"Steamroller Blues" (a.k.a. "Steamroller"), is a blues parody written by

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

, that appeared on his 1970 album '' Sweet Baby James''. It was intended to mock the inauthentic blues bands of the day. The song later appeared on two of Taylor's compilation albums and has been recorded by a variety of other artists.

Origin and recording

Rock journalist David Browne wrote that " ring the Flying Machine days in the Village, Taylor had heard one too many pretentious white blues bands and wrote 'Steamroller' to mock them." '' Rolling Stone Album Guide'' critic Mark Coleman, said Taylor's song "effectively mocks the straining pomposity of then-current white bluesmen." Taylor and

Danny Kortchmar Daniel Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946), also known as Danny Kootch, is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. His work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassi ...

, both playing electric guitars, laid down the track in one night at Sunset Studios, the rhythm section being added later. A tight budget and production schedule forced Taylor to record the song despite suffering from a head cold. The song was included on Taylor's

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

-selling ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' 1976 compilation using a live version recorded in August 1975 at the

Universal Amphitheatre Universal Amphitheatre (later known as Gibson Amphitheatre) was an indoor amphitheatre located in Los Angeles, California, within Universal City, California, Universal City. It was built as an outdoor venue, opening in the summer of 1972 with a p ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Another performance, from 1992, was included on his 1993 album '' (LIVE)''. The

profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...

in the earlier release was missing from the latter.

Cover versions

*During the 1970s,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

added "Steamroller Blues" to his concert repertoire and included it on his live album '' Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite''. Presley also released it as a single in March 1973 with " Fool" as its flipside track, and the song reached number 17 on the Billboard U.S. pop singles chart, number 10 on the Cash Box top pop singles chart and number 16 on the Record World singles chart. It was later included on Presley's 2007 compilation '' The Essential Elvis Presley''. A newly orchestrated version was included on the 2015 album '' If I Can Dream'' with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This song resulted in Elvis' last 3 entries at number 1 on a major charting format. The "Aloha From Hawaii" double LP peaked at number 1 on the Billboard and Cash Box Albums Charts. The single, "Steamroller Blues", taken from the "Aloha From Hawaii" LP, peaked at number 1 on Record World Single Chart. In addition, the "Aloha" LP produced Elvis' final number 1 across the 4 major US charting categories (Billboard, Billboard Country, Cash Box, Cash Box Country). ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it "a lively interpretation of the James Taylor tune

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

should roll up sales quickly and say 'aloha' to the charts." *

Merry Clayton Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948) is an American soul and gospel singer. She contributed vocals to numerous tracks and worked with many major recording artists for decades, including a duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song " Gimm ...

included a version of the song on her 1971 eponymous album, titling it simply "Steamroller". *Taylor's song was recorded by country music singer

Billy Dean William Harold Dean Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition '' Star Search''. Active as a recording artist since 1990, ...

and appeared on his 1993 album '' Fire in the Dark''.

Popular culture

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

performed the song on an episode of ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1970 songs 1973 singles Elvis Presley songs James Taylor songs Musical parodies Song recordings produced by Peter Asher Songs written by James Taylor