Seven League Boots~Curtis Brothers ,Stevie Nicks,Lindsey Buckingham,Thom Mooney
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2017
- Recorded at Sound City Studios 1975, Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut production. Rick Curtis guitar & vocals. Michael Curtis bass & vocals. Thom Mooney drums. Tom Curtis guitar & vocals. Patty Curtis Schauer vocals. Stevie Nicks vocals. This was rewritten into the song Southern Cross with the help of Stephen Stills and recorded by Crosby Stills & Nash.
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rick curtis lived next door to me and my husband in a duplex in gainesville fl. around "73-74. i remember checking our common mail box and finding the letter from CSNY in the mailbox that offered rick $$ for his song that later became southern cross. i handed rick the letter.
apparently it was 1980 . lost track of my times.
Cool Story.
VERY cool story!
What was the $ offer ? Can you tell us hehe curious to know.The song CSNY did was a masterpiece.
great story!!
I met Rick Curtis in 1990. He told me and my friends so many stories. He went camping with us too. He was a gentle soul.
Stevie said in a 1998 interview that "Southern Cross" was one of her favorite songs ever. I think it remains that for a lot of people all around the world.
This original leaves me wanting more in the best way possible. I can hear exactly why Stills wanted to "polish" this "gem". A fantastic tune...I am in awe!
I was today old learning that this was the song Steven Stills based "southern cross" on. Never knew about these brothers. They are damn good.
Very interesting the way that a good song can be re-worked and made into a truly great song.
You can definitely hear Stevie's vocals coming through.
Man, how dreamy are Stevie's harmonies here?! 😍
Unbelievable! Amazing! Best voice in rock n roll.
During my years living in Lake Tahoe, I got to know Mike Curtis, who was in Hoyt Axton's band, and at the time in a resurrection of The Byrds, with Gene Clarke and other early Byrds members. He told me about how he and his brother Rick had written this, which he then rewrote with Steve Stills as "Southern Cross". The brothers had also played with Buckinham and Nicks, who later did one of the Curtis bros songs "Blue Letter" with Fleetwood Mac. Outstanding musicians and songwriters
great story. lucky you. I was always fascinated by Hoyt Axton.
Glad to find this piece of Rock history.
It's my brother Rick and sister Patty singing on the bridges (Stevie's on the choruses and outro).
really nice and i am sure you know more of their gems than this. i will look for their music.
great to finally hear this song, the song that inspired Stephen Stills - Southern Cross
Inspired? It's almost identical.
@@tamerlano yep LOL
Agree with you @RustedTelevisione. It is very similar musically, but that’s ok if credited, and it is as far as I’m aware. Lyrically, completely different though. Both great songs. 👍
The life force of that time (1964-1978) in the western world for young people was off the charts. Music was a major percentage of it, and very unfortunately, the young today cannot begin to fathom the why, how, wherefore and whooooooo. My heart goes out to them. If you could inject this music, it might save your life, and all the rest of the great stuff from this era....
Glad that the "roots" of Southern Cross is here for us to enjoy. I like this Curtis Brothers Seven League Boots just as much. It has a raw, minimally-produced sound to it with a lot of presence. It's more of a folk/country tune while Southern Cross is nicely CSN-ized. Wish this version was available on a CD somewhere.
I'm gobsmacked to discover this track!
Beautiful track, beautiful theme... I can see why Stephen Stills asked to use the music as the basis for his "Southern Cross". Thanks for posting.
This is a great song and so is "Southern Cross." Great upload.
Very nice. Thanks. Southern Cross is one of my favorite songs, and it's great to see it's origin. Great vocals and harmony on this one and Stevie Nicks is like a cherry on top.
I've never heard of this before! Amazing story!
Thanks for putting this up. After hearing Graham Nash mention in his book how Stephen Stills used this for the basis of Southern cross I have been looking for your original recording of it. And seeing the credits that it was Produced by Lindsay Buckingham means a lot also. A great song wish it could have gotten more airplay back in the day. It deserves more recognition.
Carl Gates we've waited a long time, Stevie Nicks is a little flat (it was the third take, the second one was great but somebody forgot to hit 'record'). The 'silver chain' line survived.
robert curtis So cool! Thanks for the memories!
robert curtis Hi Robert! I absolutely love this song! What was it like working with Stevie and Lindsey?
Decent song and fascinating to see the bare bones of what became The Southern Cross.
There's like seven 70s easy listening songs in this little gem
Before I met my wife, she dated Mike Curtis. She wondered if any of his songs made the big time. I found this information for her.
