May 6, 2022

TOAST 03- Joe Frazier

I never did meet Joe Frazier. I'm not sure why I’ve always thought of him as the underdog, given that he was 26-0 the first time he met Ali in the ring in 1971. That was before my time, but I still find the story captivating. The “fight of the century,” they called it, between two undefeated goliaths.  

Frazier’s fighting style was often described as “unrelenting.” I can dig it.

Today’s offering: a home demo, the first-time-played capture of a song that Tommy and I wrote late one night a gazillion moons ago. It’s entitled (you guessed it): “Joe Frazier.”    

You’ll recognize right away that I was listening to a lot of Johnny Cash at the time….  

Wildly enough, we did meet Muhammad Ali in an empty airline terminal after a massively delayed red-eye to NYC on our way to play Letterman in ’98. His wife, Lonnie, was with him, clearly in charge, and they were both ever gracious as we shook the hand of the champ in the wee hours of the morning, bleary eyed and in awe.

I still always root for the underdog.  

Watch out for that left hook.

Yours, 

JR