Allman Brothers Blues Band - Melissa - Acoustic - Live Music - Gregg & Dickie Betts - Video

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[MtnClimber]

The first song Greg Allman wrote. He wrote it about his brother Duane Allman who was killed in a motorcycle accident "the crossroads" and how he was buried with his favorite guitar "Melissa" that he played when they were not touring. He would not leave without Melissa.

[waterhill]

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WHxXs8-n29E&feature=share

[FamiliarFace]

That was really good, thanks for posting.

[waterhill]

Allman and Clapton, both youngsters at the time.... kicks my ass every time

[waterhill]

Anyone who can tell us what famous EC track Duane Allman on?

[waterhill]

Actually most of the album, most people are unaware. Starts with an L

[dfwgator]

Wilson Pickett (w/ Duane) - Hey Jude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8Q2PATVyI

[stanne]

That one- Mean old World

Oh. And then there’s Layla.

[waterhill]

That’s crazy good. I’m a Duane Allman freak

[dayglored]

Thank you so much for posting this. “Melissa” is one of my favorite songs to play in every band I’ve been in since it first appeared, and it always comes from a deep place inside. This video had me in tears. So beautiful, so heartfelt.

[FrankRizzo890]

Gregg says he wrote it before the band was even formed:

http://rockandrollgarage.com/the-funny-story-of-how-allman-brothers-classic-song-melissa-was-written/

[higgmeister]

I saw the Allman Brothers Band on Nov 07, 1973, at the Cincinnati Gardens.   I remember hearing they were coming up on the first anniversary of Berry Oakley's death.   I won't much remember the actual concert because my head was in another place.   I know we were up in a top section looking down at the stage on the left.   Sigh, it's eight months less than fifty years ago.

[waterhill]

Do you play it in open E? Like Little Martha? Try it sometime. Duane was big on open E.

[The Free Engineer]

Pretty sure that concert is on YouTube. Its a good one.

[MtnClimber]

Yes, that concert was filmed for MTV when the concept was concerts instead of videos. They played Melissa, but it is not on the video.

[dayglored]

> Do you play it in open E? Like Little Martha? Try it sometime. Duane was big on open E.

Little Martha, yes; Melissa, no. I play lead, and learned all the pretty licks of Melissa in standard tuning. While it's possible in theory for me to re-learn them in open-E tuning, it's arguably not worth the effort.

But that said, I generally have a few guitars with me in a gig situation, the Strat and Les Paul in standard and the SG in open-E for slide and songs like Little Martha, so I don't have to re-tune on the fly.

So now you've given me a challenge. :-)

[dayglored]

> Gregg says he wrote it before the band was even formed: http://rockandrollgarage.com/the-funny-story-of-how-allman-brothers-classic-song-melissa-was-written/

Wow, that's fascinating. Decades ago I associated the subject of "Melissa" with Clapton, later with Duane, I guess I'll need to revise my thinking yet again.

[FrankRizzo890]

Yeah, not trying to be a smart@$$, just figured you’d want to know the story as Gregg himself told it. When you read the lyrics with his story in mind, you can see a homesick kid.