Lucky Man Emerson Lake and Palmer Cover

LUCKY MAN ELP's biggest hit was almost never recorded. Here's the story behind the hit. It was the summer of 1970 and ELP were recording what was to be their debut album. The band had been booked in a studio and was finishing up the album before starting a series of gigs, including the historical appearance at England's Isle of Wight Festival.

The band was brand new, and it had just begun writing and recording material for the first album. One of the executives from the band's record company decided to drop in the studio and see how the LP was wrapping up. It was discovered that the band didn't have enough material for the album.

" The story behind 'Lucky Man' is interesting," says Lake. " I actually wrote the song when I was 12 years old! We had just finished recording the first album and we had like, one day left in the studio. And back in those days you needed 21 minutes per side, because we were recording for vinyl records. And we were three minutes short on one side.

" And the record company listened to the record and said: 'Hey, you need another three minutes; you'll have to record another song.' But we didn't have any more songs because we were a brand new group. So, we all looked at each other and these vacant stares went around the room. I asked Keith and Carl if they had anything else, and both of them said no.

" So I said, 'Hey, I've got this little folk song that I wrote when I was 12 years old.' And so I pulled out my acoustic guitar and I started playing 'Lucky Man'. And, of course, everyone looked back at me as if to say, 'What is the matter with him?' Because, up to this point, ELP hadn't done anything that sounded like this; we were all about this powerful progressive rock music we had been playing. " But, we decided to try it anyway. So, we started out recording the song with just Carl and me on acoustic guitar and drums, and it sounded pretty dreadful. I added the bass guitar, and it sounded a little bit better. Then, we added the vocals and it started to sound OK. "

Eventually it was time to put down Emerson's part. " They were playing the song in the studio," says Emerson. " and I started folloing around. I did a run through, a rehearsal of my solo. And I looked up at Greg in the control room, and I said, ' OK, let's take it...' And he looked at me and said, ' Take it? That was great. We've got it!'

" I didn't realize it at the time, but Greg had let the tape roll and they recorded my run through. As it turned out, that was the one we kept."

" Keith came in and started fooling around with the MOOG," adds Lake. " He came up with that famous MOOG line in the song. And finally, we had the song as you know it.

" And, I guess, as time went on, it became pretty popular."
From Behind The Scenes

This song was recorded on the first take.

He had white Horses
And ladies by the score
All dressed in satin
And waiting by the door

Ooooh, what a lucky man he was
Ooooh, what a lucky man he was

White lace and feathers
They made up his bed
A gold covered mattress
On which he was laid

Ooooh, what a lucky man he was
Ooooh, what a lucky man he was

He went to fight wars
For his country and his king
Of his honor and his glory
The people would sing

Ooooh, what a lucky man he was
Ooooh, what a lucky man he was

A bullet had found him
His blood ran as he cried
No money could save him
So he laid down and he died

Ooooh, what a lucky man he was
Ooooh, what a lucky man he was

Category:

Music

Tags:

• emerson
• lake
• and
• palmer
• lucky
• man
• harvestmoon713
• acoustic
• keith
• carl
• greg
• elp

[doofus0123]

excellent! I really like the music trivia bits in the description too! thanks for taking the time.

[HarvestMoon713]

Thanks a lot for saying that, it is really funny that this was ELP's biggest hit and it was all by chance that it occurred :o)

[jahosaps]

Hey man, you sing very well!!! Best regards of an ELP fan from Argentina!

[HarvestMoon713]

Thanks that is nice of you to say :o)

[gryps77]

great song great sung!

[HarvestMoon713]

Thank you very much for your kind comment :o)

[rock2756]

Great cover version and thanks for the background info.Pretty cool!

-kevin

[MCverita]

its just like ur related to Greg Lake... didnt knew i can find such a great cover almost the same as the original... u just need to practice on the uuu what a lucky man he was... u need to put more feeling into it :D i like it so much keep up the good work, regards Kazimir

[MastoKoon123]

wow, your voice just fits so perfectly, great cover good sir

[SouthernWhiteWolf]

CONGRATULATIONS, SIR! VERY SENSITIVE PERFORMANCE...IT MADE ME CRY, AND I´M NOT LYING...

CHEERS!

[tenaciousharmonizer]

mooog synthesizer the 1st synthesizer of all time, what a cool addition it was to the song.

[tenaciousharmonizer]

thanks for helping an amazingly cool song stay alive and sounds great man!

[tenaciousharmonizer]

hey pretty darned good ,what a lost golden oldie cool song, i thought it was moody blues for the longest time, Robert palmer , and crew WHO KNEW!

[hammondplayer91]

not bad guy! You could learn to sing the high passage with the normal voice (don't know how to say it in English^^), not with the head-voice...but I know how hard that is...keep on rockin'

[Svm777]

I didn't know Emilio Estevez played guitar ! lol

Nice work man !

[richardedavies]

nicely done. could use a little more work but still a nice job