Song of the Day 7/28: Allman Brothers Band, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More”

It’s a good time to eat a peach — it’s the height of a better-than-average peach season. It’s also a good time to play “Eat a Peach,” the soundtrack of many a lazy Rehoboth Beach day back in the ’70s. The band, still basking in the success of “Live at Fillmore East,” was in the midst of recording new music in fall 1971 when leader Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash. Many people thought that spelled the end of the Allman Brothers Band.

“Eat a Peach,” released in February 1972, put that notion to rest. The title came from a remark Duane made to an interviewer who wanted to know what he was doing for the revolution. “Every time I’m in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace,” apparently in reference either to T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”* or the two-legged kind of Georgia peach. Or maybe both.

More than half the album consisted of live tracks — “Mountain Jam” took up two sides of the double LP — but Gregg Allman made a statement with this opening cut. He had almost completed the music when Duane died, but wrote the lyrics afterwards. It’s also the first track with Dickey Betts playing slide guitar, which he had to learn on the fly to complete the album. It was also the first single from the album, but it only reached No. 77 on the Hot 100. The album, however, reached No. 4.

*Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.