Thanks again to the many people who listened to and sent me flattering feedback about my new album, “In Case You Missed It.” And, in case you missed that announcement a couple weeks ago, please click this link for information about where you can listen to it.
This is the first of a series of posts in which I plan spotlight each of the 11 songs on the album. It’s a way to give others a little more insight into each song and, frankly, to prompt you to listen again.
For this first song spotlight, I’m featuring “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” a song that fits the theme of the album: tunes that are not exactly unknown but are little less prominent in the public consciousness than they deserve to be.
The song first appeared in in February 1968 in “Child is a Father to Man” (the cover is pictured above), the first album of the jazz-blues-rock (and many other a genres) band Blood Sweat and Tears.
Al Kooper, one of the truly legendary, though not widely known characters in the history of rock and a founder of the band, wrote the song. According to his own 2008 memoir, Kooper said is was a “split tribute to Otis Redding and James Brown. (The lyrics were a nod to Otis’ song ‘I Love You More Than Words Can Say,’ and the melody was ‘reminiscent’ of James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s World.’)” On December 6 (’67), Otis died in a plane crash, and it really f***ed me up. The next night we began recording the album. I insisted we record ‘I Love You’ first. Nobody objected. We put down a blistering track, and it looked like this was gonna be an easy album to make.”
The story goes that Kooper was feeling insecure about his vocal skills, so he tried to break the tension by singing the lyrics in French. Seeing the befuddled looks from around the studio, he said, “Oh, you wanted me to sing it in English?” (I’d love to hear that French version, if it’s even out there.)
The album ended up 47th on the Billboard pop album charts, a great start for a new band that would go on to be one of the most successful of the late-‘60s and early-‘70s (though mostly without Kooper, who was pushed out early on for a variety of reasons, including his less-than-commanding voice). None of the tunes on the album broke into the top 40 singles charts, but “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” became a favorite on progressive rock radio stations and has been covered dozens of times.
Here are a few really great versions: Donny Hathaway (1973), the best rendition, in my opinion, and, well, a “template” for my own; Bo Diddley (1971), a pretty nice tribute to Kooper; Dakota Staton (1973); Black Oak Arkansas (recorded in 1976 and released in 1998), the Southern rock group; Kevin Mahagony (1996); Les Paul featuring Joe Perry, Kenny Olson, Mick Hucknall (2005); Marc Brousard (2006); Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa (2013); Leonid & Friends (2023), probably the biggest production of all with horns, strings, backup singers and wailing guitars; and, not least, Amy Winehouse (2004).
One of the most exciting features of the song is the steady swell of intensity in the bridge, culminating with “I just wanna hear you say / It’s all right”, and then silence. That’s followed by the quiet of third verse: “I’m only flesh and blood.”
Now, what comes next in Kooper’s original lyric is, “I could be the President of General Motors,” which, yeah, was kind of a big thing to be in 1968 but seems kind of hilarious to hear today. Not that there’s anything wrong today with being the President of General Motors, but power of the reference clearly didn’t endure. By the time Donny Hathaway recorded it a few years later, that line was replaced by, “I could be the king of everything,” and that lyric has for the most part stuck (except for the version by originalists Leonid & Friends). Around the same time, Dakota Staton inserted her own take on that line: “I could be the President of Afro-Sheen,” a pretty clever substitution and a reminder of a company I hadn’t even thought about for decades.
Though this song and many others Kooper wrote endures, it was only a brief highlight in his career. He is probably best known for insinuating himself into the recording of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone, ” and he wrote for, produced and recorded with some of the biggest names in rock & roll. In 2023, Kooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Once again, my own version of “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” includes Wayne Wilentz on piano; David Jernigan on bass; Leland Nakamura on drums; and Matvei Sigalov on electric guitar.
I hope you’ll give it a listen again.
Jeff
Jeff Weintraub Music 
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