But, I found out later on through so many years, it took me quite a few years to figure out that when Sam Cooke was here, the moment he hit the music scene, not just black music, but music, that`s R&B, gospel, rock, country, light rock, soft rock, anything that dealt with music, was inspired and changed and enhanced by the Sam Cooke flavor. It was just like introducing salt to meat. He was the seasoning. So, he left a big impression but did not get the credit for it. A lot people say when they hear it for the first time after so many times ignoring it, “Where did that come from, “I Got A Feelin”. Oh, Sam Cooke!”
Well, I will remind them of where it came from. Sam Cooke influenced the blues, the gospel, the R&B. That`s why he had so many sounds and from the gospel world and came into the blues world. From the Malico sound which was different from the Chicago sound or the California sound. All that was inspired through this world sound that was floating all over the place. I guess that during my childhood hearing, not hearing it, and locked in my subconscious and when it came out, that`s were it was. And that`s I started singing. I knew the melody had to be touching. The melody had to be meaningful and the melody had to have some emotion to it and a story, the message. Not just the words, but the melody also. A combination of that together is what I use to create the Eugene Bridges sound and it reminds you of BB King, of Sam Cooke and of a lot of other people. It doesn`t just copy them because I am who I am. It`s just that sound that was around the world. Some parts come out stronger than others. I just use that to tell my story, tell your story. What ever country I`m in, tell that story on the song that you can feel it. Not just hear it, not just something to fill up the space. But something you can hear, feel and touch. The same message that Sam left back in the day, and left that same emotion. So, that`s how I started singing when I was seven years old. And, bringing the style, it just happened. I just kept playing what was in my heart. I kept writing it down. If I hear it, I just write it down and create it into a song. I used to rely on my sister to do it, but she didn`t have the same vision that I had, so I had to do it myself.
Like Daddy said.
Yeah. Follow your heart.
Let`s talk a little bit about some of your songs. I mentioned earlier that I really like “She Want To Dance With Me”. You said there is something behind that song?
In South Carolina, we recorded a couple of albums before that, it was a Sam Cooke song. “Come on, let the good times roll” (Good Times). That was the purpose of me recording that song so they could play it over on the East Coast with the shag crowd. That particular groove carried on to the dancing that they do, that shag dancing. When you are out on the dance floor and you`re looking out on this ocean of people out there dancing. This gave me the idea to put that song together with that particular groove, so we decided to write something to enhance the feeling and emotion that these people are going through every day. I won`t be there everyday, but I want to leave something that they can relate to. They can say, “Hey, he`s talking about us. He may not be talking about the aching heart we are going through, but he`s playing about the dance we are going through right now.” I laid that song down for that particular purpose.
Any songs about Texas?
On the first Album, there is a song called My Only Reason For Working Ain`t No Reason No More. It`s possible that I might do that on Saturday night. I don`t know. This is my first time there. But, it`s about Texas. It`s about leaving San Antonio and heading back to Houston. It`s about, I ain`t got no reason to live in San Antonio. The only reason I was working for was like, my woman, you know. Just up and gone. So I hit the Interstate 10 and headed back to Houston. It talks about coming to Dallas because my Mama lives back there. I don`t want to go to El Paso because there are too many memories there. It kind of skips you around different parts of Texas but all roads point back to Houston on Interstate 10. Put the pedal to the floor. Because, my only reason for working was no reason no more. It was about a really good emotion and about carrying that sound and keeping Texas alive. I made it my home back in 1979 when I left Louisiana and came to Texas. Lacklin Air Force Base, San Antonio and on to El Paso, Austin, just all over the place and then I ended up in Houston. I got there and I found out I really liked it. I loved Houston. That`s where I make my home in the USA.
So, you were in the Air Force.
Yeah. Three years. Lacklin Air Force Base. Hydraulic specialist. I did that so I could get that out of the way because music is always my number one thing. It always has been. Doors were closed in my face. For so many years I was trying to get these doors open. Agent wouldn`t do his job. Agent couldn`t get anybody to really come and actually do what needed to be done. Let me do my thing. I wasn`t able to get that, so I just kept working and kept working. You had to get a 9 to 5. Everything I wanted to get out of the way because music was my main thing. Not just blues, not just funk, not just R&B, not just gospel. All of it. I had to do all of that. I got all that out of the way and just kept working and kept pushing for agencies across America from one side to the other. But I couldn`t get it done.
