BAD MEDICINE
Single (2023)
Recorded during the FAME Studio sessions that produced Alice’s 2023 album Circumstance, “Bad Medicine” is a lush, mid-tempo track with stunning musical interplay between electric guitars, Hammond B3 organ, electric piano, and fretless bass.
Written by Kenny Edwards, founding member of the Stone Poneys and longtime sideman, singer, and arranger for Linda Ronstadt, “Bad Medicine” was originally recorded on Edwards’ 2009 solo record, Resurrection Road.
“Bad Medicine” was produced and arranged by Alice’s creative partner, iconic bassist Freebo, best known for his 10 years touring and recording with Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Crosby Stills & Nash, and many others.
Song Credits:
© Music and lyrics by Kenny Edwards
Produced by Freebo
Co-Produced by Alice Howe
Engineered by John Gifford III
FAME Recording Studios, Muscle Shoals, AL
Mixed by Brian Boozer
Aum Studio Productions, Bakersfield, CA
Mastered by Chris Pelonis
Beyond The Rabbit Hole Studio, Central Coast, CA
Photo by Jim Shea
Cover design by John Sellards
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Alice Howe - lead and harmony vocals
Freebo - fretless bass, harmony vocal
Jeff Fielder - electric slide guitar (right channel), harmony vocal
Will McFarlane - electric guitar (left channel)
Mark T. Jordan - electric piano
Clayton Ivey - Hammond B3 organ
Justin Holder - drums
Released November 3, 2023
Lyrics
I was sleeping for a long long time
Waiting for the shoe to fall
It doesn’t matter how hard it hit me
It wasn’t really personal
I drank from the sweetest cup
Ate from the poison plate
Woke up when the sun went down
Maybe just a little too late
And it’s only fair that I should pay
That very soft voice I can hear it say
Bad medicine in my veins
Never done me no good
Bad medicine in my veins
I’d bleed it out if I could
I saw you standing at the kitchen sink
At the house of a friend of a friend
I could have walked right out of there
And never come back again
But there’s a fool inside my head
Likes to run me around
I was well out on the water
When I started sinking down
And it seems to me to be my fate
To rattle those chains at your front gate
Bad medicine in my veins
Never done me no good
Bad medicine in my veins
I’d bleed it out if I could
I spend a lot of my days alone
Traveling the deep and wide
Down where the good intentions
And the devil in the hole collide
Baby won’t you come down here
And save me from this grind
I can feel the woman I was
Creeping up from behind
And it’s only fair that I should pay
That very soft voice I can hear it say
Bad medicine in my veins
Never done me no good
Bad medicine in my veins
I’d bleed it out if I could