Your Saving Grace-Steve Miller Band

[Okpolosi]

LOVE old SMB but diggin on his shift back to blues on "Bingo" I think Satch is on a couple.

[probrojeffro]

Great tune. 

[RojotheRed]

This song was simply, ahead of it's time. Very uplifting and spiritual. The modulated Back-up vocals @ the middle eight, are recorded perfectly. So trippy, that I truly get lost in it. This is the stuff that won-over a generation of music lovers. It was Disco that kicked Steve in the teeth. And the result was Steve Miller "pop", instead of this. But he pulled it off. Jet Airliner soured over top of Disco, and landed @ Abracadabra.

[LanceHelmut]

all pre-joker s. miller is brilliant ! great post..

[rockman1959]

Released in November 1969 not March 1970

[ezramead]

great bass on this song, possibly underrated, as so many things are possible, ha ha

[1jmp1958]

TIm Davis - Great. I've been listening to this song for 40 efin years and did not know this. Thanks Dude. jmp

[Padabig60]

His vocals are not like this on any other track, because this is TIM Davis singing, the guy who also wrote the song.

[sianlovescats]

Is Tim Davis singing here?

[recordguy4321]

@sianlovescats Yes

[sianlovescats]

@recordguy4321 Thanks, RG.

[mississippisheik1]

What was amazing about this song, Space Cowboy and the rest, they all sounded really perfect for when we got stoned...especially this one. I was at a party in Pacific Beach in San Diego and flipped this platter on with everyone passing the doobies and they all commented how great it sounded...it was really awesome on a Pioneer Reel-to-Reel 4-Track run through Sansui Quadrosonic

[mlrobinson1953]

@mississippisheik1 Those were the good ol' days. First heard this tune in San Diego in 1973-74 (memory fade). May have been under the influence at the time (?). This is some of Steve Miller's best, as far as I'm concerned.

[palehorseone]

First time I heard it the DJ did not identify it. Still I loved it! Drove me nuts trying to find out who it was. I was absolutely convinced it was Traffic, or at least solo Steve Winwood. That it's Steve Miller blew me away. It's an amazing song.

[bluejay4480]

one big a big fan of both ....winood his own voice to fool you hend like a man a female a dog or a cat or a bat... winwood was amazing... try looking up spencer davis... nobody loves you when your down and out

[hoghash78]

Shouldv´e been in GTA 4. Right after "Cocaine" by Steve Marriott.

[hoghash78]

Shouldv´e been in GTA 4.

[hoghash78]

The first time I heard this was in 96 I think, I was 18 and my dad kicked my ass again so I left.

I was working a shit job just made enough for a motel room.

Then I met a girl and we fell in love. I especially remember listening to this on my walkman while waiting for her to pick me up late at night in the parking lot at work.

When he says"Tommorows come a long long way to help you"

I always felt that special feeling.

[dukeford]

The baritone backup singer was probably the producer of the record, Glyn Johns.

[MrAndreFritz]

eu adoro steve miler no Brasil muita gente curte

[imajeepster]

anyone know who was the backup vocalist?

[frankieharris1]

@imajeepster

I would like to know, did u find out?

[imajeepster]

@frankieharris1 no i never did...

[leotimpano]

This awesome song is sung by the drummer and writer of this great tune...Tim Davis....Get your saving grace......Thanks so much.......

[28zebra]

Remember listening to this under the headphones back in the 70's. Just floating away ..........

[Overeezee1]

tasty tasty stuff. thanks for posting....

[slyflight]

Wow! I haven't heard this since…since…Well, for a long-long time!

Thanks for a trip in the way-back machine!!!

[jominguex]

reminds of a Dave Mason influence.....great song regardless

[genebh1]

the spoken stuff sounds like Jimi Hendrix

[parablearable]

I always loved these lyrics but I did not know why exactly.No doubt anymore.

[delta9779]

Good Stuff makes you remember what we were part of back then and now its just a memory that lives in these songs and in us. Thanks for the post great song

[flathead59]

Very cool song, got sort of a Hendrix feel to it...

[HippieJimi]

@flathead59 I always thought that also....sounding like Jimi Hendrix...

[fireblossom2u]

Written and sung by Tim Davis

[forty911]

Who is the child sung about in this song? I'm sure that he is not the Lamb. But is one of us right now. Miller says he found a new way in Space Cowboy. It don't matter if he wrote all of that or not.

[giorgosdimitriadis]

What a cool tune that is!!!!

[steviegofcali7]

just down the street from me Steve Miller Blues Band performed at Winterland !!

