The Big Easy List: Magnolia
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (88357)
United States
August 10, 2026 10:54am CST
Enjoy today. You’re gonna hate me tomorrow. 
We continue on our trip to New Orleans with a wonderful songwriter that you may have never heard of…but you have heard a couple of his songs. Here’s today’s song.
Magnolia - J.J. Cale
This is NOT the person who inspired the name of our beloved JJ (for those of you who aren’t on Facebook, JJ is alive and as well as an old man can be 
). That was Joliet Jake in The Blues Brothers. This JJ inspired someone just a little more famous: Eric Clapton.’
John Weldon Cale (no relation to the Velvet Underground’s John Cale) was a guitarist and songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma. You’ve probably never heard of him because, quite frankly, he wanted it that way. Following the decade of his greatest songwriting successes, he moved to California and lived in a mobile home with no telephone. Today we’d call that “going off grid.” 
Unlike a lot of people who chase fame, Cale wanted no part of it.
But he couldn’t help it. He wrote a couple of songs that are FM/classic rock staples: “Cocaine” and “After Midnight,” both by Eric Clapton. (Oh, he also wrote “Call Me the Breeze,” which was a popular FM rock staple when Lynyrd Skynyrd covered it.) Clapton was a huge fan and made a deliberate point to cover “After Midnight” after hearing the original while working with Delaney and Bonnie.
The version of “After Midnight” that Clapton heard was a 45 release. When Cale recorded his first album, he reworked “After Midnight” into a more bluesy tune, but the original was the same tempo that Clapton used.
Naturally has a number of songs that found their way into others’ catalogs. In addition to “After Midnight” and “Call Me the Breeze,” there was “Clyde,” which was covered by Waylon Jennings. Oh, and this song, which Poco covered on their Crazy Eyes album.
Poco’s version is what introduced me to this marvelous song. Here’s the sweet original from the man who wrote it. (Fear not, Poco will be along later. 
)
Magnolia
Written by J.J. Cale
Recorded by J.J. Cale
From Naturally, 1971
NEW ORLEANS LYRICS:
Makes me think of my baby I left down in New Orleans
We continue on our trip to New Orleans with a wonderful songwriter that you may have never heard of…but you have heard a couple of his songs. Here’s today’s song.
Magnolia - J.J. Cale
This is NOT the person who inspired the name of our beloved JJ (for those of you who aren’t on Facebook, JJ is alive and as well as an old man can be ). That was Joliet Jake in The Blues Brothers. This JJ inspired someone just a little more famous: Eric Clapton.’
John Weldon Cale (no relation to the Velvet Underground’s John Cale) was a guitarist and songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma. You’ve probably never heard of him because, quite frankly, he wanted it that way. Following the decade of his greatest songwriting successes, he moved to California and lived in a mobile home with no telephone. Today we’d call that “going off grid.” Unlike a lot of people who chase fame, Cale wanted no part of it.
But he couldn’t help it. He wrote a couple of songs that are FM/classic rock staples: “Cocaine” and “After Midnight,” both by Eric Clapton. (Oh, he also wrote “Call Me the Breeze,” which was a popular FM rock staple when Lynyrd Skynyrd covered it.) Clapton was a huge fan and made a deliberate point to cover “After Midnight” after hearing the original while working with Delaney and Bonnie.
The version of “After Midnight” that Clapton heard was a 45 release. When Cale recorded his first album, he reworked “After Midnight” into a more bluesy tune, but the original was the same tempo that Clapton used.
Naturally has a number of songs that found their way into others’ catalogs. In addition to “After Midnight” and “Call Me the Breeze,” there was “Clyde,” which was covered by Waylon Jennings. Oh, and this song, which Poco covered on their Crazy Eyes album.
Poco’s version is what introduced me to this marvelous song. Here’s the sweet original from the man who wrote it. (Fear not, Poco will be along later. )
Magnolia
Written by J.J. Cale
Recorded by J.J. Cale
From Naturally, 1971
NEW ORLEANS LYRICS:
Makes me think of my baby I left down in New OrleansYour browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later
8 people like this
7 responses
@teamfreak16 (45373)
• Denver, Colorado
10h
I've never heard this version. So new, yet so familiar. Oddly, I don't care all that much for Clapton, but Cale wrote the songs by him that I do like.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (88357)
• United States
3h
So you don’t like Clapton that much but admit that he had great taste in music (Cale and covering Bob Marley, for starters)?
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (45373)
• Denver, Colorado
3h
@FourWalls - I liked T.D.F. I don't dislike him, I just don't like a lot of what I've heard.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (99805)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
5h
Not him or the song, Where was he hiding?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (88357)
• United States
3h
He wasn’t well known that much outside of music circles, where he was highly regarded. I remember radio occasionally playing his version of “After Midnight” after Clapton’s.
