# Rock songs with organ music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544 "2006-10-06T19:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/21 "2006-10-07T02:28:07Z")
Three Dog Night’s “Chest Fever” starts off with an organ intro that moves on to set up the piece, and provide it’s backbone. From the album _One_. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/22 "2006-10-07T02:41:02Z")
Rick Wakeman, Al Cooper and Patrick Moraz all come to mind. Been drinking too much for specific examples. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/23 "2006-10-07T02:46:04Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] Three Dog Night’s “Chest Fever” starts off with an organ intro that moves on to set up the piece, and provide it’s backbone. From the album _One_. [/QUOTE] \ Three Dog Night’s version is a cover of the original done by The Band. \ FTR I knew the Three Dog Night version first, myself. Great organ riff! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/24 "2006-10-07T02:49:00Z")
Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up”–the album cut has a great organ solo by Rod Argent. “I’m OK” by Styx (from their \*Pieces of Eight \* album) has Dennis DeYoung playing a cathedral pipe organ. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/25 "2006-10-07T03:40:50Z")
Light my Fire ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/26 "2006-10-07T03:47:53Z")
Getting back to pipe organs, the songs “Parallels” and “Awaken” on **Yes** ’ album _Going For The One_ feature Rick Wakeman on church organ (recorded at St. Martin’s Church in Vevey, Switzerland). One of their best 20-minute epics, “Close To The Edge”, also features an excellent organ piece in the “iii. I Get Up, I Get Down” section, also played by Rick Wakeman. Liner notes don’t say anything about a church on that album, though. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/27 "2006-10-07T03:50:01Z")
Party- Boston Let It Be- Beatles (has a little bit of organ before the solo) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/28 "2006-10-07T04:32:14Z")
There are other Beatles songs with organ. The three that come to mind for me are by George Harrison: Only a Northern Song, Blue Jay Way and Long, Long, Long. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/29 "2006-10-07T04:50:29Z")
I’ll just note very geekily that a Hammond is not a pipe organ. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/30 "2006-10-07T04:58:14Z")
**Let’s Go Crazy** by Prince Real pipe organ, not B3. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/31 "2006-10-07T06:38:36Z")
[QUOTE=dalej42] Genesis. The beginning of Watcher of the Skies is all organ. [/QUOTE] Come to think of it, Genesis featured Tony Banks’ organ pretty much throughout the early stuff, when Peter Gabriel was still the singer and one or two albums beyond that point. Organ players in rock seem to get dissed a lot; I’ve heard it in regard to Ray Manzarek as well as Tony Banks, and you don’t usually hear of an “awesome keyboardist”, the way you would a guitarist. Maybe people think it’s too easy to play to be of any consequence, or maybe it’s the “accordian” factor–that of a loud keyboard instrument. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/32 "2006-10-07T07:33:58Z")
One of my lifetime top ten albums, Diamanda Galas and John Paul Jones’s _The Sporting Life_ (her “pop” album), has a lot of fantastic wailing, wobbling Hammond organ on it. Find “Baby’s Insane” for one of the best Hammond tracks ever. _Ever_. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/33 "2006-10-07T13:39:10Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] There’s a Hammond organ on nearly every Allman Brothers Band song ever recorded. [/QUOTE] Absolutey - the Hammond B3 with a Lesley cabiniet is one of the great sounds of blues-rock. For you youngsters reading, that was back in the day when musicians actually PLAYED their instruments and SANG to a real tune, rather than sample others’ music and “rap”. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/34 "2006-10-07T14:48:44Z")
The Murder City Devils used (non-pipe) organ fairly extensively through their unfortunately brief career. Boom swagger swagger boom, baby. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/35 "2006-10-07T14:59:12Z")
\*\*Uriah Heep \*\*had quite a bit of (not pipe) organ. The organ was probably just as much a lead instrument for them as the guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/36 "2006-10-07T15:23:08Z")
The Buckinghams were big on the organ thing. (My dad played with a guy who eventually became a Buckingham. _Brush with mediocraty_! He ended up in jail, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/37 "2006-10-07T16:58:29Z")
_Take Your Time_ by Buddy Holly. The organ was played by Norman Petty’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/38 "2006-10-07T17:45:45Z")
Well, since we seem to be doing organs in general and not just pipe organs, two of my favorite examples: [“The House of the Rising Sun”](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrisingson.html) by the Animals has a crazy organ part, including a solo, and “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians has a nice minimalist organ part. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/39 "2006-10-07T18:13:35Z")
The Rolling Stones - “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” Spencer Davis - “Gimme Some Lovin’” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544/40 "2006-10-07T18:18:31Z")
**The Crazy World of Arthur Brown** not only used a Hammond organ as the lead instrument, it lacked a guitar entirely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-songs-with-organ-music/375544.md?page=3)