Legend

Album: Unusual Suspects (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Leslie West's friend Joe Pizza wrote this song about 30 years before West heard it and recorded it. The pair collaborated on the Mountain guitarist's Unusual Suspects album, and it wasn't until they were doing pre-production that Pizza played him the song. Leslie told us: "He wrote it on piano. The song itself was so beautiful and I love playing lead guitar over piano changes. It's much different than when I'm playing over a guitar-written song. So that just came out fantastic. I didn't think it was going to come out that good, but by God, it did. The words are pretty much true, and the fact is that I've known Joe for 35 years, he was a couple of grades younger than me. Still something seemed to click with that song."

    Pizza was head of a pharmaceutical company called Interchem when he presented the song to West. Leslie's wife worked with Pizza, and encouraged him to play the song for her husband.
  • Originally, the first line of this song was "Just call me a legend," but West wanted to go the humble route and had Pizza change it to "Don't call me a legend, I just came here to play."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Adele

AdeleFact or Fiction

Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")Songwriter Interviews

Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal Tap

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal TapSong Writing

Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.