[tsunamitonomundo]

Nicky Hopkins, on keyboards, worked with Winwood/Capaldi. He also does a monster track -piano solo- on a Quicksilver (Messenger Service) album

[dickdeluxe]

The vocal is not by Steve Miller -it is the work of the songwriter drummer/vocalist Tim Davis who co-founded the band and died in 1988 from diabetes. This was how he always sung so I don't think it was an attempt to cop Traffic per se altho the organ stuff is Winwood like.....

[jbgild]

The song was written by Tim Davies and he sings the lead vocals on this

[ledgendaryhfxgennyop]

Was just thinking the same..... Dave Mason. I know, Tm Davis, but yeah, sure has a similar sound.

Had Anthology in daily rotation around '74/75 Cover to cover ....loved it!

[MrFredfarkle]

There is a vaguely Jim Capaldi-like swing to this selection, to be sure. Excellent vocals from Steve MIller!

[RooForce]

"Rise up with the new dawn's early morning

Feel the sunshine warm upon your face

Tomorrow's come a long, long way to help you

Yes, it's your saving grace."

Great stuff. Thanks SMB. Thanks radiovixen.

[dennycrook36]

i love this song so much!!!I want it played at my funeral as my way of saying goodbye hopefully that doesnt happen for many years thou :)

[goo2u]

in that one poster with SMB, Chuck Berry, I noticed "Kensington Market" - great band from around '67 - Toronto band - along with Ugly Ducklings, Edward Bear/ Great era - coffee house in Yorkville where LIghtfoot, Jonie Mitchell, Neil Young, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, and others played

[electricrevelations]

just to correct from 0:22-0:26 : this song was steve-guitar, spoken interlude tim davis-drums/percussion, vocals

lonnie turner-bass

nicky hopkins-keys

[Belit01]

Love this tune, have always enjoyed it, never played enuf on radio back-in-the-day...

[45fozzer]

Much love and peace to you parablearable.

[parablearable]

Talk about a heavy back beat! Sweat Jesus Lord have mercy! Oh so fine! Beautiful in the start,the middle and end.Empowering and invested by the highest aspirations of any artist for a compassionate humanity.

[MrDollaBill64]

@parablearable wow i feel that too

[mtopper66]

Certainly one of the best and most song-oriented of the San Francisco bands. They used the studio very well, too--"Sailor" and "No.5" are masterpieces, and "Your Saving Grace" isn't far behind. Glyn Johns probably had a lot to do with how well-recorded their albums were. Only the Airplane were better, as SF acts went.

[roadrunner19491]

the song setting room is on saving grace too very good song

[nomiclas]

i get the connection to traffic but steve miller was just eclectic not a plagerist.i have many of his incarnations over the years.this is one of my favs.

[heidikae87]

All time favorite...

[bipbop13]

This is Tim Davis singing, Not Steve. Stevie Has the harmonies on this one, and the talking part at 1:48

[rickywarner49]

Steve Miller was his own guy. Stevie Winwood also great (wrote his version of I'm a man at age 16). There are slower parts of this that around 2:00 into video where he does a sort of thing I'd never heard him do. Steve Miller didn't need to copy anybody.

[MegaSweetd1]

Good call OBR, definitely Stevie W.ish.

[OneBigRetard]

Anyone else get the Steve Winwood impression here? Love this song, rate Steve Miller. I do think this is a Traffic influenced piece however.

I don't think his vocals are like this on any other track.

[katy1957]

totally agree.

[fezzappa]

i here a slight similarity in certain spots of the song,but who knows- both huge talents on their own-

[electricrevelations]

it was tim davies who wrote and sung this song

[MrDollaBill64]

@electricrevelations yes spencer davis group  steve winwood

[TheJonnyc1]

@OneBigRetard that's the drummer singing lead

[OneBigRetard]

@TheJonnyc1

Ah ha. That would explain it! Thanks. I didn't know that. Still sounds like a traffic impression though! Love this track.

[fireblossom2u]

@OneBigRetard Well a Hammond B3 in a laid back rock setting will bring back memories. I have never been reminded of Steve Winwood listening to this however..I believe it was written by Ben Sidron and that's him on the lead vocal.

[DonARen1950]

@fireblossom2u : That was drummer Tim Davis singing lead--his lyrics, too. Davis's song got the album title--a show of Miller's unselfishness. Miller has the psychedelic interlude in the middle. Davis sadly died of complications of diabetes many years ago. I don't think Miller ever found another drummer with that same funky style.

