Rock Songs That Make You Glad You Play...a Horn

[JazzManJim]

I was driving home the other day, listening to my local classic rock hybrid station and I heard a song that, when I was young, made me very much want to play a horn so that maybe one day I could be in a band that played that song. That got me thinking. What other songs have such great horn parts that they keep me pulling out my sax and playing it, still harboring the hope that one day there'll be a pickup band who'll need a sax player for one of these songs. Here's my list...fifteen or so, not in any particular order.

1) Lucrezia McEvil - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
2) Make Me Smile - Chicago
3) Getaway - Earth, Wind, and Fire
4) Jackie Wilson Said - Van Morrison
5) Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry
6) My Old School - Steely Dan
7) Late in the Evening - Paul Simon
8) Superstition - Stevie Wonder
9) Love Rollercoaster - The Ohio Players
10) Love and Tenderness - Al Green
11) I Can't Turn You Loose - Wilson Pickett
12) Hothouse Ball - Bruce Hornsby
13) Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
14) Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Phil Collins
15) Bop Gun - Parliament


Honorable Mentions:
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
God Bless the Child - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
In the Stone - Earth, Wind, and Fire
In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
Rainbow's Cadillac - Bruce Hornsby
Domino - Van Morrison
Let it Roll - Little Feat

 

[glynndah]

I was driving home the other day, listening to my local classic rock hybrid station and I heard a song that, when I was young, made me very much want to play a horn so that maybe one day I could be in a band that played that song. That got me thinking. What other songs have such great horn parts that they keep me pulling out my sax and playing it, still harboring the hope that one day there'll be a pickup band who'll need a sax player for one of these songs. Here's my list...fifteen or so, not in any particular order.

1) Lucrezia McEvil - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
2) Make Me Smile - Chicago
3) Getaway - Earth, Wind, and Fire
4) Jackie Wilson Said - Van Morrison
5) Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry
6) My Old School - Steely Dan
7) Late in the Evening - Paul Simon
8) Superstition - Stevie Wonder
9) Love Rollercoaster - The Ohio Players
10) Love and Tenderness - Al Green
11) I Can't Turn You Loose - Wilson Pickett
12) Hothouse Ball - Bruce Hornsby
13) Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
14) Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Phil Collins
15) Bop Gun - Parliament


Honorable Mentions:
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
God Bless the Child - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
In the Stone - Earth, Wind, and Fire
In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
Rainbow's Cadillac - Bruce Hornsby
Domino - Van Morrison
Let it Roll - Little Feat

Without reading any more of your post than the title, the opening chords to Spinning Wheel immediately sprang into my head.

 

[albertaboy]

Jungleland by Bruce Springsteen

 

[foodsnob]

Just about anything by the Stones. Especially during the Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed, Exile trilogy.

 

[JazzManJim]

Without reading any more of your post than the title, the opening chords to Spinning Wheel immediately sprang into my head.

I found out a few years ago that I'm only one degree removed from the guy who arranged the horn parts for BST and played 'bone for them. Kind of cool. I hope to trade the common association to meet him one day.

 

[fluttertongue]

25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
I've always loved this song....never really understood it, but loved it all the same.

 

[JazzManJim]

25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
I've always loved this song....never really understood it, but loved it all the same.

A lot of Chicago's songs don't make sense. I tend not to pay attention to the lyrics, though.

 

[Ham Murabi]

Vehicle by Ides of March.
Killer horn riff.

 

[Bluesboy2]

Various tunes by the Brecker Bros, Tower of Power and Average White Band.

 

[JazzManJim]

Various tunes by the Brecker Bros, Tower of Power and Average White Band.

I kind of stick them in the jazz and funk categories, as opposed to more Rock/Pop. I know I have a Parliament song in that list, but Parliament really did hit the pop scene hard for a little while instead of being a niche genre group like AWB or ToP.

 

[Denae]

My old college roommate played Foreigner's Urgent over and over ad nauseum.
(I could have the title of the song wrong, but it was a Foreigner tune with a healthy sax riff.)

 

[JazzManJim]

My old college roommate played Foreigner's Urgent over and over ad nauseum.
(I could have the title of the song wrong, but it was a Foreigner tune with a healthy sax riff.)

Nope. That's the right song.

 

[Sharon_]

I was driving home the other day, listening to my local classic rock hybrid station and I heard a song that, when I was young, made me very much want to play a horn so that maybe one day I could be in a band that played that song. That got me thinking. What other songs have such great horn parts that they keep me pulling out my sax and playing it, still harboring the hope that one day there'll be a pickup band who'll need a sax player for one of these songs. Here's my list...fifteen or so, not in any particular order.

1) Lucrezia McEvil - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
2) Make Me Smile - Chicago
3) Getaway - Earth, Wind, and Fire
4) Jackie Wilson Said - Van Morrison
5) Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry
6) My Old School - Steely Dan
7) Late in the Evening - Paul Simon
8) Superstition - Stevie Wonder
9) Love Rollercoaster - The Ohio Players
10) Love and Tenderness - Al Green
11) I Can't Turn You Loose - Wilson Pickett
12) Hothouse Ball - Bruce Hornsby
13) Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
14) Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Phil Collins
15) Bop Gun - Parliament


Honorable Mentions:
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
God Bless the Child - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
In the Stone - Earth, Wind, and Fire
In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
Rainbow's Cadillac - Bruce Hornsby
Domino - Van Morrison
Let it Roll - Little Feat

Turn the Page - Bob Seger
Most anything by Chicago
Don Henley - End of the Innocence