When I was in college a million years ago, a buddy of mine liked to say that no matter how good someone we all idolized was at something, whether it was sports or music or whatever, there was someone out in the world we'd never heard of who was better than our idols. We argued about that all the time. Then, in 1972, Buchanan's 2nd album came out, and I bought it. At the time it was all about Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, etc. I'd never heard of Roy Buchanan. But after listening to that album, I had second thoughts about what my buddy said. Maybe there is someone out there who's better. Buchanan opened my eyes to that concept with 'The Messiah Will Come Again', and reinforced it with many more magic works over the years. He was a true master that few knew of; much like Rory Gallagher and James Burton, only less famous than either of them even. RIP Roy. You are missed, and you are remembered fondly by many of us.
+buckfan1969 Roy was about the only guy who escaped my concert going back then. I was so stupid to pass on an intimate concert at a medium venue in Minneapolis. That era had so many gifted - when guitar was the "it" . Seeing Johnny Winter and Frank Zappa multiple times. We were huge Rory fans along with Ten Years After, Zeppelin, Climax Blues, Jeff Beck, ect. I regret never seeing Roy when I had a chance. We all had his albums.
+buckfan1969 Oddly enough I knew this song for years(I'd heard it at the end of departed) and it haunted me, until I finally looked into who had played it, weird thing is coincidentally I had just bought my first telecaster the very same day hours before finding out that it was performed by Roy on a telecaster(on October 17th 2015(Last Saturday)), which was mind blowing to me, and still is. I feel this unknown man(To most people anyways) is proof that the music industry is not about great music, but great brainwashing. Oddly enough just learned or Rory Gallagher in July of this year(Found him while I was trying to learn White Summer/ Black Mountain side) and while Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck are amazing, it's great to see players arguably equal or better. Right now in my opinion, Roy Playing this Cover of Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams" is extremely, beautifully, hauntingly, amazingly, adjective inducingly the best and my favourite song out there! It'll be interesting the next time I find one of these unknown gifts to humankind
+Curtis Low I think you're right about the music industry; it's all about marketability rather than talent. I think the people who decide what will be put out for sale are often sitting with marketing degrees and don't really have the musical chops. But it's a kick getting turned on to someone new that can really play, isn't it?
+buckfan1969 very true, I love to see someone who not only plays amazingly(understatement) but his music and attitude appear genuine, and its not about anything but the music, the audience appear hypnotized by his musical presence
Its a bit distorted. Not by a pedal though I read Roy did it Kinks style and took a razor blade to his speaker cone. Makes it sound thin and treble boosty
As a musician most of my 85 years (clarinet, piano) I've never been much of a guitar fan. But I'd like to think I have a great deal of appreciation of great music, mostly jazz and classical. Its a sad commentary to humanity that a great musician like Roy Buchanan never really got his due while he was alive, and then had to die so sadly. I keep playing Sweet Dreams over and over having first heard it in the film The Departed. It haunts me. I've diddled a little with it on piano which of course is not the right instrument for it. I dearly wish I could go back in time and help make things right for Roy Buchanan. What a great musician he was!! Kudos to Scorcese for featuring Sweet Dreams in his film.
Il était déjà ailleurs quand on me l'a fait découvrir .. Mais je n'ai pas mis longtemps pour comprendre toute la subtilité et l'acharnement et surtout ... la sensibilité dont Roy pouvait ressentir ... --- ... ... --- ...
Bom dia, sou trombonista ,mas gosto muito de guitarra, o Mark knopfler é meu preferido, por seu som único e sentimento, mas assim que conheci esse guitarrista, gostei muito, muito sentimento também, além de uma bela música e interpretação, vou pesquisar a respeito da vida dele, grande abraço.
Amen , brother. Obviously you are a lover of great music. Sweet Dreams is certainly a haunting tune and Roy squeezed every drop of emotion out of it with his playing.
Wonderful performance...Eric Johnson is the only other guy I've seen do volume knob swells as effectively. Takes all the attack off the note, makes the guitar sing like a violin.
I only got to see the GREAT R.B but what a show it was at C.W. POST college in LONG ISLAND NY and to make the night even better S.V.R played not together but both were amazing. STAY safe my friend.
This song actually made me cry. I've been a professional musician my whole life (67yo) it's rare when you see such musicianship presented in such an honest way.
