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Singled Out: Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep)'s You Can Make A Livin


08-08-2019
Phil Lanzon

Uriah Heep's Phil Lanzon is releasing his new solo album, '48 Seconds,' tomorrow (August 9th) and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the song "You Can Make A Livin'". Here is the story:

This song was born around 1998/99. It was a comedy spoof in Frank Zappa style that was designed to take the mickey out of musicians who never achieved their dreams.

I never really intended to do anything with it, it was just a funky groovy skit that had a rocky chorus (which, by the way, I never changed).
I sent a copy to my son Dominic, who thought it was great, but it was certainly no use for Heep and I had no interest in writing a solo album in this style, so on the shelf it sat, until:Fast forward to 2018.

During the formation of my latest album 48 seconds, I blew the dust off the old cassette and made a digital version of the song which was originally entitled, "Can you make a living."

I presented it to Simon, my producer, and Richard, my arranger, with a view to having a comedic track on an otherwise serious album... well, after they heard the lyrics I had written all those years ago, I was given a little of the cold shoulder treatment regarding its content. I was, in a nutshell, reminded that lyrically it was not a particularly pleasant scenario to present on record, so I decided to re-write the verses and recreate a more positive and inspirational lyric.

So I scrapped the old verse and replaced it with the inspirational tune I remember my mother singing when I was just starting out. She always had such faith in me and my future that she said - You can make a living out of rock n roll if you work hard enough. So I changed the original word "Can" to "You" and it's a message that will echo down the generations and is so true: if you work hard enough, you can do anything!!!
"You Can Make A Living."

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!


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Singled Out: Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep)'s You Can Make A Livin

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