The Big Mo Blues Show was really interesting last night. I’m just going to highlight a number done by John Hiatt called “Riding with the King.” The lore about this that I picked up from the internet is that Hiatt originally wrote and sang the song for the 1983 album Riding with the King. It was a tribute to a king known as Elvis Presley. The short story is that the song was inspired by a weird dream that the album’s producer, Scott Matthews, had about flying with Elvis Presley.
Years later, in 2000, the song was covered in an album by Eric Clapton, and the other king, B.B. King. The album was also called Riding with the King. Some reviewers thought the product was too slick, although to be frank about it, Hiatt’s production didn’t chart in the U.S.
The first time I heard Hiatt, I think it was on the Big Mo Blues Show. He sang “Gone,” which was on the album Crossing Muddy Waters, produced in 2000, the same year Clapton and King made the album which had the cover of Hiatt’s original song “Riding with the King.” I liked “Gone” because it was funny. I’m partial to humor in just about any context.
That reminds me of the Elvis Presley connection here about “Riding with the King.” About 8 years ago Sena and I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches, which Presley made famous. I blogged about it but I can’t find that post anymore. We didn’t really like the sandwich, although I wonder if the guy who had the dream that inspired the song “Riding with the King” had a PB & Banana sandwich just before bedtime. I kept the pictures but the post is—Gone!
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