at the Rock To The Rescue Concert to benefit the victims of 9/11 and the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame Children's Education Fund at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 10/20/02 Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images
Don Brewer talks about how the song came to be: “We were touring, supporting The Phoenix Album, we were going from town to town, there were lawsuits flying all over the place, it was a very tumultuous time period. I remember lots of discussions in the back of cars going, ‘What are we going to do next?’ Our manager kept saying, ‘Why don’t you just write songs about what you do: you’re out here on the road, you’re going to this hotel, you go to different places, there’s people, you come into town…’
So the thought came into my mind, ‘We’re coming to your town, we’ll help you party it down.’ That’s really what we were doing – we were coming into town and we were the party. That’s where the line came from, and the next thought I had was, ‘We’re an American band.’ It wasn’t to wave the flag or anything, it was just simply what we were. It was a true description and it kind of rolled off my mind. I went home and worked on the concept for a while and picked up a guitar; I’m not really a great guitar player, I can play tow-finger chords and that kind of stuff. I worked out the chord structure and I brought it in to rehearsal one day and there you go – we just let it go from there. It had a mind of its own.”
Listen to the “Rock & Roll 500”, this Memorial Day Weekend on 94.7. WCSX to hear this song and 499 others that have stood the test of time.
https://youtu.be/rwsgznR_T-g
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