Jessica (song)
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"Jessica" is a rock instrumental written by Dickey Betts, guitar player of The Allman Brothers Band. It was first released on the band's 1973 album Brothers and Sisters.
The song, along with "Ramblin' Man", is one of the two most famous songs from the album, an album which marked the beginning of a new era for the Allman Brothers Band following the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Named after Jessica Betts, the daughter of Dickie Betts and bride-to-be Sandy Bluesky, "Jessica" is a buoyant tune and, clocking in at over seven minutes, pleasantly rambling. Because of this nature, it has garnered something of a reputation as being a "driving song" (in the mould of "Born to be Wild"). It is for this reason that the song is used as the theme-tune to the British motoring television show Top Gear. In January 2006, a Wall Street Journal article referred to the song as "a true national heirloom." The song is also featured in the movie Field of Dreams.
The song itself is actually very structured. It starts out with an opening motif on acoustic guitar (played by guest guitarist Les Dudek), that gradually builds into the signature main theme played by Dickey Betts on two electric guitars, Gregg Allman on Hammond Organ, and Chuck Leavell on Fender Rhodes Electric Piano. The theme follows in a somewhat "verse/chorus" style, but quickly changes directions after the second "verse", breaking back down into the opening motif. The reprise of the opening motif builds at a slower pace, introducing different percussion instruments (congas, tambourine, maracas) and the dueling Grand Piano and Bass Guitar melody-line one by one until the drumset enters to introduce the Grand piano solo section. Soon the song changes key from A Major to D Major for Betts's guitar solo. An establishing melody line at the end of the solo and another set of key changes brings the song back to the original main theme, breaking down this time at the "chorus" section to end the song.
The original version on the Brothers and Sisters clocks in at 7:30, although there is a shortened single edit, which cuts out some of the main theme at the end of the song, trimming it to 7:00 exactly. This version is the one heard on most classic rock radio stations, and any kind of various artist compilation that "Jessica" has been featured on. However, most Allman Brothers compilations use the full 7:30 version.
This was the first Allman Brothers song recorded with new bassist Lamar Williams after the fatal motorcyle accident of Berry Oakley.
Although not successful as a single, topping out at #65 on the Billboard 100 charts, the song achieved considerable airplay on progressive rock and album oriented rock radio and helped make Brothers and Sisters a commercial success. Its critical success reached a culmination when a live version of "Jessica" won a Grammy Award in 1996, twenty-three years following its release, for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
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