"My Brother Jake" is a song and single by English band, Free. Written by lead singer

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and coll ...

and bass guitarist

Andy Fraser Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was a British musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist and co-composer for the rock band Free, which he helped found in 1968 when he was 15. He also founded the rock band Sharks af ...

, it was first released in the UK in 1971.

Background and chart success

The song was the second chart success for Free, reaching number four in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1971 and remaining in the chart for 11 weeks. It was described by Dave Thompson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

as a "gorgeous knockabout" of a song. The band performed the song on BBC's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' on 13 May 1971. In 1991 Andy Fraser revealed that he had originally written the song about

Horace Faith Horace Faith (born Horace Smith, Jamaica) was a Jamaican reggae singer. He is best known for his cover of the Checkmates, Ltd. song, " Black Pearl", which reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in 1970. Released by Trojan Records (TR ...

, saying: "It was written about a friend, a guy called Horace Faith. He was a great singer and around that time we were great friends. It was basically a sentiment to him, but I thought 'My Brother Jake' sounded better than 'My Brother Horace'." The song appears on the band's 1973 compilation album '' The Free Story.''

References

{{authority control 1971 songs 1971 singles Free (band) songs Island Records singles Songs written by Paul Rodgers Songs written by Andy Fraser