1

I knew it had to be a true story.

So what I like to do is choose a song in Spotify, and then see what the algorithm serves me thereafter. Oftentimes I don’t even listen to what is purveyed, I just want to see what the service comes up with. And I can’t remember what song I started with yesterday, but about twenty five songs in, it served me “I Love You” by the Climax Blues Band.

What do I know about the Climax Blues Band? For a while there, they were managed by Miles Copeland, and they had two hits, “Couldn’t Get It Right” and “I Love You.” Other than that…I never bought an album and I don’t remember hearing them on the radio. But those two tracks…

Came deep in the band’s career.

And the band were on a slew of labels. They were journeymen, akin to Savoy Brown. But unlike Savoy Brown, Climax Blues Band had two hits. And neither of them sounded like the blues. “Couldn’t Get It Right” was a staple on FM radio in the late seventies. The change into the chorus…

“And I kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night

But I couldn’t see the light, no, I couldn’t see the light

I kept on looking for a way to take me through the night

Couldn’t get it right, I couldn’t get it right”

I won’t quite say the chorus was sotto voce… But the verse is almost a march, as in the band is strutting down the road, and the chorus is almost an aside, and that’s what makes it magical.

But “I Love You”…

It broke up the band.

2

“When I was younger, man

I hadn’t a care

Fooling around

Hitting the town

Growing my hair”

There’s a soft intro, and then the singer stands up naked, right out front, and sings these words. He’s testifying and he’s not worried about how he looks, what anybody cares, he’s delivering it from the heart. The instrumentation drops out almost entirely, all you’ve got is the words and the message.

As for the message…

Today it’s different. People consider college to be a trade school. They’re on a career path from puberty. But in the sixties and seventies…

Of course not everybody went to college. But those who did and did not had the same experience of being out of school, getting high, getting drunk, trying to find out who they were. That was part of life, you weren’t building a résumé, you were feeling it out, changing it up, meeting new people, discarding others.

“You came along

And stole my heart

When you entered my life

Ooh, babe

You got what it takes

So I made you my wife”

This was when you still were optimistic, when you still had hope. At least we did, I’m not so sure about the younger generations today. You were looking for love, and when you found it it seemed like a revelation, it got you high, you were elated. You’d had a few misfires, but this one was gonna last, for a while anyway.

“Since then

I never looked back

It’s almost like living a dream

And, ooh

I love you”

They’re in it together, it’s him and her against the world.

“You came along

From far away

And found me here”

I know, I know, there are people who meet their significant other in nursery school, never mind college. But back when life was fluid, when you got in your car and parked your ass in a new location…you never quite knew who you were going to run into. It seemed like pure luck that you ran into this person. There was no connection other than you were both at the bar at the same time, or you had mutual friends.

“I was playing around

Feeling down

Hitting the beer

You picked me up

From off the floor

And gave me a smile”

Wives and girlfriends don’t get enough credit. It might be their husband, their significant other’s name in lights, but without their support, and oftentimes their direction, their man would fall apart, not even make it. This is in all walks of life, but especially with musicians, certainly successful ones. They’re the other, they need someone to root them and then connect them to society.

“You said

You’re much too young

Your life ain’t begun

Let’s walk for a while

Wait a second, in an earlier verse it seems like they got married right away. But here we hear that she put on the brakes, slowed him down, told him she wanted to be together for a while and see what happened.

But he was in from hello.

“And as my head was spinning ’round

I gazed into your eyes

And thought, ooh

I want you”

And here comes the essence, the piece-de-resistance.

“Thank you, babe

For being a friend

And shining your light in my life

‘Cause, ooh

I need you”

And he most certainly does. She energizes him, gives him direction…and he knows it, he knows her value to him.

“Thanks again for being my friend

And straightening out my life

‘Cause, ooh

I need you”

That’s what she did. She picked him up out of the slow lane, if not quite the gutter, then gave him direction and support.

