Billy Swan saw his hit ‘I Can Help’ as an up-tempo blues song and became a smash on both sides of the Atlantic. Photo from Wikipedia.

By Randal Hill
Guest Columnist

Billy Swan

Billy Swan always maintained that his best songs have come easily and fast.

Case in point: In 1962, at age 20, Swan struck recording gold when a poem he wrote in a high school English class years before morphed into the lyrics of a hastily composed ditty he called “Lover Please.” It became the last Top 10 hit for rhythm-and-blues legend Clyde McPhatter.

One dozen years later, Swan entered Tennessee record producer Chip Young’s Young’un Sound Studio and, in two takes, recorded a chart-topping tune that had taken him 20 minutes to write. Music critics pronounced “I Can Help” a neo-rockabilly shuffle, fueled by an irresistible electric organ line; Swan, though, saw it as an up-tempo blues song.

Either way, it became a smash on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born in Missouri, Swan grew up influenced by country artists and such rock ‘n’ roll pioneers as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. By age 14, Swan was drumming in local beer joints, while also teaching himself to play rhythm guitar and keyboards. He eventually moved to Memphis, where he wrote several songs for established country artists and, in time, cut his record-production teeth on Tony Joe White’s classic ditty “Polk Salad Annie.”

Billy signed to record for Nashville’s Monument Records. He composed “I Can Help” in the “music room” that his wife, Marlu, had converted from a closet inside the small duplex they shared. Those cramped quarters held an electric organ, an amplifier and a Rhythm Master drum machine.

“That Rhythm Master had something like 10 preset sounds,” recalls Swan. “It had mambo, cha-cha, bossa nova, Rock 1 and Rock 2. I used one of those rock settings when I wrote ‘I Can Help.’ ”

Young’un Sound was actually a two-room log house in Murfreesboro, Tenn., about 35 miles southeast of Nashville. To record his million-seller, Swan borrowed a portable organ from a session musician in the studio that day.

Swan explains, “Chip set up a vocal mic. I stood in front of the organ, and what you hear was captured on the second take. While I was playing the organ and singing, I was also shaking my leg all through that take; Chip’s little puppy named Bowser was tugging on my pants leg all through what you hear on the record.”

Let’s examine “I Can Help.”

On the surface, a kind-hearted man is offering his services to a lady who may appreciate his assistance:

“I got two strong arms, I can help

“Apparently, nothing is too big a task for him:

“If your child needs a daddy, I can help.”

But the song’s refrain shows a change in focus, and Mister Nice Guy is obviously also interested in establishing a romantic relationship:

“When I go to sleep at night

“You’re always a part of my dream

“Holding me tight and telling me everything

“I want to hear.”

Yes, he’s willing to help, but he yearns for more.

You’ve explained yourself, Billy. Now all you can do is await her decision.