"Green Grass and High Tides" is a song by American

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar specula ...

band Outlaws. It is the tenth and final track on the band's debut album, '' Outlaws''. The song is one of their best known, and has received extensive play on album-oriented

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

, although it was never released as a single. The song is notable for having two extended guitar solos that stretch the song to nearly 10 minutes. Outlaws founding member

Hughie Thomasson Hugh Edward "Hughie" Thomasson Jr. (August 13, 1952 – September 9, 2007) was an American guitarist and singer, best known as a founding member of Outlaws. The band found success in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a string of hits. He was a ...

said:

I wrote that song in St. Augustine, Florida. We went to a cookout on the beach and everybody forgot to bring their guitars. I was standing by the ocean and there was a breeze and the words kept coming to me. It’s about all the rock stars I liked that died had come back and were playing a show just for me. Like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and
Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...
. And eventually more of course.

Henry Paul Henry Paul (born 10 February 1974), also known by the nickname of "HP", is a former dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. Paul represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union and rugby sevens. He ...

told

Songfacts Songfacts is a music-oriented website that has articles about songs, detailing the meaning behind the lyrics, how and when they were recorded, and any other info that can be found. The journalists who work for the site have interviewed thousa ...

that this song is not about marijuana, but about deceased rock and roll luminaries, and the title, he says, was taken from the 1966 "Best Of" collection by the Rolling Stones called ''

Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) ''Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)'' is the first compilation album by the Rolling Stones. With different cover art and track listings, it was released on 28 March 1966, on London Records in the US and on 4 November 1966, by Decca Records ...

'':

From what I gather, there was an album out, the best of
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
, called '' High Tide and Green Grass''. That was the name of the Rolling Stones' greatest hits—this is like 1966—and I think it was a manifestation of that title turned in reverse, 'Green Grass and High Tides.' I know that much. And I know that it was a song written for rock and roll illuminaries, from Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix, and it had nothing to do with marijuana. But it had to do with, I think, a specific person's homasson'slyrical look at rock and roll legends. 'As kings and queens bow and play for you.' It's about Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. 'Castles of stone, soul and glory.' A lot of it is just sort of a collage of words that really don't have all that much to do with anything, they just fit and sounded right. But I have to say it's one of my favorite lyrics. My songwriting is more Steinbeck, really rooted in accuracy and reality; this is definitely '' Alice In Wonderland''. It's the whole '
White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...
.' It's sort of like one of those magic lyrical moments that will forever be mysteriously, unclearly conceived."Green Grass and High Tides" by the Outlaw
Songfacts
Retrieved on July 31, 2009.

"Green Grass and High Tides" was the usual show closer for the Outlaws and the 20 minute+ version can be found on the concert album '' Bring It Back Alive'' (1978). The song is mentioned in

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed in 1971 by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida. They were a popular band during the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s among the southern rock and hard rock communities. The band released ...

's song "Gator Country", on ''

'' (1978), and was featured on the ''Harley Davidson Road Songs'' album in 1995. The song also featured as a tribute to the recently departed members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The intro was "We'd like to take just a minute here. We're gonna dedicate a song. We've dedicated it every night since we've been on this tour. Some real good friends of ours and I'm sure they're friends of yours—the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band." A cover version appeared in the 2007 video game '' Rock Band'' and its sequels. The song appears in the '' Breaking Bad'' episode "

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

References

{{authority control 1975 songs Outlaws (band) songs Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild Songs written by Hughie Thomasson