One of the lesser known (or maybe lesser remembered) tunes from The Band’s debut, Music from Big Pink, To Kingdom Come aptly shares it’s name with an out of print rarities collection released in 1989. The seeming obscurity of this recording is part of what drew me to it as something to study and focus on. This was also one of the very few recordings to have Robbie Robertson performing the lead vocal parts, adding to its curiousness.
I happened upon the track when listening to Music from Big Pink for the first time, and the bassline instantly stood out to me as an interesting line worthy of study. Everyone has to discover landmark recordings sometime right.. I have listened to plenty of excellent albums in my time but there are still some that elude me.
To Kingdom Come – Brief Analysis
Well, we’ve got a roots rock/blues sound going on here. No chords here should be all too surprising; everything is diatonic here. The main/opening conceit in the bass is a IV-> I movement with the back half of these verses basically being riffs on the ii chord and the IV chord. I found the chorus quite interesting, with this sort of brief feeling of being in 5, with the bass and piano being pushed back by a beat each time their part repeats (look for this at m.13 in my transcription). This bit is definitely my favorite to play, almost reminds me of Rush in how they manage to sneak in a bit of tricky time that most wouldn’t likely notice.
What drew me to this piece though was how Rick Danko, the bassist for The Band on this recording never plays too much and sticks squarely to playing a groove that fits appropriately, while still managing to throw in some neat little licks. The rest of the band definitely gives him room for the relatively busy opening figure and variations on his theme throughout. Mostly, the organ, piano, and guitar are just holding it down with some flourishes here and there. Basically, they give Danko an inch, and accordingly he takes just the right amount.
Performance Tips
Okay, so here are some tips to performing this and for looking at my chart:
- Firstly, you’re definitely going to want to play the opening figure in the first few frets. It sounds as if that’s where he was playing it, so playing it there makes it a bit more authentic. If you have a five string you could probably get away with it on the B string though
- I’d do the slide in m.5 9th fret D string for the easiest access to your low F# on your way down
- Pay close attention to the note length on this. I didn’t include much articulation marking here, but his feel on this is quite short and thumpy
- In order to squeeze this on to one page some things are a little small, so you will want to check out where the repeats and signs are headed before you take a crack at this one
Conclusion
Overall, this is a fun little tune to play, it’s not too tough at all, and I think the line serves this song absolutely perfectly. It’s a real fun one, and not one that I could find many other renditions of. I’ll include a link to the recording here. Feel free to contact me if you’ve got any questions, thoughts, or recommendations.