Don't Waste Time

Song 249: This week's playlist song is Ain't Wastin' Time No More by The Allman Brothers Band, written by Gregg Allman.  Before the plane I was riding touched down in Atlanta in June of '71, I had never heard of The Allman Brothers Band, but practically everyone I met there had ABB records, and midway through that summer, At Fillmore East arrived, making such a big splash that the wave extended across the whole country, so that by the time I returned to the Chicago area in the early fall, all my RnR friends there were rocking with the Allmans as well. After years of struggle and hard work, the Brothers had finally achieved at least a measure of the acclaim and success they had earned, which made it all the more tragic when lead guitarist Duane Allman, the heart and soul of the band, died suddenly a couple of days before Halloween in a dreadful motorcycle accident, at the age of 24. I still remember the sad radio announcement of that event, and I wondered how the band would carry on. Well, carry on they did, largely to honor Duane's name and his memory. Brother Gregg had written the music to this song before Duane's death, and Duane had heard it, so following the tragedy, Gregg then wrote the words to convey a message about how fleeting life is, and how people need to appreciate the moments of their lives, doing what they can when they can, because life might end at any moment. This track opened the LP Eat a Peach that appeared in February, a few months after Duane's accident, and it showcased the band at the top of their game on all levels. It got a substantial amount of airplay, as did a few other notable tracks from the album, for good reason. The title of the LP had come from an answer Duane had given in an interview when asked about peace, to which he had said that whenever he was in Georgia (his home state) he would eat a peach for peace. Sadly, Gregg's lyrical vision that someday all the war freaks would die off and leave the younger generation alone to raise their children in peace has not yet happened -- there are still plenty of war freaks around, and the fight for peace continues (see my latest anti-war song video If I Was You here).