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Flint’s Classic Rock – 103.9 The Fox

The Allman Brothers Band – ‘Whipping Post’

  • Writer: Gregg Allman
  • Producer: Adrian Barber
  • Recorded: Fall 1969 at Atlantic Record Studios in New York City
  • Released: January 1970
  • Players:
    Gregg Allman — vocals, organ
    Duane Allman — guitar
    Dickey Betts — guitar
    Berry Oakley — bass
    Butch Trucks — drums
    Jai Johanny Johanson — drums
  • Album: The Allman Brothers Band (Atco, 1970)
  • Also On:
    At Fillmore East (Capricorn, 1971)
    Beginnings (Atco, 1973)
    The Road Goes On Forever (Capricorn, 1975)
    Dreams (Polydor, 1989)
    and many compilations and live albums
  • “Whipping Post” became the Allman Brothers Band‘s signature song, not based on the original 5:16 studio version, but on marathon live performances that could be stretched to more than an hour when the band felt like it.
  • The seminal recording of the song was for the 1971 live album At Fillmore East, which ran 22 minutes and 52 seconds.
  • Gregg Allman wrote “Whipping Post” while living in Los Angeles. Like many of his songs on the first Allman Brothers Band album — including “Black Hearted Woman” and “It’s Not My Cross To Bear” — it was inspired by a troubled relationship. He explained, “I had this girlfriend in L.A. She was using this pseudo-love on me like an M-16. She kept putting me through all kinds of tricks.”
  • The band actually passed on “Whipping Post” when they first heard it, but relented when album producer Adrian Barber and Capricorn Records president Phil Walden suggested that they record it.
  • “Whipping Post” was not the Allman Brothers Band’s only — or first — epic. It shared that status with “Mountain Jam,” a lengthy, usually improvised piece that saw official release on the 1972 album Eat A Peach.

FAST FORWARD:

  • Bassist Berry Oakley also died in a motorcycle accident, on November 11th, 1972.
  • The Allmans split up in 1976, reunited from 1978 to 1981, and reunited again in 1989, and are still together.

In the spring of 2000, singer-guitarist Dickey Betts was fired due to personal problems. Although it was only supposed to last for that summer, Betts has been permanently replaced in the group.