When Dave Mason plays the Manship Theatre next week, he’ll perform songs from his high-flying 1970s solo career and his 1960s albums with Traffic.
Mason’s Billboard-charting solo recordings include “We Just Disagree,” “Only You Know and I Know” and “Let It Go, Let It Flow.” But one of his famous songs, “Feelin’ Alright,” initially went nowhere. First released by Traffic in 1968 as an album track and single, “Feelin’ Alright” became a hit only after the soul music-loving British singer Joe Cocker recorded it for his 1969 album, “With a Little Help from My Friends.” The song later appeared on Cocker’s concert album, “Mad Dogs & Englishmen,” and as a comic duet with John Belushi for a 1976 episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
Mason models his own performance of “Feelin’ Alright” after the Cocker interpretation that charted in 1969 and again in 1973.
“I wrote the song, but Cocker is the reason it did what it did,” Mason said recently. “His was a totally different interpretation. Joe did it better, and it still sounds great. I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, sure. I should have done it like that.’ ”
Definitive though Cocker’s take on “Feelin’ Alright” is, countless more singers recorded and performed the song.
“I suppose ‘Feelin’ Alright’ is the biggest of all of them,” Mason said of the songs in his catalog. “It’s been covered by everybody and everybody still does it.”
Mason wrote “Feelin’ Alright” after his first departure from Traffic, the British band that originally featured himself, singer-keyboardist-guitarist Steve Winwood, flute and reed player Chris Wood and drummer-singer Jim Capaldi. He unexpectedly rejoined the group during recording sessions for Traffic’s self-titled second album.
Being in the right place at the right time, Dave Mason did notable studio work as a guitarist, recording with the Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Wings and Jimi Hendrix.
“We met up in New York somewhere and they were doing another album,” Mason remembered. “The three of them only had five songs. I was like, ‘Oh, well. I’ve got five songs here, if you guys want them.’ So, that’s how that second album happened.”
After that brief reunion, Mason’s songwriting prowess put him in good stead for a solo career. And because he was in the right place at the right time, he did notable studio work as a guitarist, recording with the Rolling Stones (“Beggars Banquet”), George Harrison (“All Things Must Pass”), Paul McCartney and Wings (“Venus and Mars”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Electric Ladyland”).
“Most of that stuff was when I was still living in England,” he said. “Everybody was in one place, London. It was a small community. We all hung out together, so I got to know everybody. A lot of things were happening there in the ’60s. Fashion and art, music, film, everything.”
Nearing his 78th birthday, Dave Mason continues to perform and tour with his band. 'That’s what I do,' he says.
Mason has written a memoir titled after one of his famous songs, “Only You Know & I Know.” His co-writer, Chris Epting, previously worked on memoirs by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen and John Oates from the duo Hall & Oates. Mason’s book is expected to be published later this year.
Left to his devices, the modest Mason would never have written a memoir.
“I’m just a singer and a guitar player,” he said. “I’m a working musician, basically. But Chris turned up at a couple of shows and was badgering my wife about how I needed to write a book. He said: ‘I will do whatever you need to get this done.’ He handled times, places, dates — things that weren’t in my memory bank. Chris would craft an idea and then I’d write it. He’s been invaluable with all that.”
The challenges in assembling the book included obtaining permission from copyright owners for photos and lyrics.
“I had to get clearances for pictures of me,” Mason said with a laugh. “And then I had to get clearance for my own lyrics, things that I don’t own the publishing for.”
As his 78th birthday on May 10 looms, Mason — like his fellow pensioner-age British music stars Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney and Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ron Wood — continues to tour and perform.
“I’ll still be playing,” he promised. “That’s what I do.”