Blue Letter made the big time too
Hello woodsy 5474 just was reading the comments on 7 League Boots and came across your reply. I hope you two are happy I was just curious as to who she is. As far as the song goes there's a lot of misinformation out there on these posts. Some people seem to think Crosby Stills Nash and Young paid us money to use this song oh, but that's not the truth. We basically amended the copyright add Stevens lyrics. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
@@michaelcurtis2369 My wife's name is Ginny, and many in Goshen know you. Remember her?
Hello Thomas Curtis:
VERY NICE!!!
Wow....
Really nice job Tom. Unfortunately, as my window of life is closing, I’m a little late to the party, BUT I am grateful I found you via Steve stills giving you guys the credit for helping him out in a HUGE way. One of my all time favorites. You guys are really talented. I’ll look up and listen to more of your catalog. I hope all is well.
Wow a true hidden gem. Beautiful! Thank you so much for uploading 💕💕💕💕
What a cool tune, you can hear Fleetwood Mac but I also hear CSN
In my Stills playlist with his demo of "Southern Cross". Thanks for the upload!
The influence of this song upon CSN's Southern Cross is quite clear and quite evident (obviously).
Thank you for posting this. I've always known this song existed and is the basis for Southern Cross. It's great to finally give it a listen. Both songs are quite great.
Thanks for this one,such a great wealth of talent.! And It was great to hear Thom Mooney again!!
Thank God still adapted this, LOLOL
holy sh#@ why hAVE i NEVER HEARD THIS BEFORE? AMAZING!!!!
Awesome song, Tom and your Bros !! There's got to be a way for you to re-issue all The Curtis Bros. recordings on a deluxe CD set somehow. If the major labels won't do it, take your songs to one of the reissue specialist labels, such as Omnivore, Real Gone, Sundazed, Wounded Bird, or some in the UK Cherry Red, Edsel, Esoteric, BGO. And get news coverage in the magazines such as Mojo, Record Collector, Shindig, and Uncut. A friend of mine who had less fame than you was rediscovered when one of his tracks was selected for a nuggets type compilation. He then reissued his 2 albums digitally, got some press from Shindig mag, then a German label put 12 of his mid 70s recordings on LP and CD last year !! So it can be done. With your original versions of Southern Cross and Blue Letter, a lot of niche rock fans would love to buy your recordings, including me !! Many many Stevie Nicks fans would want your recordings of her background vocals too. Good luck on getting it done !!!
Why in the fuck-all does this not have more views?
What a great find! Thanks for uploading and sharing this song
Heard Michael play this last night at the Lincoln Theater in Belleville, IL with Tim Politte , Terry Jones Rogers and Scotty Nienhaus . "Younger Than Yesterday"
I really need a conversation with Rick's brother Michael it will give him so much information
Graham Nash of CSNY mentions this song as the guts of their hit "Southern Cross" in his autobiography "Wild Tales".
racketman2u there is also a mention in a neil young book (he has a lot) and mick fleetwood, he also writes a lot.
Richard and Michael Curtis share writing credit with Stephen Stills on Southern Cross.
Awesome!
This is great, no wonder Stephen picked it up from the repertoire not doing anything for Curtis, because Stills always had an ear and weak spot for the Country side of R&R but he turned it up into something else, respecting the old solid frame but away from the Country twang notes into the more lonesome than Cowboys, the Sailors and almost the stranded Castaway longings into which the song pivoted in his hands, adding higher Poetry and deeper Soul into the Lyrics _to make it hit from obscurity to the stars up there along the South Seas Cross itself. Like what usually John Lennon did tinkering on a Paul or George single handed composition, adding those strokes of genius that changed or elevated the whole of it, adding a Poetic gravitas he himself had beneath that uncanny extrovert personality. Not that George or Paul didnt have those spiritual sides. Each of them was very, beyond gifted. Stephen, David, Nash and the Curtis bros.
Yup. couldn't have said it better.
They rhymed world with world and world and world. Yeah it needed a rewrite.
I thought they were rhyming world with whirl. "If I have to go around the world, just to find your whirl"
@@TdyYrLove i hope so lol
After hearing David Crosby give credit to the Curtis Bros and Stephen Stills for the writing of Southern Cross, I have always wanted to hear the original song written by the Curtis Bros and to know that Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham were involved made it all the more interesting as Lindsay is one of my favorite guitarists. In what I consider the best live version of Southern Cross does anyone know the name of the guy playing the riff before the last verse just at the end.