And, once again, he knows it, and he wants her to know it.

“Since then I never looked back

It’s almost like livin’ a dream

Ooh

I got you

“If ever a man had it all

It would have to be me

And, ooh

I love you”

3

Now the average guy can’t be soft and sensitive, open-hearted, especially if he’s in a driving rock band, where this is anathema. Rock was all about machismo, tight pants showing your package. Sure, there were singer-songwriters, oftentimes considered wimpy, irrelevant of their talent, but even the Climax Blues Band had an element of cock rock. So… “I Love You” was totally out of character. But it was so honest and direct, simple. And there were touches…two guys or girls in a room couldn’t come up with some of these lines. Because this guy lived it, and it’s straight from the heart.

So I decided to Google and find out the real story, if it was a true story.

AND OF COURSE IT WAS!

What came up instantly was it was about Derek Holt’s FIRST WIFE!

That cracked me up, that they didn’t stay together. Back in our era, very few people did. As time went on there was distance, or too much anger, or third parties…and what seemed like forever turned out not to be. But when you stood up in front of your friends and family and said your vows, you thought it was.

Yup, Holt was inspired. The song came out almost instantly. I know, I know, some of the greatest songs are belabored, but so many of the great ones come in a flash, a lightning bolt from the heavens. You’re almost channeling them.

So…

The rest of the guys in the group HATED IT! Didn’t want to record it, never mind put it on their album, but producer John Ryan heard something and…

He called a session with Nicky Hopkins! John Cuffley, the band’s drummer, performed, and Holt, the singer, who was normally not, called in group member Pete Haycock to play the solo and…

Ryan thought the song needed strings. STRINGS??? That takes you right into wimpydom, the antithesis of the Climax Blues Band. And who does he call? DAVID CAMPBELL! Who’s got a list of credits a mile long, check them out in Wikipedia: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Campbell_(composer)

He’s worked with a who’s who of rockers, from the Stones to Metallica to even Garth Brooks, who’s got roots in rock, he credits his inspiration to KISS. And Campbell has arranged and orchestrated music for “Dreamgirls” and “Brokeback Mountain” and…

So it’s a veritable dream team…who knew Hopkins and Campbell were involved? There was no internet all those years ago.

And when Warner Bros. heard the result…they knew they had a smash!

4

Which it was. But the rest of the band STILL HATED IT!

They never ever played it live.

Ultimately the band ruptured as a result of this song, Derek Holt was excised from the band. The only time “I Love You” was ever performed live was…when Holt was at a karaoke bar in Florida in 2005.

And the well went even deeper.

For a long time, the Climax Blues Band’s albums were out of print.

And there is still a Climax Blues Band on the road, but there are no original members!

Now if that ain’t a rock and roll story…

Everybody alive back in 1980 knows this song. But almost no one can name the players in the band, never mind the writer. To the point where they can put a fake group on the road and get away with it.

As for the original players… They run out of juice, it’s hard enough if you’re a superstar, it’s a slog out there on the road, with guys you may know since you were a teenager, who you may hate these days.

Derek Holt? I hope he owns the publishing, but I doubt it. At best he probably gets the writer’s share. You had to pay to play back then. But maybe Holt’s got it, maybe he even got it in a reversion. I want to believe that.

As for the song, it’s been covered a number of times, it lives on.

So, you can see it as a schmaltzy number, with “moon in June” lyrics, that appeals to women and others with soft insides…but that’s not the real story. “I Love You” came straight from Derek Holt’s heart, he meant every word. And you can hear it in the record, which is why it’s so great, because it’s TRUE!

Coda: The essence, the reason for this song, for Holt’s bond to his wife, is she SUPPORTED HIM, told him NOT TO GIVE UP! If you haven’t thought of giving up, you’re not a real artist. The life is so hard and you get wrapped up in your own mind and what you need is direction and support, and it’s not that easy to find, the world is full of naysayers. But when you find it…