My dad told me that when I was a baby, one of the only albums he would play that I would just be quiet and listen to is your great uncle’s debut album. His art means so much to me. To you and the rest of his family, know he’s loved and missed
Few guitar players can reduce me to tears. When Roy played a ballad, even a soppy C& W ballad, you could feel his inner torment and his choice of notes were perfect.. In his biographical book it is said Roy was like a paddling duck in a strong current....calm on the exterior but underneath it all he was struggling to stay afloat. There will never be another RB.
Well said brother. My heart and soul agrees. Listening to him to play this song may make me feel like my soul is crying in sheer joy. I’ve been playing harmonica and guitar for over 30 years and he has always been my strongest guitar voice and influence. There will never be another Roy Buchanan. He achieved something in music that very few will understand enough to emulate. That’s how I play harmonica and one day I will give it to the world, God willing.
When George Harrison first got together with Orbison to do some recording, .... the first moment Roy started singing, George was overcome with tears at the sound.
when you lying alone in darkness and listening to music of sweet dreams. You cant see anything but you can feel your eyes gettining wet !! You want to move a bit. You start to think if everything is going to end !! Everything!! You loved and cared most . It's going to fade slowly. You feel like someone loved going away or may be it's you going away you want to see that vision for the last time but eyes are wanting to close but you can't shut. Tears are rolling down and the vision is getting blurry. You realize may be this time it's your soul leaving you like everyone did !! He knows this time I am gonna be all alone so he asks his soul for the last dance together as it sticked with him in all times !! He is about to close his eyes as the tears are making his vision blur all he can see is the light for the last time in the darkness and music fading away as this the last sweet dream ❤️
There’s times you hear something and you say “that’s a nice song” but once in a great while you hear something beautiful words cannot describe. I just experienced that with this. Wow
The BEST story involving Roy (who I saw a few times in The Wash DC area in the mid-80's) is when he played in Germany and after one particularly kick ass song the German crowd all starting chanting "Roy number one!, Roy number one!" and with his head tilted down in utter humility he softly said "I love you all for saying that but the truth is there is no such thing as number one"....that was Roy in a nutshell right there.
+LoveBandit1000 Hi and thanks for post. The footage of that concert is on youtube, and its exactly as you quote. That whole concert is really impressive!
Hi Whlke Turner. Yes - great that you found the Rockplast post, and can share a great moment from a great talent .... Beck especially, and Gary Moore were fans and Clapton took some of his work too at one point.
He was one incredible musician and so down to earth it wasn't funny. Those of us that saw him back in the 70s in Washington DC were so freakin lucky .. He is sorely missed ...
Went to see Roy in Central Park, NYC in the early 1970's after my dad, of all people, yelled for me to come into our living room to see this dude playing incredible guitar on public TV (Channel 13 in NYC) He was right and so when I had the chance I got tix and saw the great Roy play. After that, he was never "unknown" to me. RIP Roy nearly 30 years since he left us.
He didn't seek fame look at his face and concentration for gratification he got before the pay came ...... He was a true devotee of the guitar and he is famous because most well known guitarists cite him as an icon
I confess no other freaking guitarist ever played a love song to make me cry, like this guy doing this song make me did. that's right and I'm a black man well so they say and I love reggae. but above all I appreciate music and I don't care who's playing it the way I love it.
This great man, so many inspired by him, never achieved stardom during his lifetime. He's easily one of the top 5 most underrated guitar players in history. He had no effects here, just a simple tele, a chord and a Fender Super Reverb. No processors, no nothing. Guitar, amp, and the hands of Roy Buchanan.
I’m 67 years old this man right here is why I have played telecasters for over 50 years........! There are a lot of telecaster players that I think are phenomenal but there will never be another Mr. Roy Buchanan...🎶🙏🙏🙏🎶 I had the Extreme pleasure of seeing Roy play twice in my life ........... It was not enough................!
I sort of get lost in this - it plays around me and over me and I get lost in it. I don't know if I will ever come out of it it. Thank you Roy this is a very special piece that I treasure.
I bought the studio version of this song when it first came out. I saw him live a couple times. Seeing this still brings tears to my eyes. The girl's expression at 3:15 says it all.