It was Ricky played it on a fender Telecaster I believe
I don't know it might be Lindsey
It was Tom Curtis of the Curtis Brothers playing all the lead guitars on the track Seven League Boots believe me I was there
I love these AWSOME throwbacks Stevie and Lindsey did have some great songs on their Buckingham Nicks album. Where is this song found?? Ty 😎👍
In its original form although this one sounds more arranged closer to what Stills twist into it, it has basic forms used too in Steve Miller's band 'Midnight Joker' of some years earlier, and from another song it will take me longer to come to its name but that played in the earlier 70's (not Tom Petty's Heartbreakers but in the line, also from Gainesville), which has some scales of former compositions in the late 60's I have heard only a few times and never knew who played them. Overall a sweet song, more country rock than Billy Joel powered hymns kinda swings into sans the Angels trumpets.
Steven Stills says ""The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots,' but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."
They got a co-writing credit on a hit song.
Stills is right. There's a good song in here but it's not in this version. The lyrics are muddled on here where you can't hardly hear what they're saying. Stills put his lyric very far out front and completely understandable. And his lyric is better. Plus he slowed the tempo down to take advantage of the stops in a more dramatic way. I can see why stills thought this was a song worth polishing. There's a good song in there and musically stills kept most of it intact. Most of the turns in the chord progression are the same and he just slowed down the tempo to bang it harder. but I also see why this version had no chance. I'm glad the Curtis brothers were willing to let him work on it because I think Stills's version is a powerfully Universal bit of self-examination. Southern Cross is a great song. Everyone has love lost.
In my hearing - the chorus remains practically unchanged musically, other than Stills shortened it.
I do think Stills lyrics are an improvement, but this is a heck of a song IMO.
It turned into a great collaborative effort!
When you say "musically" I think mainly of chord progression and the melody. (the others are root movement and rhythmic grove.) The chord progression is similar but not the same. The Stills tweaks it in a couple of places like using a different cord at the end of the chorus. Which gives it a better conclusion. It's odd though because The original uses that variation in the verse but then doesn't use it at the end of the chorus. But they're very similar. There are places where the Melodies identical. The two versions are still very different. One was a monster hit and the other was a nice song that never would have had the slightest chance to be that.. This sounds like a demo. Stills gives it the full treatment with his almost manic attention to detail. The change tempo makes a huge difference. I don't know, maybe you are a musician but most non-musicians don't really understand how important getting the tempo exactly right for the song is. It's like I know there's a natural tendency to push the tempo when you're playing live and it can kill a song. You have to be aware of it and hold it down so that the sub pulse is there. This tempo lets the locomotive and subpulses give shape to the grove. They exsist at the 16th note and 32nd not level.
But the big difference is the universality of Stills this lyric on this. You write about an emotion or a feeling that almost everybody's had you're on your way to a hit.
an example of that I always use is the Gordon Lightfoot song "If You Could Read My Mind". Nobody knew who Gordon Lightfoot was when this song came out. The universality of that lyric made him a Star Overnight. The high point of the song which is the last line of the chorus is
"I never thought I could act this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back"
We've all been right there.
Carbon Crank I think this is a beautiful song just as it is💕💕💕
Carbon Crank.."the(sic) got a co writing credit on a hit song"???..where does Stills come up with anything without THIS original version that he "adapted"? The "hook" I.e. catchiest most familiar part is already here, in this "muddling version" stills changed nothing...nothing...but God bless him for hearing a great song he knew he could expand on...this song always makes me think of the " Badfinger to Harry Nilsson" Without You...appreciate your comments, just disagree..cheers..
@@pmiskel Stills did a LOT to turn this into "Southern Cross". He wrote almost entirely new lyrics, wrote a new first half of the chorus and re-arranged other musical ideas. The Curtis brothers made a good start with this version but Stills really shaped it into a terrific finished product.
and...the incomparable Thom Mooney on drums..playing with remarkable restraint..nice tune tho (and what the heck was that fill at 2:55?)...nice to know that some moola found its way from Steven's pocket into the Curtises....
Amen to that we were Starving Artists
We sang for the sake of the songs not reward
I'm surprised it was never able to get air play. This may sound sacrilegious but I almost like it as much as "Southern Cross".
Southern Cross has a stronger foundation, it is held down so solid. The instrumentation is really powerful. And The depth of the feeling and insight is much stronger than the original.
COMMUNITY LYRIC RECREATION PROJECT!
"I caught that plane with the snow on my wings
and I'm driving a line staying true
even though I know
how you feel.
These seven-league boots are gonna move me
through the ???? to be real
wherever I got to go searching.
If I have to go around the world
just to find your world. . .
If I go around the world
will I find your world?
I say I will (I will)"
I can't make out what the ???? is, but the rest I am pretty sure of. Feel free to add more.
