A few years ago I found a 45 RPM single by Arlo that came out in 1971. The A side is The Ballad of Tricky Fred, with Shackles & Chains on the B side. Tricky Fred never appeared on any album that I know of. Can anybody enlighten me about this song? The only other information I have about the song is that it was written by Arlo, has Ry Cooder on bottleneck guitar, and has horns arranged by Jerry Jumonville. I have since turned it into an MP3 so I can listen to it in iTunes. The more I listen to it, the more I like it, although I wasn't so sure at first. I don't remember ever hearing it at UMass in the 70s.

For what it's worth saminoz, I can really dig that song myself. I downloaded it off KaZaa for nutin. Now all I need is an ipod right..


I heard Arlo do it live once. It was the first time I had heard it. Which is always new differant, hearing Arlo singin somethin you never heard him do before. ( altho I think all his songs are great & I'm sure he could easily surprize me)

But to keep it short, yeah, I dig that song too!!! ha ha "The Ballad of Trickey Fred....

The long version is, I like any song that tells a story... And that song tells a tale... Like Woody's "Little East Texas Red". It's like a mini version of a western movie, put to music...Dave Downin had told me he had the 45... I don't own it, and was taken aback seeing available for download...

I could be wrong, but my philosophy is, any musician that doesn't have stuff to download for free, isn't much of an act. Nor will be remembered... ( I read they are arresting colledge kids, for illegal downloads)

My library isn't too large. Maybe a guy caught with over 5000 songs downloaded on his PC, should get busted? I think songs should be free, but get many a debate, about the morality of stealing someones music...



Peace out/Rb

I nearly snagged the original 45 on ebay a few weeks ago but missed out.

I have this song. I have it on a record Warner Bros put out in the early 70's that has songs of different Warner Bros artists on it. I got it at an used record shop yrs ago. I have no idea why this song wasn't on any albums of his. This would be a nice one for RSR to re-release...

Hi Cheryl. I remember the promotional L.P.'s that Reprise Records put out, in the early 70's. (My memory is really vague on this, as ya might remember my old story about losing all my vynal in a house fire in 1982)

But those promo L.P.'s were unique... The one I had, had Arlo's "Every Hand in the Land" on it... ( I believe there were 4 or 5 of them )

More importantly, they introduced me to artist such as Ela Fitzgerald, Doug Kershaw, ect, ect..... I have a friend in R.I. that has them all.... Next time I talk with him, I'll have to ask him about them.... We often turn to his record collection, to do fact finding during our phone chats, when it comes to music.... Hopefully my friend's book ( The Unofficial Biography of Leon Russell) will be published soon, and you can be sure I'll be doing shameless plugs, about the book) ( Leon is my favorite musician, next to Arlo)

Yours truly/Rb

If he was easy to find, tricky fred wouldn't be so tricky.......would he?

So sorry you lost your records in a house fire. I think I have the one with Evey Hand In The Land on it too. I know I have several with him in it & they are all interesting...

So how much did Tricky Fred get on eBay? I picked mine up in Sydney in a second-hand RECORD store many years ago. Pretty clean version, still with the hole plug in the centre.

And I bought many of those Warner/Reprise samplers, which had some unreleased songs, like 'When I Turn Out the Living Room Light' by The Kinks. Who could argue with $2 double albums?

I saw it on ebay starting at $20. I don't ever buy on ebay but emailed my niece (her mobile phone was off) who does, but she didn't get the email in time and I missed out. Didn't see what the final bid was.

It is said there is no bad advertising....so free downloads are that..which is OK if that's what you (the musician) wants. However every free illegitimate downloaded tune that would have been purchased is taking money out of the pocket of a musician who depends on such things to exist. As Arlo could tell us these things related to record companies and publishing rights can be very complicated. A musicains publishing rights are sort of like a sonic patent. Ask Sir Paul who owns (stole) his catalog...he didn't want revolution as a nike commercial. I'm all for free taping/trading ala the dead, arlo, and many others....but musicians often have debts to record companies to pay off through sales before they see a dime. If we don't support their efforts then we get no creativity just endless parades of prefabricated Britney Spears and Jess Simpson's who are created to sell and appeal to the masses, not be original in any way. So getting that tune from Kazza is ripping a few cents more or less from Arlo, provided he owns the publishing rights to the tune.....it may still be owned by whatever record company produced it if he did not sell enough 45's in the first place to pay them back provided they financed him. I don't think he's loaded or he wouldn't be out there working so hard on the road, and the Guthrie Center would not have to fund raise....they would be his philanthropic wing ie: place to channel the extra cash for a good cause. Michael Jackson outbid Sir Paul for the Beatles catalog when Apple put it up.......so download all the Beatles you want from Kazza or anywhere ! Don't give that guy a penny.