Video Classics: ‘Ramblin’ Man’ – The Allman Brothers Band

Gregg Allman, a man whose past is more interesting than yours, performs in 2011. (Getty Images/Rick Diamond)

The authors of WNEW’s 1991 Firecracker 500 list liked the Allman Brothers‘ “Ramblin’ Man” enough to get it on the list at spot #456.  But just five years later, they liked it so much more that it had shot up almost 300 places to claim spot #188. Was it just overlooked the first time, or did the 1996 list makers have a thing for Hank Williams, who wrote the original song on which the Allmans based theirs (even if it wasn’t quite a cover)?

The song first appeared on the Allman’s 1973 album Brothers and Sisters. It was also the band’s only Top-10 hit. It climbed all the way to #2 on the charts, but was kept out of first by Cher‘s “Half-Breed”. Incidentally, for those who don’t know, Cher would go on to become Gregg Allman’s future wife for almost five years in the late ’70s, would appear with him on the universally-panned Two the Hard Way album and made appearances later with him on the similarly unsuccessful The Hard Way tour. Suffice to say she’s not his muse.

The song was the band’s biggest hit, and has been called a staple of classic and southern rock. Still, the band has played it on tour but rarely. Supposedly, this is due to the song not lending itself well to improvisation, a hallmark of their live performances.

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