"Call Me the Breeze" is a rock song by

J. J. Cale John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and sound engineer. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knop ...

. It first appeared on his 1972 debut album, '' Naturally'', as the opening track. The song consists of a

12-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

guitar

shuffle Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Over ...

and features the early use of a drum machine.

Lynyrd Skynyrd version

Like many Cale songs, "Call Me the Breeze" has been covered numerous times by an assortment of musicians, most notably

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...

on their albums ''

Second Helping ''Second Helping'' is the second studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd, released April 15, 1974. It features the band's biggest hit single, "Sweet Home Alabama," an answer song to Neil Young's "Alabama" and " Southern Man", which reached #8 on the ''Bi ...

'' (1974) and the live disc ''

One More from the Road ''One More from the Road'' (styled as ''One More For From The Road'') is a live album by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, capturing three shows recorded in July 1976 at the Fox Theatre (Atlanta), Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1974 Lynyr ...

'' (1976),

Mason Proffit Mason Proffit was an American country rock band from Indianapolis, Indiana, that released five albums between 1969 and 1973. They are known for their song "Two Hangmen", which garnered a significant amount of Album Oriented Rock airplay. Histor ...

on their 1972 album ''Rockfish Crossing'',

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Early ca ...

on his album ''Bobby Bare - The Country Store Collection (1988)'',

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

on his album '' Water from the Wells of Home'' (1988) with his son

John Carter Cash John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970) is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. He is the only child of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, and the grandson of Maybelle Carter. Biography For several years after his birth, his fathe ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

on his 2013 album '' Paradise Valley'', and UK singer

Alan Price Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...

on his 1977 album ''Two of a Kind'' with

Rob Hoeke Rob Hoeke (9 January 1939 – 6 November 1999) was a Dutch singer, pianist, composer and songwriter most famous for his renditions in the field of Boogie-woogie releasing over 20 albums. Besides that he played and recorded in a musical variety of ...

. Many of the cover versions available have been performed as tributes to Lynyrd Skynyrd. For example,

Les Claypool Leslie Edward Claypool (born September 29, 1963) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and author. He is best known as the founder, lead singer, bassist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the ro ...

covers it on his album ''Under The Influence, A Jam Band Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd''.

Eric Clapton's adaptation

Performance and release

JJ Cale performed the song along with his longtime friend Eric Clapton, at Clapton's 2004

Crossroads Guitar Festival The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variet ...

. The version, featuring an extended guitar solo by Clapton, is included on the official Crossroads DVD released in late 2004. Later, when Clapton got the news that Cale had died, he performed various tunes composed by JJ Cale for his 2013 Baloise Session concert, dedicating his performance to Cale. For his 2014 tribute-album to JJ Cale, titled '' The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale'', Clapton covered the song with the original drum machine sound at the beginning, saying it's not possible to really cover Cale's work: "You can hear the drum machine and JJ rambling at the beginning there". His take on the song was released under the title "They Call Me the Breeze" as a promotional single on June 30, 2014 for Surfdog and Polydor Records, accessible via digital music download.

Music video

On June 6, 2014, Clapton's management published the official lyric video with licence to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

on his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel, before the album's release. Twenty days later the official music video was released and was directed by Joseph Toman. It features original photographic and videographic material of both Cale, and Clapton with Cale. The video opens with Clapton,

hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads hav ...

with his guitar case in a rural location, holding a sign for Escondido, mimicking the cover art of the duo's album, ''

The Road to Escondido ''The Road to Escondido'' is a collaborative studio album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on 7 November 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of keyboardist Billy Preston. The album is jointly dedicated to Pre ...

''. He is picked up by a car. The car footage is interspersed with Clapton who is seen singing and playing the song on a guitar given to him by Cale in 2006. The video shows Cale enjoying the classic American lifestyle. While driving around, Clapton chats to the driver, portrayed by English actor and director

Dexter Fletcher Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama '' Hotel Babylon'' and the HBO series ...

about Cale, explaining that he wants to visit Escondido because an "old mate used to live there". Clapton pays tribute to Cale saying "he was a fantastic guy and a great musician ... he was my hero." The video ends with a shot of Clapton congratulating Cale after their performance at the 2004

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Weekly charts

Johnny Cash's version

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Call Me The Breeze J. J. Cale songs Songs written by J. J. Cale 1970 songs Lynyrd Skynyrd songs Eric Clapton songs Polydor Records singles 2014 singles