{"id":9676,"date":"2026-03-24T11:37:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-making-of-frees-all-right-now-67207\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:37:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:37:33","slug":"the-making-of-frees-all-right-now-67207","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/the-making-of-frees-all-right-now-67207\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe were brothers, watching each other\u2019s back\u201d: The making of Free\u2019s \u201cAll Right Now\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Originally published in Uncut Take 114 [November 2006 issue], Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke celebrate their classic single…<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Originally published in Uncut Take 114 [November 2006 issue], Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke celebrate their classic single\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe chorus came from a really bad situation\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n

ANDY FRASER<\/strong> (Bassist\/co-songwriter)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conception of the song was when we were playing a small college date on a rainy Tuesday in some out-of-the-way place near Durham<\/strong>. There were only about 20 kids there, and they were all whacked out of their heads on Mandrax. We played, and apart from not even being noticed by the audience, we sucked. We were bad and when we came off stage, in the dressing room there was this awful silence. So I started singing, \u2018All right now, baby, all right now\u2019 and everyone started tapping along and singing, and it turned into bit of a jam, just getting rid of that horrible vibe, and we thought: \u2018OK tomorrow\u2019s another day.\u2019 That\u2019s where the chorus came from, a really bad situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guitar riff came another day, and it\u2019s me trying to impersonate Pete Townshend<\/strong>, who was, to me, the all-time greatest chord king. Of course, I couldn\u2019t play it as good as Pete! I think Paul [Rodgers] got the lyrics and the verse together pretty quick, waiting for the band to pick him up to go off for a gig. We started playing it in sound checks just to do something a bit different.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t think we\u2019d written a classic song at all, we just regarded it as a kind of throwaway three-chord trick. I thought we had a lot more mature songs, like \u2018Heavy Load<\/strong>\u2019, which was also on Fire And Water. It was Chris Blackwell, our manager, who wanted to put it out as a single. We didn\u2019t take him seriously and tried to suggest another one, but he was thick-headed, and proved himself right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song\u2019s now used everywhere! I think there\u2019s a football club over here, one of the big San Francisco football teams, that uses it as their theme song. It\u2019s always on adverts and on the radio. It\u2019s amazing but it\u2019s strange. I still can\u2019t quite take it seriously. I still see it as a three-chord trick with me pretending to a play guitar like Townshend, with some teenage lyrics\u2026 like it\u2019s not difficult to pull those things together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Free broke up, that was the hardest thing ever. Free to me, was a family. I mean, I loved my blood family but with the band we all felt, \u2018OK I\u2019ve found home.\u2019 We were brothers, watching each other\u2019s back, anticipating each other\u2019s thoughts, finishing each other\u2019s sentences; it was that kind of closeness. We tried to hold it together, but it wasn\u2019t there. It\u2019s such a sad story when you think about what it did to Paul Kossoff<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe song has a kind of universal simplicity\u201d<\/h2>\n