The most expressive beautiful playing Ive ever heard. He was something. Should be up there with the likes of Page, Hendrix and Clapton. Theyrw sitting there in awe. Listening to the greatest tele master of em all.
I found out about this man after watching the Departed. This Guy is amazing! I am sure I have come across his discs at the store just not knowing who he was. Such a great piece of music!
I was living in the Mid South around the early seventies. My parents lived in Arkansas just across the Mississippi river from Greenville, where I was able to see him perform. Later, he performed at what I thought was an all-African American roadhouse in Alligator, Mississippi when Gatemouth Brown was still hitting those places in the south. Buchanan seemed shy, but he got up on stage later in the evening and jammed with all the regulars. ...Great memories. This kind of reminds me of 'sleepwalker' in many ways
I was there this night in Austin (still live here) and I was so moved afterwards I went home and picked up my old SG and haven"t quit playing since then. I'll never forget it.
People in this video realising that they are part of a history moment... There is something sometimes and first you even didnt notice but then you know it was something special... Unique... That was for sure one of these moments
I saw him live once, just before his untimely death...simply astonishing. I actually walked up and introduced myself as a guitar player. He was a gentleman and a humble guy. I don't know if he knew how good he was...or at least he didn't acknowledge it to me when I showered him with accolades.
I ALWAYS shut up when I heard anything by him and listened and hung on every note--always immediately knew That's Roy!! I was crushed when we lost him...
Roy used to sit in when I was with a group called - The Monkey Men - Learned more about playing like him, but only on the bass, than any other guitist - Thanks so much for posting all these clips - Our most fun song was "Aligator Wine" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins and "Haunted House" we performed together a lot after that.
first heard this track when I was 14, back in the early 70's, growing up in Liverpool...as fresh and breathtaking now as it was back then...God Bless Roy
The Messiah. My first experience listing to Roy. Went to every concert at Christmas time in Pittsburgh PA. Was an out of body experience. Best Blues guitarist of our time.
At around the 2:00 mark you can see Roy's view from the stage and the fans mesmerized and drinking it all in. Listening to this song and the way he played it, I still get a dust mote in my eye trying not to get upset thinking about what happened to Roy in the end :-(
This is my favorite RU-vid video...the most soulful guitar playing ever recorded, from a magic performance on a magic night. Roy didn't always get it happening like this, but when he did, he was peerless.
You'd probably also like Keith Richards singing a duet on the Everly Brothers' song 'Love Hurts' The lady he sings with is ravishing. I can't recall her name just now.
Thats what I call Sweet Tone. How he gets that out of a Telecaster is beyond me.? Some have critizised Roy for being a little sharp in tone...but I don't hear what they are talking about. It's pure and clean as it gets.
I remember going around UT passing out "Free" tickets to this show. Got to meet Roy. After this taping, he played at the Armadillo World HEADquarters that same evening and the next night. Did not ever miss his shows when he came to town.
I was so lucky to see him twice in the early 80s at the Keystone, Palo Alto, small venue, where I watched him make the Telecaster cry from a few feet away...magical memories from my youth! Thanks Roy, you were amazing.
IMHO Roy Buchannon w/the snake stretchers , the black and white profile cover, has both the BEST VERSION OF MESSIAH he ever cut! & a sublime Don Gibson's Sweet Dreams! It finishes that film The Departed and Martin Scorsese has good taste haha plus the Maestro Roy told me himself in Toronto ,at Alberts Hall(rip) that was his fav record.. i 2nd it! Andy Paley was on drums that night,wicked man
@@j.p.fitting9226 Yes, this song is played as the closing credits roll in the 2007 movie "The Departed." (I want to thank my library for having the film on blu-ray!
Guitarists appreciate Roy. That's all that would have mattered to him. I feel so privileged to have lived in a town where both Roy Buchannan and Danny Gatton lived.
Saw them both many times. Roy played 'The Crossroads' in Bladensburg Md., my home town, all the time. He recorded this LIVE there for his famous 'Burlap Bag' album which was a novelty at the time. I think there were only 5K copies and I have one of them. Danny Gatton was from Waldorf, about 20 miles from D.C. and played all over Georgetown back then. I was a very lucky man to have been able to see both of them so many times. RIP Roy and Danny. You both were spectacular.
