Mercenary Territory

Album: The Last Record Album (1975)
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Songfacts®:

  • By the time of Little Feat's fifth LP, The Last Record Album, frontman Lowell George was unhappy and behaving badly. Forever griping about his bandmates and prone to rehearsal no-shows, he was driving everyone 'round the bend. Also, his absences from home were creating grief for his wife Elizabeth Geeorge, as reflected in this song, which was co-written by her together with her husband and Richie Hayward. Elizabeth told Mojo magazine May 2010 about the tune: "That was from a letter I wrote to him in a moment of fury and frustration. It's self-explanatory. 'My nights turn into your mornings…' and this isn't so cool and I'm not the only parent here."
  • This was included on the Little Feat live album Waiting for Columbus, which they recorded at four London shows in 1977 and released the following year. They were backed on these shows by the Tower of Power horn section; their leader, Emilio Castillo, told Songfacts: "We were prominently featured on the whole recording, but 'Mercenary Territory,' to me, was the highlight. The tenor solo by Lenny Pickett, playing off of Lowell George's searing guitar is completely off the chart!"

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