"I'd Love to Change the World" is a song by the British blues rock band Ten Years After. Written by Alvin Lee, it is the lead single from the band's 1971 album A Space in Time. It is the band's only Top 40 hit, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and their most popular single.
Video I'd Love to Change the World
Background and composition
The song was written and sung by Alvin Lee.
It discusses the confused state of the world, covering a wide variety of societal complaints, until it finally addresses the Vietnam War.
The song features a folk-inspired chord pattern to support the melody.
Maps I'd Love to Change the World
Release and reception
"I'd Love to Change the World" was the band's highest charting single. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. When it was released, "I'd Love to Change the World" was a staple of both FM and AM radio, a rarity for the time.
Billy Walker of Sounds wrote that the "acoustic guitar, echoing vocals, and electric guitar build up the tempo with very good cool electric passages by Alvin [Lee], and while there's nothing new developing it's a very nice track". Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic highlighted Lee's guitar work as the "most expressive--and most tasteful--electric guitar performance of his career", and added "if there is a single song that can describe the overall vibe of the counterculture in 1969/1970, this may very well be it. The band and Lee never quite matched the song's supple power in their later efforts, but this song is representation enough of their awesome artistry." Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic about Lee's philosophical stance, finding it "cautious" and "dumb": "Fellow seems to believe that if you 'tax the rich to feed the poor' you soon run out of rich, with dire consequences." Christgau later said the lyrics took a cowardly position that "epitomized the political reaction of English blues rock" during the 1970s.
Personnel
- Alvin Lee - guitar and vocals
- Leo Lyons - bass
- Ric Lee - drums
- Chick Churchill - keyboards
Chart performance
Notes
References
- Fisher, Joseph P.; Flota, Brian (2011). The Politics of Post-9/11 Music: Sound, Trauma, and the Music Industry in the Time of Terror. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 1409427846.
External links
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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