Bad Company Drummer Recalls Paul Rodgers Waking The Studio Owner Up In The Middle Of The Night

Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke joined a conversation with Vintage Rock Pod and talked about the process of creating Free’s song ‘All Right Now.’ Kirke mentioned that Paul Rodgers woke the studio boss up to listen to the record.

After leaving Black Cat Bones, Simon Kirke formed Free with Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers, and Andy Fraser. Surprisingly, the band released six albums, although their career lasted only five years. Their song ‘All Right Now‘ became a hit from the band’s 1970 album called ‘Fire and Water.’ The song reached number one in various countries.

Chris Blackwell’s Island Records label recorded the song. It was the number two on the UK Singles Chart while number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. When the track was re-released in 1973, it became number fifteen on the UK chart. By late 1989, ‘All Right Now’ played for more than 1 million on the radio. After it received more than 2 million plays, Paul Rodgers won an award given by the British music industry in 2000.

In a recent conversation, Simon Kirke revealed that they finished the song ‘All Right Now’ recording process late at night. According to Kirke, the recording boss Chris Blackwell was living above the studio, and Paul Rodgers wanted him to wake up to listen to the record. The engineer did not give a meaning to this, but Rodgers wanted him to hear at that moment, as the drummer stated. Kirke indicated that Blackwell came to the studio, listened to the song, and said the track would be a hit.

Simon Kirke said in his words:

“It was pretty late at night. We finished it, and Chris Blackwell, the boss of our records, had an apartment above the studio. Paul Rodgers just said, ‘We got to get him out of bed to listen to this.’ The engineer was like, ‘Are you crazy?’ He said, ‘No, no, no. He’s got to hear it.’ He actually called him up, and he came down to the studio.

We said, ‘You gotta hear this.’ He said, ‘Alright.’ We pressed play, and I’ll never forget, he’s at the end of it, he said ‘It’s the hit. But it’s too long.’ It’s gotta be on top of the pops. That was the golden key in those days. If you’re on top of the pops, you’re guaranteed at least the top ten.”

You can listen to the whole conversation and the song below.