Once I came out of the military, I still had to get the 9 to 5`s. I kept pushing for agents and everything. I worked so many different jobs; short order cook to construction, everything. The music was always there. Every chance I got, I`d go play some club out Houston way, Billy Blues, The Big Easy, Shakespeare`s. Within that time, I was playing for Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters and the keyboard player, Eugene Carrier, had played for BB King. He gave me some phone numbers in Paris and across England. At the time I was working as a cop in Houston, a Lieutenant with Tanglewood Police Department.
Well, I will remind them of where it came from. Sam Cooke influenced the blues, the gospel, the R&B. That`s why he had so many sounds and from the gospel world and came into the blues world. From the Malico sound which was different from the Chicago sound or the California sound. All that was inspired through this world sound that was floating all over the place. I guess that during my childhood hearing, not hearing it, and locked in my subconscious and when it came out, that`s were it was. And that`s I started singing. I knew the melody had to be touching. The melody had to be meaningful and the melody had to have some emotion to it and a story, the message. Not just the words, but the melody also. A combination of that together is what I use to create the Eugene Bridges sound and it reminds you of BB King, of Sam Cooke and of a lot of other people. It doesn`t just copy them because I am who I am. It`s just that sound that was around the world. Some parts come out stronger than others. I just use that to tell my story, tell your story. What ever country I`m in, tell that story on the song that you can feel it. Not just hear it, not just something to fill up the space. But something you can hear, feel and touch. The same message that Sam left back in the day, and left that same emotion. So, that`s how I started singing when I was seven years old. And, bringing the style, it just happened. I just kept playing what was in my heart. I kept writing it down. If I hear it, I just write it down and create it into a song. I used to rely on my sister to do it, but she didn`t have the same vision that I had, so I had to do it myself.
Like Daddy said.
Yeah. Follow your heart.
Let`s talk a little bit about some of your songs. I mentioned earlier that I really like “She Want To Dance With Me”. You said there is something behind that song?
In South Carolina, we recorded a couple of albums before that, it was a Sam Cooke song. “Come on, let the good times roll” (Good Times). That was the purpose of me recording that song so they could play it over on the East Coast with the shag crowd. That particular groove carried on to the dancing that they do, that shag dancing. When you are out on the dance floor and you`re looking out on this ocean of people out there dancing. This gave me the idea to put that song together with that particular groove, so we decided to write something to enhance the feeling and emotion that these people are going through every day. I won`t be there everyday, but I want to leave something that they can relate to. They can say, “Hey, he`s talking about us. He may not be talking about the aching heart we are going through, but he`s playing about the dance we are going through right now.” I laid that song down for that particular purpose.
Any songs about Texas?
On the first Album, there is a song called My Only Reason For Working Ain`t No Reason No More. It`s possible that I might do that on Saturday night. I don`t know. This is my first time there. But, it`s about Texas. It`s about leaving San Antonio and heading back to Houston. It`s about, I ain`t got no reason to live in San Antonio. The only reason I was working for was like, my woman, you know. Just up and gone. So I hit the Interstate 10 and headed back to Houston. It talks about coming to Dallas because my Mama lives back there. I don`t want to go to El Paso because there are too many memories there. It kind of skips you around different parts of Texas but all roads point back to Houston on Interstate 10. Put the pedal to the floor. Because, my only reason for working was no reason no more. It was about a really good emotion and about carrying that sound and keeping Texas alive. I made it my home back in 1979 when I left Louisiana and came to Texas. Lacklin Air Force Base, San Antonio and on to El Paso, Austin, just all over the place and then I ended up in Houston. I got there and I found out I really liked it. I loved Houston. That`s where I make my home in the USA.
So, you were in the Air Force.
Yeah. Three years. Lacklin Air Force Base. Hydraulic specialist. I did that so I could get that out of the way because music is always my number one thing. It always has been. Doors were closed in my face. For so many years I was trying to get these doors open. Agent wouldn`t do his job. Agent couldn`t get anybody to really come and actually do what needed to be done. Let me do my thing. I wasn`t able to get that, so I just kept working and kept working. You had to get a 9 to 5. Everything I wanted to get out of the way because music was my main thing. Not just blues, not just funk, not just R&B, not just gospel. All of it. I had to do all of that. I got all that out of the way and just kept working and kept pushing for agencies across America from one side to the other. But I couldn`t get it done.
Once I came out of the military, I still had to get the 9 to 5`s. I kept pushing for agents and everything. I worked so many different jobs; short order cook to construction, everything. The music was always there. Every chance I got, I`d go play some club out Houston way, Billy Blues, The Big Easy, Shakespeare`s. Within that time, I was playing for Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters and the keyboard player, Eugene Carrier, had played for BB King. He gave me some phone numbers in Paris and across England. At the time I was working as a cop in Houston, a Lieutenant with Tanglewood Police Department.
