And we didn't know the McCoys didn't play on their hit single.
As far as "Hang on Sloopy"... It was one of those songs like "Louie Louie" in that it was perceived to have a dirty underpinning, not that we could decipher it.
But "Hang on Sloopy" was a giant hit, and its follow-up, "Fever," was pretty big too.
But that's all they wrote for the McCoys, at least in their Top 40 iteration. However it's one thing to have one hit, quite another to follow it up, so the McCoys were not seen as one hit wonders, and they did have the definitive version of the Bert Berns/Wes Farrell track, which every nascent guitar player learned after the three chords of "Gloria." And once you learned those you played them with your friends in that band that was going to bring you to stardom, even though you never played a gig outside the living room.
Now Rick Derringer ultimately reappeared. And by time he did the rock press was burgeoning so we learned his real last name was "Zehringer."
And in 1970 he wrote Johnny Winter's breakthrough track, "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo."
This was back when record labels could still hype bands into the public consciousness, although making them successful, having hit records, was not as easy.
And there was a gigantic hype on Johnny Winter. What a white hot guitar player he was. But nothing on his first Columbia record could garner traction, he was not a staple of FM radio, which took acts into the stratosphere. FM built careers. There was nothing wrong with crossing over to AM, but you didn't want to be the McCoys, you wanted to last.
So the second Johnny Winter Columbia album was entitled "Second Winter" and had three sides. At this point Chicago Transit Authority had broken through with a double album, and the word was that Winter's material was so good it couldn't be contained on one disc, ergo two, with side four left blank.
But despite this marketing hook, Johnny Winter still didn't break.
But then came Johnny Winter And. This was a group, the focus was taken off of Winter himself, it was less about showing off than connecting. And one track connected big time...
"Rock and roll hoochie koo
Lordy mama, light my fuse"
This was something different. Straight ahead rock and roll. With a flourish of guitar right after the chorus. And the song was written by...Rick Derringer?
I didn't know at the time that "And" was actually the McCoys, Columbia probably kept it on the QT, not wanting to taint Winter's credibility (and no one bought a McCoys album, so no one knew who the members were).
But "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo" is one of those tracks that seared itself into your brain on first listen. The riffs were chunky, with trebly accents thrown in. It had the earthiness, the rootsiness of the original rock and roll from the fifties, but it fit in perfectly with the acts now dominating the FM band, before prog rock, before this straight ahead sound was derided as "meat and potatoes" (but those Foghat tracks sound phenomenal all these years later).
Winter covered the Stones' "Silver Train" on his next studio album, with Derringer playing slide, and Rick wrote the title track, one of Winter's signature songs, "Still Alive and Well." And Johnny cemented his place in the firmament with the follow-up, "Saints & Sinners," with Derringer back on board, albeit in a limited fashion. After his glam days playing arenas Winter became a blues purist and although his footprint was smaller, he then gained the credibility and the hard core fans he truly deserved. But if you were alive back then, the track Johnny was most associated with was "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo."
Until Rick himself covered it on his "All American Boy" album. It got a sh*t-ton of FM airplay, and over the years it's Rick's version that has become more famous, it's the one radio still plays, which it does, to a limited degree. It never goes out of fashion, but it's not top tier like "Ramblin' Man," never mind "Stairway to Heaven," songs that are imprinted upon your brain that you never have to hear again in your life. As a matter of fact, I smile and turn it up whenever I hear "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo."
But in between Rick worked with EDGAR Winter, who had more commercial success than his brother, which was confounding at the time. Edgar didn't sing, but he had hit songs. He put together a white hot R&B band fronted by Jerry LaCroix, Rare Earth's old singer, and they called it White Trash, and ultimately Edgar had two hit singles, "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride."
"Frankenstein" featured the guitar stylings of Ronnie Montrose, before he put out his own album with Sammy Hagar.
And Montrose also played on "Free Ride," which was less of a novelty song, just a straight ahead tear written and sung by Dan Hartman, back when no one knew his name.
And then...
I lost track of Rick Derringer.
But I did see him at the NAMM show about ten years ago. He was in somebody's booth just wailing. He was instantly recognizable, he looked boyish forever, and a small crowd was circled round, and that drew my attention and I watched.
However what had Rick Derringer been doing all these years?
Well now that he's passed, we've found out. He produced those Weird Al albums. Even worked with the Steely Dan boys.
But he also did jingles and Wikipedia reveals a cornucopia of cuts he appeared on. But Rick made his bones before Wikipedia, when you had to buy an album to read its credits, so they weren't all in one place and it kinda looked like Derringer had fallen off the edge of the earth.
But in truth he'd cobbled together a working career in music. Which is extremely difficult to do. I mean you've got to pay the bills.
And obits also told us that Derringer had become an Evangelical Christian with the associated politics. But I never knew that, I'm not sure many did, especially in this era of internet overload.
So now Rick Derringer is dead. And all I could think when I heard the news was it was before his time, how young he was. But Rick was not as young as I thought, he was 77. Then again, I'm 72. So...
You've got to know... The radio was dominated by the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons and studio constructions. There was a business, but there was not mania. Kind of like now.
And then came the Beatles and in their wake the rest of the British Invasion. And both poor and rich boys bought instruments and played in rock and roll bands, it was all we wanted to do.
But ultimately success seemed unreachable. A dream.
And then came this band of kids from Ohio with a salty hit that was undeniably rock and roll and they were respected for it, but they almost made you feel a bit jealous. It was supposed to be impossible. And if it was possible, that was supposed to be MY slot!
So Rick Derringer was more than a footnote. I'm sure people can wax rhapsodic about his life and career with far more detail than I have. But if you were more than a casual fan of rock and roll you knew about the McCoys and Johnny Winter And and Rick's work with Edgar Winter. After all, at that point music meant EVERYTHING!
It doesn't mean as much today. And rock itself is in limbo. There's the speedo/screamo acts of Active Rock, and the twangy bros of country who are playing Les Pauls, but that straight ahead rock, with no frills, just guitars and drums and a lead singer... We haven't had that spirit here for three plus decades, since the Black Crowes.
But twenty years before that we had Rick Derringer.
I don't know how he wrote "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo." If it was easy, we'd all do it. But we can't. That's the marvel of music. Where did the inspiration come from, how did they put it all together... And it can't be taught. You can practice and get better, but it all comes from the inside, from the artist.
"Couldn't stop moving when it first took hold
It was a warm spring night at the old town hall"
That was the power of rock, it drew you to it, it entered your body and made you move.
We just lost another member of the rock pantheon.
"Rock and roll hoochie koo
Truck out and spread the news"
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