It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll), and Australian hard rock band AC/DC spent much of the 1970s building their profile. They cracked the big time with 1979’s Highway to Hell, which peaked at #17 on the US charts after none of their previous records had made the top 100. As success beckoned, tragedy struck – vocalist Bon Scott passed out in a car on his way home from a night of carousing and was pronounced dead the next evening.
AC/DC hadn’t yet reached their commercial zenith when they recorded 1977’s Let There Be Rock, but it’s one of their most beloved albums. ‘Carry Me Home’ was a b-side from the era; initially released on the flip side to the Australian single of ‘Dog Eat Dog’, it was extremely rare until it was included on the 2000 compilation Backtracks.
‘Carry Me Home’ suits the b-side format – it’s a good song, but it’s looser than AC/DC’s usual taut riffing. This impression is amplified by Scott’s theatrical vocal – on a song about a night of drinking, his vocal becomes more slurred over the course of the song.
Distubingly, ‘Carry Me Home’ foretells the story of Scott’s 1980 demise. Recorded in 1976, it’s the story of a night of drinking – midway through, Scott sings “I’m bleary eyed and you’re waiting for the sunshine to come and kill me”. The song culminates with the line “And you’re getting up and leaving, you think I’m gonna drown”. This mirrors Scott’s conjectured cause of death as pulmonary aspiration of vomit; asphyxiating on vomit has been compared to drowning. Scott passed away after he was left in a car overnight – things may have worked out better if he’d actually been carried home.
AC/DC considered breaking up after losing Scott, but Scott’s parents encouraged them to continue and they carried on with Brian Johnson on lead vocals. The group enjoyed huge success with Johnson’s debut – 1980’s Back in Black was a sales phenomenon that went 22x platinum in the US. In hindsight, however, Bon Scott records like Let There Be Rock and Powerage are generally reckoned as among the band’s best.
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Backtracks is how I acquired this track. I love it. I just happen to be listening to Powerage when this post dropped in my inbox!
Serendipity? Synchronicity?
Good tune with a rather creepy background story.
Bon Scott was a beast of a vocalist. Interestingly, AC/DC weren’t love at first sight when I first heard of them. I guess it must have been ‘Highway to Hell’, which I now view as one of the best ’70s rock songs with one of the ultimate guitar riffs.
Oh, well, I was a teenager back then! 🙂
This may be the only time I ever do a post on AC/DC – I like them, but probably not enough to listen to all their stuff.
Great call on the song foreshadowing Scott’s demise! Like Mikey, I got this due to Backtracks.
Powerage is my fav Bon album while Flick of the Switch would have to be my fav Jonno album.
Great post!
Thanks! The only one I know is Let There Be Rock – I liked it well enough, but I don’t think I’m cut out to be a AC/DC mega-fan.
Let There Be Rock is one heck of an album. I think they had the amps cranked to 11 on that one! lol
I really admire them a lot. To be able to use three chords and come up with those great riffs over and over. They are hard rock while being catchy…
I’ve never heard this one before…it didn’t disappoint. Not many bands can lose their lead singer and carry on…not to mention be more successful.
Genesis blew up after switching lead singers.
Yes they did… they change but yes… and… I don’t like them but Van Halen did also.
Let There Be Rock was the first ACDC album I got after Highway to Hell and Back in Black. Great album and this song being on it might have made it better.
I think it’s good as a b-side – it doesn’t quite nail the AC/DC sound IMO. Sounds kind of loose, like they’re pretending to be a bluesy bar band.
Come to think of it, it does sound a little Southern Rock.
Sounds a lot like AC/DC
I thought it was a little looser/bar bandy than usual, but I’m not an expert.
I was just trying to be funny and stating the obvious. I agree they do sound a little looser/bar bandy. Probably weren’t that far removed from those days.