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Like many kids growing up, I was a huge fan of Evel. I too would make ramps and jump over things on my bicycle to impress my friends. I even told my friends I was going to jump over Pennsylvania Ave on my bike during rush hour traffic (I was just saying that to get them going HA HA). ...
By the age of 16, I was a musician working the local nightclub scene in Oklahoma City. It was 1974. The band, "Brad and the Classics" needed an "original" song to make a mark in music. The band members were myself, Brad Davis (lead guitar/vocals) - age 16, Terry Montgomery (drums) - age 17, Don Bolton (rythym guitar) - age 17, and Mike Bolton (bass guitar) - age 15.
So, one day, during typing class, I wrote a song using one of the biggest inspirations of my life, Evel Knievel. My father was a drag bike racer of the 1960s and motorcycles were very much a part of my life. I also wanted it to sound like a rock song that maybe Elvis would have done. Since Evel was often referred to as "Elvis on a motorcycle", how fitting would it be to sound like a 50s rock'n'roll song, very similar to Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Bethovan, etc.
My song "Evel Knievel" became our trademark, and so we decided to make a record of it. We went to the Civic Center Music Hall in the summer of 1974, and recorded "Evel Knievel". The studio would actually cut a record right there (45 rpm), so we had 5 made. One for each member of the band, and one for the jukebox of the Toro Club where we played.
After about a year, the band broke up and went on with our lives, graduated high school, got married, had kids, etc. But I hung onto that record I had and treated it like gold. My dad always thought I should get this recording to Evel. But I thought at the time, that was an impossibility.
In 1994, 20 years later, I happened to be watching TV and caught Evel doing a commercial for Lynn Hickey Dodge in Oklahoma City. I thought "hey, maybe nows my chance" so I called the dealership and told them about the record. They arranged for a meeting and I presented Evel with the only 45 of that song that had survived all those years. I'm not real sure where it is now, but it seemed like a fitting end to a very exciting time in my young life.
So in Dec. 2006, I decided to remake the song and make a tribute using video and put it youTube. Just 5 days before Evel died he wrote to me and said "Good song, thanks for the tribute". I was glad he was able to view it. His spirit will live on in the hearts of many, mine included.
Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel - a true, authentic, original American hero.
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