McGuinnes Flint: When I'm Dead And Gone

My brother called me the other night and encouraged me to listen to this cut he found on YouTube of the band McGuinness Flint. He described it like the solo work of Ronnie Lane – original songs done in a traditional feel. I believe he hit the nail on the head on this one.

When I looked up the song “When I’m Dead and Gone,” I immediately recognized the tune which meant I either remembered it from when it got played on the radio or I had a copy of the song. I think it is the latter and believe it is on a Capitol Records sampler from 1970 or 71 that I got through the Capitol Records Club of which I was a member at the time.

It’s a great little tune that has mandolin, slide guitar, and kazoo – what is there not to like? McGuinnes Flint, much like Fleetwood Mac was named for the band’s rhythm section. Bassist Tom McGuinnnes had played with Manfred Mann and drummer Hughie Flint, like hundreds of other British musicians (such as Mick Fleetwood and John McVie), apprenticed under John Mayall. The band also consisted of keyboardist Denny Coulson and talented multi-instrumentalists Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle who would depart and form their own group known as, what else, Gallagher and Lyle.

Owing to the different musical tastes of the UK and US, the song performed quite differently in each country. In their homeland, “When I’m Dead and Gone” peaked at #2. In the US, it got some airplay; however, it was only enough to propel the song to #47 on the Hot 100 Charts.

The song was composed by a nascent Gallagher and Lyle and several recreations of this song were recorded by a dozen artists including Phil Everly (of the Everly Brothers), Status Quo, Adam Faith, and even Def Leppard.