That "I'm going home" performance at Woodstock was a completely improvised song he made up on the spot as he was playing it. He told the band, "You know that riff I've been playing around with lately, just follow me on that!"Rock Guitarist Alvin Lee, 68, Dies
(LONDON) British rock guitarist Alvin Lee, founder of the band Ten Years After who burst to stardom with a memorable Woodstock performance, has died. He was 68.
A statement posted on Lees official website said he died Wednesday unexpectedly from complications following a routine surgical procedure. Lees manager, Ron Rainey, said the guitarist died in Spain.
We have lost a wonderful, much loved father and companion, said the statement signed by his daughter Jasmin, wife Evi and former companion Suzanne. The world has lost a truly great and gifted musician.
The Nottingham, England-born Lee founded the band Ten Years After in 1967. The group first toured the U.S. in 1967, but its popularity exploded following Lees rousing performance of the song Im Going Home at Woodstock in 1969. Lees epic and electrifying solos on his Gibson guitar for the 11-minute performance were immortalized in the documentary film about the legendary festival.
Ten Years After released ten albums together featuring the groups mix of blues, swing jazz and rock and toured the U.S. 28 times in seven years.
Lee left the band in 1975 to embark on a successful solo career that saw him recording with the likes of George Harrison, Steve Winwood and Mick Fleetwood and experimenting with different styles of country rock, rhythm and blues.
*snip*
And the rest was history.
Loin you do realize that song was on their 1968 Live album "Undead"........how could it be completely improvised if they played it live before many a time?.....
And I've listened to tapes of it from the old Boston Tea Party concert .. one of the first USA tours before Woodstock