Oh how I want in on this Recreation project of seven-league boots
[I hear the first two lines differently, and I believe the line you can't make out is "with your love to be real":]
I caught that plane with the snow on my heels
And I'm driving a line straight and true
Even though I know how you feel
These seven league boots are gonna move me
With your love to be real
Wherever I got to go searching
Would have been nice to keep Stevie Nicks in Southern Cross
Timothy B Schmidt and Art Garfunkel sing backup on Southern Cross.
@@dsmith9964 o rilly? well thats plenty enough of star power, let stevie & lindsey have seven league its great too
@@meesalikeu You are absolutely correct! 👌
Where can I find The Curtis Brothers debut album?
I have very war damaged hearing and cannot catch the lyrics for this. I know the lyrics for the Southern Cross, and that is what my mind hears. I want to compare the two versions. Can anyone please post the lyrics for this song. Thanks in advance.
The lyrics for chorus in this song is the only thing that is at all comparable. "If I have to go around the world, just to find your world, I Will" is how this song goes. Otherwise the lyrical content is completely different from "Southern Cross". Sorry I can't provide more. Hope this helps.
Heyyy I found this article. It goes in depth on both songs and their origins. Also breaks down the music and lyrics of both songs quite nicely.
Help...lol I can't find anything on the Curtis Brothers. Even on Buckingham's and Nicks wiki page there is no mention of them on this recording.
Opening is similar to later Fleetwood Mac's Angel
any chance posting the original lyrics? Sounds like the original thoughts are still there....
May I resoundingly agree? Please, if you could post the original lyrics, I make out most of them ("pleasure train," wink-wink!) but there are some things I can't make out. Maybe we could make a community project out of recreating the lyrics in this space."
Where did you find this recording? I don't see any evidence of its existence anywhere else
my 7 league boots are bringing me to the money$$$$$$$.....heck yeha, man..after 4 decades of starving as an artist + musician....forget the blond, forget judy collins, forget Stills and curtis as well....my turn in the sun at age 60!
Judy was alright its Joan I thought was irritating. Good luck with your project!
Hey Tom , we're you in a band with steven stills??
No, he wasn't. He's playing the solo here.
Sounds like CSandN song
these seven league boots are gonna walk all over you
I assume Stills paid these dudes a few bucks?
ha, almost fell over when i heard this on the radio just before "wha wha? ... the nerve ... this is blatant rip off CSN". wikipedia soon put me right (and yes, I'm sure everyone 'here, there and everywhere" will be like "how did you not know this? you been living under a rock? ")
I think in some respects this is actually superior to Southern Cross, certainly more complex. I certainly hope the brothers shared in some of the success of CSN version.
I like the melody, but the lyrics leave something to be desired. I can see exactly why Steven Stills rewrote the lyrics & turned it into Southern Cross. With the new lyrics & amazing harmonies, Southern Cross is a far more compelling song.
I always thought that Stephen Stills wrote this beautiful song himself. And now I find he bought the rights and changed the words himself to be about himself. Music is no longer an art, it is simply a business.
Haha ok
goods bands sadly turn into brands
true but stills did a heck of a lot of reworking work on this song.
The girl in the video looks like Anna Kendrick.
James Skyles its royalty free footage! We have no idea who this is.
I like this better than Southern Cross.
Yep!
I like the CSN rewright better.
They rhymed "world" and "world". Lol
I never knew until today that this song even existed. If I had not come here after reading about Southern Cross, I would have said that these guys stole the beat and chorus from Southern Cross.
Man I love this better than Soutern Cross
Me, too .
For me this is too fast and misses the whole main vocalist is at times underneath the backups. Where sometimes Stills’ voice almost can’t even be heard. Great songwriting or producing or whatever, I don’t know who does what. But I know what I like and this version misses the critical portions that make the original brilliant.
Decent song but undecided. Vocals and lyrics are not good. Crosby Stills and Nash gave this a true HeartBeat, to forever be remembered.
Wait....This is just “Southern Cross” with different words! Ugh!
No ....this the original song that was adapted by Steve Stills into the big hit it eventually/ turned into..without Seven League Boots, there is no Southern Cross..
Origin (per wikipedia): Southern Cross is based on the song "Seven League Boots" by Rick and Michael Curtis. Stills explained, "The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots,' but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce (his first wife, singer-songwriter Véronique Sanson). It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."
Thank God Stephen Stills turned this trashy mess of a song into a gem.
its not that bad
@@zach4216 Its horseshit
@@salozmen29 you’re just mad you can’t write a song