Billy Swan – I Can Help

I wrote ‘I Can Help’ when Kris (Kristofferson) and Rita (Coolidge) bought me a little RMI organ for a wedding present,” Billy Swan told Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone. “My wife had one of these little electric drummers… So I was just sitting at the organ and… started playin’ chords and pretty soon the words came out… I did it in two takes and didn’t even overdub the vocals — just stoop up and played the organ and sang… Some people call it a nostalgia song, but I don’t think so. I just like the sound.”

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Billy Swan - I Can Help

Billy Swan - I Can Help (1974)03:03

Swan had a multitude of interesting songs along the way to recording his own chart-topping single. He was born May 12, 1943 in Cape Giradeau, Missouri. He grew up listening to country stars like Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and Webb Pierce, then fell under the rock and roll influence of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.

The first song he ever wrote became a top 10 single. “I was 16 and wrote a poem in English class one day,” he told Flippo. “A couple of years later Bill Black took it to Clyde McPhatter, who didn’t like it but went ahead and cut it. That was ‘Lover Please.’ After that, I was spoiled. I figured show business was the easiest thing in the world.”

“I Can Help” went to #1 in US and #6 in UK, in 1974.

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