The sixth track on the eponymous debut album by Montrose runs to 5 minutes 5 seconds and is a group composition: drummer Denny Carmassi, bass player Bill Church, then vocalist Sammy Hagar, and the man himself, Ronnie Montrose. It was the last song written and recorded for their 1973 debut.
Hagar left the band he continued to play the song - it remains to be seen why. Its inspiration appears to have been the Led Zepellin track "When The Levee Breaks", in particular Carmassi's experimenting with the drum introduction.
"'Rock Candy' is like a standard for bands like Def Leppard or The Cult. Over the years, anybody who wants to jam with me wants to jam 'Rock Candy' - Chad Smith, Joe Satriani, Matt Sorum, Slash. Lemmy from Motörhead came up to me at a show in England, and what did Lemmy say? 'Fucking Rock Candy, mate.'"
Ronnie Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012)
Lyrics
Lord oh, yeah
When you need a friend through thick and thin
Don't look to those above you
When you're down and out, ain't no doubt
Nobody wants you
But you're rock candy baby
Hard, sweet and sticky, yes
Rock candy baby
Hard, sweet and sticky
Hard, sweet
When you're seventeen reachin' for your dreams
Don't let no one reach it for you
Pull up your pants,
Stretch out take a chance
If it can be done, you can do it
'Cause you're rock candy baby
You're hard, sweet and sticky, yes
Rock candy baby
So hard, sweet and sticky oh
Sweet , so sweet
You're rock candy baby
Hard, sweet and sticky, yes
You, you're rock candy baby
Hard, sweet and sticky
You are sweet
You're candy baby
Hard, sweet and sticky
Lord you are so
You're a candy baby oh
Hard, sweet and sticky
Songwriters: Ronnie Montrose / Sammy Hagar
Rock Candy lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Records On The Wall, Inc
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