[muttville1]

@OneBigRetard Tim Davis is on vocals that's why, also this was released in late 69'

[ufofan1980]

@OneBigRetard Tim Davis did the singing on this one. This wasn't the only one he sang on I believe. 

[myway43]

@OneBigRetard Same thing I thought. Definately a Traffic influenced tune

[nitedreamer23]

@OneBigRetard Agreed.  Though sounds like it could be on a Dave Mason solo album, as well.

[Msdistarr]

@nitedreamer23 Your right. I think it's more Traffic's style but after reading your comment, I definitely picked up on the Dave Mason comparison, up until the speaking portion. I was lucky enough to have seen both Steve Miller and Dave Mason back in the mid '70's. Musically speaking, I couldn't have picked a better time to be born -1960. I was witness to the creation of the of this great music and just old enough to appreciate it.

[jaundicedi]

@OneBigRetard Reminds me of Winwood a lot. Like traffic organ on a Spencer Davis era song.

[kmcx8]

@OneBigRetard - excellent point. I definitely hear it both in the singing and the musical style.

[ufofan1980]

@OneBigRetard It is the late great drummer Tim Davis singing, he was a founding member of SMB. He sang on many other early Steve Miller Band songs also.

[OneBigRetard]

@ufofan1980

Thank you.

I posted that two years ago and am informed of this news every couple of months!!

[probrojeffro]

@OneBigRetard Traffic, true. I hear a little Jimmy too during the rap.

[HuckToohey]

Along with The Gangster's Back, my favorite Steve Miller song. A rare jewel. Perfect.

[roadrunner19491]

Do you know the song Sitting Room?

[kakemuchie]

Tim Davis ,,,,, awesome, this composition, harmonies,dam!!!!

No need over intelectualize, it's pure feeling. good feeling stuff.

[Thaepae]

thanks to people like radiovixen we old guys can all have and enjoy our nostalgic memories, or am i wrong ?

[Melancholical]

one of the greatest songs ever! really beautiful and warm

[nwannal]

HEY! nice video, thanks.

[lordritchie]

That's the great Tim Davis original drummer on lead vocals.

[KowKowCalqulator]

I'm sure you think you know the Scriptures; but I doubt it with ranting like this. I can tell there is no point talking to you. So why bother. John 14:6 is true; but you...are just a messed up wanna be prophet.

[KowKowCalqulator]

Forty911.You are just plain stupid. You have no idea what was in Miller's mind in regards to that song. You don't see things as they are You see them as YOU are. That's what You want to say all this about.

[vradiohd]

Ordinary love is selfish, darkly rooted in desires and satisfactions. Divine love is without condition, without boundary, without change. The flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch of pure love.

- Paramhansa Yogananda

[NetworkES335]

Timeless!

[forty911]

No Steve Miller found a new way in space cowboy which is about it all happening in the flesh this time too. Its what the stars and hosts getting dragged out on heaven and trampled in Daniel 8:9-14 is about.

And John Lennon was one of the olive branches of Rev 11. and Lennon's death is how the days were shortened.

[serpentineflame]

The fruits of Christianity were religious wars, butcheries, crusades, inquisitions, extermination of the natives of America and the introduction of African slaves in their place

[forty911]

It don't mean Miller did not find a New Way in Space Cow boy and this song.

He did!

[forty911]

He found Steve Miller a new way which was written about but the powers of the church or govt. have yet to understand.

When it is understood it will be a piece of cake to get to peace.

[serpentineflame]

Let's hope so.

[forty911]

Oh I did not mean to imply that the Church has spread true Christianity any where. If it was the true stuff, that the powers that be trample on people with, "they" would not have killed so many in his name.

[longtimin]

You need to wake up in a bad way, twisted and lost...

[mrbag60]

For those who associate Steve with the Joker and his late 70's albums check out the first five Steve Miller albums; you won't be disappointed.

They are:

Children of the Future (1968)

Sailor (1968)

Brave New World (1969)

Your Saving Grace (1969)

Number 5 (1970)

[ZEBRA2828]

@mrbag60 The Miller albums you listed are my absolute favorites. Stevie Guitar Miller was WAY ahead of his time

[forty911]

The child is Michael of Daniel 12:1 and Revelation 12.

[serpentineflame]

What? If he used the bible as inspiration for this song it was probably to roll a joint with. The stanza is authentic and rests on no doctrine.

[forty911]

Steve Miller found a knew way which is in Daniel 8:9-14 where stars and hosts were dragged out of heaven and trampled. Jacob's Ladder expalin it by him seeing angels come up and down a ladder.

[Dadoodoo71]

Of the SMB songs this is my favorite. Best Album he did was hands down, "Journey East from Eden" One of the best performers around, still.

