This is one of the great anthems of rock music. The incredible riff and soul moving melody assured its place in music history. The Allman Brothers Band released the five-minute studio version of “Whipping Post” on their 1969 eponymous debut album, but it was the live versions that defined the song as one of the more powerful rock tunes ever written. The most celebrated one is from the Allman Brothers' classic 1971 double live album “At Fillmore East” where a 22-minute rendition of the song takes up the entire fourth side of the LP. It was this recording that garnered "Whipping Post" spots on both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll” list and Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" Despite its length, the live "Whipping Post" received considerable progressive rock radio airplay during the early 1970s, especially late at night or on weekends. Such airplay led to "Whipping Post" becoming one of the band's more familiar and popular songs,
It was Gregg Allman who wrote the composition. At the time he was only 21 and was the only songwriter for the band. The lyrics center on a metaphorical whipping post, an evil woman, and futile existential sorrow. Musically, the composition was immediately noticeable for its use of 11/4 time signature in the introduction; even the band’s drummer Butch Trucks called it simply "a lick in 11" or "elevens" Gregg Allman explained his vision of the song’s structure with these words: "I didn't know the intro was in 11/4 time. I just saw it as three sets of three, and then two to jump on the next three sets with: it was like 1,2,3—1,2,3—1,2,3—1,2. I didn't count it as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. It was one beat short, but it didn't feel one short because to get back to the triad, you had two steps to go up. You'd really hit those two hard, to accent them, so that would separate the threes. ... [Duane] said, 'That's good man, I didn't know that you understood 11/4.' Of course, I said something intelligent like, 'What's 11/4?' Duane just said, 'Okay, dumbass, I'll try to draw it up on paper for you.'"
The song also acquired a quasi-legendary role in early 1970s rock concerts, when audience members at other artists' concerts would semi-jokingly yell out "Whipping Post!" as a request between numbers, echoing the fan captured on “At Fillmore East.” Such an “incident” happened in 1974 in Helsinki on Frank Zappa’s concert there. One audience member repeatedly disrupted the performance by shouting a request for "Whipping Post." Zappa responded by playing a version of his song "Montana", where he altered the lyrics with references to whipping posts, a version that is released on his “You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2” live album, released in 1988. In 1981, Zappa's band learned "Whipping Post" and added it to their repertoire, since the band's new singer and keyboard player Bobby Martin knew the song and sang the lead vocals on it. Zappa released a version of the song on the 1984 album “Them or Us;” but also on the “Does Humor Belong in Music?” album, which is probably one of the best versions of the song ever. The most important thing about these renditions is that “Whipping Post” is the only non-Zappa song, as far as I know, that he played and included in his regular repertoire without mocking it.
COVERLAND VOL.1: EASY COVERLAND VOL.2: HUSH COVERLAND VOL.3: NOTHING COMPARES 2 U COVERLAND VOL.4: HARD TO HANDLE COVERLAND VOL.5: GUINNEVERE COVERLAND VOL.6: I SCARE MYSELF COVERLAND VOL. 7: CHINA GIRL COVERLAND VOL.8: LIVE AND LET DIE COVERLAND VOL. 9: PERSONAL JESUS COVERLAND VOL.10: THE JUNGLE LINE COVERLAND VOL.11: THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD COVERLAND VOL.12: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER COVERLAND VOL.13: LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT COVERLAND VOL.14: JUST GOT PAID COVERLAND VOL.15: DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY COVERLAND VOL.16: LAST KIND WORDS COVERLAND VOL.17: WOODSTOCK COVERLAND VOL.18: JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA COVERLAND VOL.18: HAIR COVERLAND VOL.19: SOS COVERLAND VOL.20: RESPECT
