Instrumentally Yours: Pick Up the Pieces

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It’s another one of those instrumentals that hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart. It’s one that’ll have you dancing! It’s one that @porwest will either love or smash to pieces! Here we go with today’s song. Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band Let’s start with the name. Bonnie Bramlett, the “Bonnie” of Delaney and Bonnie, heard the band rehearsing and said they were “too much for the average white man.” Of course, they had a black drummer, so it wasn’t the average all-white band. Oh, and they were Scottish. To paraphrase Talking Heads (whose frontman, David Byrne, was also born in Scotland), this ain’t no party, this ain’t no American disco band, that ain’t no foolin’ around! AWB, as they were known (since “Average White Band” was a lot to spit out), is remembered for two big hits in America: “Cut the Cake,” and this one. Although saxophonist Malcolm Duncan thought that “a funk instrumental played by Scotsmen” would be a terrible choice as a single, the world definitely proved him wrong. One of those shining moments that only the mid-70s could have given us. Pick Up the Pieces Written by Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart, and AWB Recorded by the Average White Band From AWB, 1974 Oh yeah!