Chords for Henry Gross: How His Biggest Hit “Shannon” Once Backfired On Him & That Casey Kasem Dedication

_ Henry Gross remembers that night his biggest [E] hit didn't really help him very much in [G] concert. _
I'm John Boden from Rock [Gbm] History Music _ _ _
This is part [Gbm] one of a 11 [Em]
parter of our conversation with Henry Gross who is I [G] think the only guy I ever
Interviewed that was at Woodstock.
He was 18 [D] years old on the main stage with [A] Sean on ah [Em] in
1976 he had one of the biggest hits of the year it reached number [G] six on the Billboard charts and number [Bb] one in [D] Canada
With Shannon [A] a song about a dog _
It [C] was easily one of my favorite songs of that year [D] the tune was inspired
[A] By both he and Beach Boys Carl [C] Wilson each owning a dog named Shannon
[G] What are the chances [D] of two guys owning [A] a dog by that name [D] considering?
[C] I don't think Shannon was used very often as a dog's [Bm] name after spending the day at Wilson's home
[A] Gross was really touched [D] by Wilson's story about his beloved dog who had died [E] after being hit by a car
_ [G] Henry Gross went home [D] and wrote that song in [A] about 10 minutes [G] and of course it's always been a favorite [Bm] in concert
[D] _ But not [A] every night the only [Em] terrible gig I remember in my [G] entire
You know [D] thing in the 70s.
[E] I was on a show at [G] the Canadian [C] National [D] Exposition in Toronto
Was [A] outdoors and there was you know I don't [E] know 10 20,000 people out there, [Em] and I was on the show _ [G] with Rory Gallagher _
_ [D] Derringer and Aerosmith and Shannon was [A] the hit right so I'm [E] watching it was really a bad billing
You know someone got me on this show and [G] everyone was nice backstage and all the people from the show were terrific
But [D] it was an imbecilic billing.
I mean I played rock and roll [A] too
I played a lot.
You know I had big amps and did a rock [Em] thing, but _ Shannon was the hit
I think Rory [G] Gallagher went on and he was fabulous
We [Em] just fabulous and then I [D] went on and the gig was going great
[A] And then I played Shannon and it was outdoors
You know his daytime and you could see everyone [C] in the crowd
You know it's just like being on a beach [Gm] people were playing with these you know throwing [Bb] a ball [G] around
You know these [C] beach balls and whatever they were doing and I [G] saw a guy walk all the [A] way back from the soundboard up to
[G] The front of the [C] stage and look at me and go like this
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _
_ And [A] so did everyone else [D] and this guy must have hated
Shannon he [E] was it what he did he did not come to hear that [G] you know [D] he came to get his [E] brains blown out by
Great guitar players, [Em] and you know which [G] I mean I wasn't [E] as good as Derringer.
I mean who was _ Rory you know I?
Mean Rick Derringer's ridiculous
I mean, I don't know how where he got this from you know he played that solo and [G] hang on sloopy when he was 16
[D] But anyway _ [A] it was very very sad gig [G] and I remember I had a British guitar player
_ _ _ Andy Pearson from Sheffield and he was great, but he had he loved this song that was on the back of Shannon [D] called pokey
_ [C] Written for [G] Marshall Teague is an actor the Roadhouse he had the pool cues and all that with Patrick [Am] Swayze
Anyway, so he always [Em] wanted to play pokey [D] and the gig I did Shannon at the [Em] end the whole gig went great
Yeah for Shannon was [G] the last song so we're driving back in this golf cart to the [D] dressing room
He's he's gotten completely drunk _ _ [A] on the [Em] stage put these down half a bottle of something
And I could hear from the back [G] of they were taking this on _
You could hear this [Gb] back drooling anyone [D] should
_ _ _ [A] pokey _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ Have [D] you ever seen the outtake of [F] Casey Kasem doing is an [C] American top 40 [E] where he _ [A] he's doing a long-distance
[C] dedication coming out of the Pointer Sisters
[B] Doing this dedication [Ab] about a dog who died named [A] snuggles
And he was supposed to go into well the [D] dog dying in Shannon and playing the song Shannon
But he [E] was not happy with the difference _
[Gm] _ Well [D] coming off a fast song going into a slow song.
I'm gonna [E] have a link to that outtake
I [G] can't use it on this video [D] because it's not [A] mine, but I'll put a link [E] on there of [G] Casey.
Just having a meltdown
[D] _ _ [A] Casey Kasem influenced me an awful lot
I mean no disrespect to him because he taught me how to inflect and how to go up
But they used to say he says [C] the hits get bigger as it numbers get [G] smaller
_ [Em] _ _ But I'll put a link to it so you can check it out
You're bound to have a bad day [G] sometime Casey Kasem if you're familiar with that one in America
[Bm] I mean _ who did [G] he really like the song it's just he didn't want it
He didn't want to have to do a dedication after a song about a dead dog
_ _ My [E] life is really just bizarre.
Well one thing.
I [G] remember is a broadcasters were they were they were it's like the old
[D] Eddie money, you just told me a little while ago
He says man.
[Am] He says the police thing everyone [Em] was saying this guy used to be a police _
Well I don't know, [G] but he says sure the dog with the bone everybody who played [D] baby goes on
_ That's what people do you know [A]
you know what [E] I mean?
It's like do they [Em] call me gross the publisher gross this you [G] know gross the singer gross the you know the gross the [D] writer
Gross the actor gross the comedian you commit one [A] murder
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] You know _ _ [A] _ they [E] forget [C] now they just need something to hook you in [G] their minds you know [D] _ [A] and
[Bb] So you know [G] whatever it [C] is.
Well.
What's that you need like we mentioned?
What was the other [Bm] one you mentioned yesterday old ship yes?
_ [A]
I mean you know I that was on the first Elvis Presley [D] record on RCA
_ That song really [E] _
was very [G] moving to me.
I was a little kid.
I had a dog [E] you know I mean
[A] But this is this is a song that I really like I mean
Saddest thing I've ever heard, but [Em] I didn't [G] consciously write Shannon about it
You know [D] a whore couple or _ [E] consciously write it about my Irish setter of Carl's [D] Samoyed.
You know I didn't write it about that
I wrote it [E] about you [A] just kind of a
[D] _ Combination of all [A] of the above just comes out you know well have more of our [E] conversation with Henry gross coming up next week
We talked about [G]
everything baseball hockey
_ Comedy [D]
how comedy has changed a lot of Bob Dylan [A]
Elvis Tommy [G] James
We touched [Em] on religion heard _ politics
_ _ [G] _
So many different things Russian [A]
history
But he's a fascinating man and one of the things that I try to do with [Em] these interviews is _ I think these interviews would [G] be _
Would be interesting even if these [A] guys weren't the big starts [D] that we grew up with
[A] When all is said and done if you come out of these interviews going [C] that dude was very interesting
Then I've done my job and [A] Henry gross is [C] an incredibly interesting man
We'll have more next week make sure you [G] comment on our videos subscribe [A] to our channel and share our videos.
[C] I'm John Bolton
This is rock history music
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