PAUL RODGERS<\/strong> (vocals\/co-songwriter)<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018All Right Now<\/strong>\u2019 came about after playing a gig up North. I said to the guys that we needed a song to follow \u2018The Hunter\u2019 which, at that time, was our biggest song \u2013 something with a chorus that the audience could sing. I said, \u2018Something like [sings] \u201cAll right now, baby!\u201d\u2019 and I picked up a guitar and showed them how simple it could be. Andy went away with that and came back with the first chords. I think Koss may have had some input, because he had an amazing finger stretch and he could hit some really big chords.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked on the lyrics as I was waiting for the guys to pick me up for a show and it didn\u2019t take long because sometimes, when the music\u2019s with you, it just flows right out. We played in a club that night, what we called two 45s, which was a 45-minute set, a break, and another 45-minute set. We opened the first set with the brand new, rough and ready \u2018All Right Now\u2019. There were only a few people there, but when we played the song, they all got up and started to dance, which was excellent. Then, when we came to the end of our second 45-minute set, I said to the audience: \u2018Do we have any requests?\u2019 A few people shouted out, \u2018Play that song you started with!\u2019 I thought that was pretty incredible, that they remembered it! So we played it again. I knew we had something special right then. We fine-tuned it a bit in the studio, but that\u2019s where it came from.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there was any doubt that the song was going to be a single. But one of the things we did hesitate about was playing the song on Top Of The Pops<\/strong>. We considered ourselves to be an underground band with lots of street credibility and now, all of a sudden, we were appearing on Top Of The Pops. What convinced us was the argument that we could reach a lot more people. That did it for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BBC<\/strong> were convinced that I had sung a rude word; \u2018Let\u2019s move before they raise the parking rate\u2019 \u2013 they thought I\u2019d said the \u2018effing rate\u2019. All the BBC team came down to the studio and we had to break down the track and take everything off until it was just the voice and we convinced them it was \u2018parking rate\u2019. The Musicians Union also got involved. They said everything had to be live when music was played on TV, so we took the vocal off, mixed the backing track, and I sang it live. That\u2019s why the vocal may be slightly different to the released version.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded the song downstairs at Basing Street\u2019s Island Studios<\/strong>, in the crypt. We\u2019d worked on the song live so we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve. I\u2019ve always looked at the blues guys and the soul guys who recorded their songs as if they were live and we wanted to put that kind of spark into the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we wrote it, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d still be playing it today. And for a long time, I didn\u2019t. Finally, in 1993 I was touring a tribute album I\u2019d made to Muddy Waters with Jason Bonham and a couple of other guys and people in the crowd started calling for \u2018All Right Now\u2019. Jason behind me kept saying, \u2018Let\u2019s do it!\u2019. I was standing on the stage, the band were calling for \u2018All Right Now\u2019, the audience were calling for \u2018All Right Now\u2019 and we just did it\u2026 tore the place apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song has a kind of universal simplicity. That\u2019s what I was looking for when I wrote the chorus. I wish I could do it again! Songs do write themselves through you; I know people find it hard to believe, but it\u2019s true. I still enjoy playing it and get a kick, because the energy of the audience is fresh every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"All
All Right Now sleeve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA little number born in a sweaty dressing room in Durham\u201d<\/h2>\n

SIMON KIRKE<\/strong> (drums)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not getting into whether it was Andy or Paul who came up with the words \u2018All right now\u2019, but it was in that dressing room in Durham in 1969 that the song was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recording was pretty straightforward. It was done at Island Records in Basing Street. We played the song about a dozen times, including false starts and stops half-way through. I can\u2019t remember which take was used, and then Koss went out and put that sublime solo on it \u2013 we were all in the control room cheering him on as it kept climbing towards the roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of his finest moments and one of the all-time great guitar solos. Paul Rodgers<\/strong> had done his vocal by then and after Koss we all got a round a couple of mics with percussion. As a final touch, right at the end, me and Andy got on our knees and thumped out octave A\u2019s on the foot pedals of a Hammond organ. You can here them on the last chorus of the album version.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Chris Blackwell<\/strong> came in and heard it for the first time he had a broad grin on his face and said, \u2018This is a hit.\u2019 My stomach did a somersault when I heard that, \u2019cos Chris was never wrong. We were resistant to his suggestion for an edit, though. It was our baby and suddenly he wanted to lop a piece out of it. We said, \u2018No way\u2019 and he said, \u2018Well then, the only station that will play it is Radio Luxembourg and the pirate stations anchored off England. The BBC wont touch it as it clocks in at over five minutes.\u2019 He convinced us to do the edit after reassuring us that the whole song could be on the Fire And Water<\/strong> album, like a bonus track. He was a smooth talker, old CB\u2026 they didn\u2019t call him the baby-faced killer for nothing!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we recorded \u2018All Right Now\u2019 we had no idea it would become this iconic piece of music. We just wanted something people could dance to. It was a happy song. What stood out for me more than anything was Koss\u2019s solo and the energy we created\u2026 just listen to the last verse on the album version for verification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song stands alongside songs like \u2018Stairway To Heaven<\/strong>\u2019, \u2018Honky Tonk Woman\u2019, \u2018Smoke On The Water\u2019, \u2018My Generation\u2019, \u2018The Wall\u2019\u2026 all those songs that you remember where you were when you first heard them \u2013 a little number born in a sweaty dressing room in Durham.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post \u201cWe were brothers, watching each other\u2019s back\u201d: The making of Free\u2019s \u201cAll Right Now\u201d<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Uncut Take 114 [November 2006 issue], Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke celebrate their classic single… Originally published in Uncut Take 114 [November 2006 issue], Paul…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5714,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-free","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}