[carlannorma06]

I agree......Number 5 is Steve Miller at his best!!!

[littletimone]

I think that's Steve. Oh my God .FLASHBACK!! The first time I ever dropped someone (deliberately) put this on very LOUD . I was totally F'd up and when he started talking in the middle I began laughing so hard I very nearly messed on myself.

[littletimone]

You are right. Indeed that is Tim Davis on the vocal and Steve speakspeakspeakspeaks.

[waterburger102190]

who is on lead vocal

[seegold2]

The lead singer is Tim Davis, the drummer, who also sang Fannie Mae and Junior Saw it Happen on Children of the Future, Can you Hear your Daddy's Heartbeat on Brave New World and Tokin's and Hot Chili on #5. Sadly, he passed away after doing a couple or so solo albums, one called "Pipe Dreams".

[waterburger102190]

sir I am a little late but thank you because i always had trouble differentiating Boz and Tim, I am very saddned if that news about his death is true. what is your source?

[seegold2]

Hi waterburger,

I read it in the Steve Miller Band Box Set notes. It's Steve talking about each song. Under "Out of the Night" (from Italian X-Rays, 1984) Steve writes: "This is the last song I wrote with Tim Davis. Tim was dying at the time from diabetes and it had taken a terrible toll on him. But he never lost his good humor...When Tim Davis passed out of the light into the darkness, he took the heart of the first Steve Miller Band with him. But he left me with a deep sense of love...

[seegold2]

and joy in my heart for having known him and having spent as much time together as we did. I still feel his presence and influence when I'm working on new music." How's that for a heartfelt response?

[waterburger102190]

thanks again for the info man

[forty911]

oh I think its Michael of Revelation 12 who will arise in Daniel 12:1. That is what the New Way was that Miller found in Space Cowboy, which he could not explain in YSG.

[danzbmw]

I'm thinking I saw SMBB at the Northern California Folf rock festival.#1 67? 68?

'Children of the future'

Danny C

SAN DIEGO

[forty911]

Who is the child he is singing about? Maybe the most important question you may answer this Century.

[upabittoolate]

the 1 inside all of us. remaining connected (by not necessarily attached) to ourselves & each other is your saving grace. i probably sound sappy but that's my interpretation

[buenoverde]

I heard this song on th radio a few days ago, I thought it was done by Dave Mason. very cool vibe w/ the keyboards, thx for posting!

[BiggerBaby22]

Fantastic! Thanks

[marcialeer]

cool tune

[faroutlindsey]

Favorite Miller song! THANKS FOR!

[LeoDaileyPoet]

Lord Byron, you've got quite a vintage collection of Fillmore West posters. My brother Martin used to have a great collection but most went up in flames in a house fire in the 80s.

[LeoDaileyPoet]

I saw 'em twice in concert in the SF Bay Area around the mid-70s. Great performers, great concerts.

[SLUMBERSZZ]

great job l/byron 5big*****

[SherifG1]

This is so very cool thanx for iminto60sstuff for sharing

[tonnyosmond]

a great song .

[cherrialbum]

Cool tune!!

5*****

[kahaumi]

I have the album. To me, I consider it Miller's best work. Motherless Children still blows me away. This album, and the Paul Butterfield Blues "In My Own Dream" are equivalent. Both reveal artist moving in a different direction. I wish Miller would have continued to explore whatever it was he found on this album.

[zxcv1234vcxz]

Nearly every Steve Miller album before "Rock Love" was good, though my personal favourite album is "Number 5".

Whereas every song on "Rock Love" was a piece of complete crap, every song on "Number 5" is a winner. "5" is arguably Miller's most complete and consistent album, excepting "Fly Like An Eagle".

[halls4uall]

That album is hard to find.

[wormpiano]

tha best. thanks for posting.

[ckchrispy]

THIS SONG ROCKS

[ckchrispy]

this song rocks!!!

[mikal9000]

So many of Steve Miller's songs remind me of someone else (ex: "Space Cowboy," which sounds like the Yardbirds). This one could have been written and performed by Traffic. It's one of his best tunes, IMHO. Thanks for posting it.

[openroad88]

This is probably in my top 5 of Steve Miller songs..and it was actually written and sang by Tim Davis..Miller's drummer at the time. So smooth!

[CleRoyster]

I bought a Tim Davis album in 1972. Does anyone know what happened to him?

[breadman1954]

My favorite steve miller song, gives me goose bumps everytime i hear it, thanks

[IdaGno]

HOT DAM! About time! TYVM!