iceport wrote: Mon Sep 15, 2025 1:06 pm
Driving WheelAs has been known to happen, an instrument grabbed my attention first, then came a more careful listen, then finally a deeper appreciation for the song. I was on the second or so listen through this surprisingly pleasant late-career album that I had just discovered, when “George Harrison” showed up on a cover of “Drivin’ Wheel.” That’s a song that I’ve heard around before, and always thought was kind of cool, but I never really listened to closely. It’s really a sweet, powerful love song.
In this case, there’s a little bit of slide guitar playing early on that sounds eerily similar to George Harrison’s style. I hear it plain as day — though sometimes I hear similarities where others don’t. And it’s not like Harrison’s real-life playing hasn’t graced a Bromberg album before. He showed up for one track he co-wrote on Bromberg’s first album in 1972, possibly only a few years after Harrison started playing slide. (The Holdup (“Harrison” Version) But this was a 2013 release! His ghost must have been in the studio.
Anyway, I really came to love Bromberg’s version of Drivin’ Wheel. Between the spare use of the slide, the sax later on, laid-back keyboards, and the easy, comfortable groove throughout, this really strikes a chord. Bromberg’s long-time wife is among the backing vocals, and there are familiar names on the horns, from Bromberg’s “big band” days in the ’70s. Is Mark Cosgrove (?) the guitarist channeling Harrison on slide? Bromberg might not have the world’s most beautiful voice, but he can still tug at the heart strings when he gets all sentimental. And as always, Campbell makes it all sound gorgeous.
3 Drivin’ Wheel
Backing Vocals – Kathleen Weber, Nancy Josephson, Teresa Williams
Bass – Butch Amiot*
Drums – Josh Kanusky
Electric Guitar – Mark Cosgrove <— ?
Keyboards – Brian Mitchell
Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – David Bromberg
Tenor Saxophone – John Firmin
Trombone – Harvey Tibbs
Trumpet – Peter Ecklund
Written-By – David Wiffen
• Recorded At – Levon Helm Studios
• Producer – Larry Campbell
A year before Bromberg’s self-titled first album came out, complete with that Harrison appearance, English-Canadian singer/songwriter David Wiffen released his self-titled album with his song Driving Wheel in 1971. (Interesting album, worth a listen of its own!)
Driving Wheel – David Wiffen – David Wiffen (1971)
The Cowboy Junkies also covered the tune.
Lost My Driving Wheel · Cowboy Junkies · Studio · 2008
The thing is, I never really got the term “driving wheel.” Sounds kind of old-fashioned and unusual. Made me wonder if Wiffen borrowed the term from Roosevelt Sykes, who wrote a different song by a similar name, “Driving Wheel Blues.” Though the roles are reversed on later versions of the tune, in the original version he sang, “People, I don’t have to work and I ain’t gonna rob and steal, My baby gives me everything I need, she is my driving wheel.” There’s even the same reference to returning on Saturday! That can’t be just a coincidence, can it?
Driving Wheel Blues – Roosevelt Sykes (The Honey Dripper) (Decca) Recorded February 18, 1936.
EDIT TO ADD:
Still struck by the 1971 Wiffen album, I happened across this interview from just a few years ago. Wiffen talks, too briefly and haltingly, about writing Driving Wheel, and he doesn’t cop to any inspiration from the Roosevelt Sykes tune. But I’m more convinced than ever that he used that song as a foundation. He took it in a completely different direction, and it’s clearly a different song. But there are three striking things in common: 1) referring to his love as his “driving wheel”; 2) the promise to return by Saturday; and 3) talk of writing a letter.
And *then*… the interviewer (PL) asks David Wiffen (DW) about Bromberg’s cover:
From the YT transcript:
PL: and what about the song driving wheelDW: uh that’s I would say it’s it’s purely fictional it just came to me that I always liked that the song The Midnight Special and um it just happened to be a nice a nice line to put in there that uh but it was fictional I’ve never been to Texas but because of Jerry Jeff and uh uh who is a or was it a Texan and whom with whom I spent a lot of time I uh it just it just was a good line I liked it and that’s how it came about
PL: well someone I am a fan of David Bromberg he recorded that song driving wheel what did you think of his interpretation
DW: I just I just listened to it very recently I’d never heard it by this version before and I really liked it it was a very good version I really enjoyed it
David Wiffen Interview on The Paul Leslie Hour
EDIT #2:
Don’t know where I find this stuff (well, OK, the YouTube algorithm again), but this passage of a recent Bromberg interview answers a question I have always wondered about: How in the world did David Bromberg come to write a funny novelty song with George Harrison?
there was a co-write with you and George Harrison I think on a song did you ever get to meet George or…oh yes oh okay yeah all right George I I knew a little better um George and I were both invited to uh a Thanksgiving Day dinner um at the home of al aronowitz who who he’s the one who contacted your dad about you yeah oh that’s fantastic yeah I think he was and uh anyhow um so both both uh both George and I were invited to dinner at his home and uh neither was brought a guitar uh you know we were there for 10 but you know we sat for a while while he he cooked and uh we’re guitar junkies the only guitar there was a kind of entry-level uh gut string guitar so uh we picked it up and passed it back and forth ah okay just because we had to have it in our hands yeah of course yeah you see it they’re lying there you got to pick it up right if you’re a guitar player yeah and we ended up with a song we hadn’t tried to write a song but it wrote itself
Ah that’s beautiful yeah I love that story
from May 2023: David Bromberg On His Final Big Band Show in NYC, Bob Dylan, George Harrison + More
Enjoyed the deep dive on the song (at least the title), always liked the Tom Rush version of the Wiffens Drivin’ Wheel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoNe3R3 … rt_radio=1
The Roosevelt Sykes Driving Wheel has many covers, here is Etta James no nonsense cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3CQbu7 … rt_radio=1
To confuse matters more here is the Drivin’ Wheel song penned by Billy Swann and T-Bone Burnett recorded rockabilly style by Emmylou Harris:
