MELISSA
Gregg Allman
The second single from the album Eat a Peach. Chart: #86. Time - 3:56.
Flip Side: "Blue Sky". Released in U.S.A. August 1972.
Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida, USA, Dec 9, 1971.
Produced by Tom Dowd.
The song was written in 1967, five years before it came out. It was originally going to be called Delilah, before a brief meeting with a little girl in a grocery store. There was only a demo recorded and hanging around....until Gregg's brother Düane Allman died in a motorcycle accident. Even tho a good recording had not been made, it was Duane's favorite song of Gregg's. Gregg played it at his funeral. Three months after his death, the Allman Brothers recorded the classic version that was released. Too bad it took his brothers death for this song to see the light of day. - Larry -
Gregg Allman - lead vocals, organ, piano, electric piano, acoustic guitar |
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GREG ALLMAN
"It was my turn to get the coffee and juice for everyone, and I went to this twenty-four-hour grocery store, one of the few in town. There were two people at the cash registers, but only one other customer besides myself. She was an older Spanish lady, wearing the colorful shawls, with her hair all stacked up on her head. And she had what seemed to be her granddaughter with her, who was at the age when kids discover they have legs that will run. She was jumping and dancing; she looked like a little puppet. I went around getting my stuff, and at one point she was the next aisle over, and I heard her little feet run all the way down the aisle. And the woman said, "No, wait, Melissa. Come back—don’t run away, Melissa!" I went, "Sweet Melissa." I could've gone over there and kissed that woman. As a matter of fact, we came down and met each other at the end of the aisle, and I looked at her and said, "Thank you so much." She probably went straight home and said, 'I met a crazy man at the fucking grocery.'"
YOU TUBE LYRIC VIDEO YOU TUBE LIVE - Early Years YOU TUBE LIVE - Later Years Crossroads, seem to come and go, yeah The gypsy flies from coast to coast Knowing many, loving none Bearing sorrow having fun But back home he'll always run To sweet Melissa Freight train, each car looks the same, all the same And no one knows the Gypsy's name No one hears his lonely sighs There are no blankets where he lies In all his deepest dreams the Gypsy flies With sweet Melissa Again the morning's come Again he's on the run Sunbeams shining through his hair Appearing not to have a care Well, pick up your gear and Gypsy roll on, roll on Crossroads, will you ever let him go? Will you hide the dead man's ghost Or will he lie, beneath the clay Or will his spirit float away? But I know that he won't stay without Melissa Yes I know that he won't stay without Melissa