SIMON KIRKE (drums)

“I’m not getting into whether it was Andy or Paul who came up with the words ‘All right now’, but it was in that dressing room in Durham in 1969 that the song was born.

“The recording was pretty straightforward. It was done at Island Records in Basing Street. We played the song about a dozen times, including false starts and stops half-way through. I can’t remember which take was used, and then Koss went out and put that sublime solo on it – we were all in the control room cheering him on as it kept climbing towards the roof. One of his finest moments and one of the all-time great guitar solos. Paul Rodgers had done his vocal by then and after Koss we all got a round a couple of mics with percussion. As a final touch, right at the end, me and Andy got on our knees and thumped out octave A’s on the foot pedals of a Hammond organ. You can here them on the last chorus of the album version.

“When Chris Blackwell came in and heard it for the first time he had a broad grin on his face and said, ‘This is a hit.’ My stomach did a somersault when I heard that, ’cos Chris was never wrong. We were resistant to his suggestion for an edit, though. It was our baby and suddenly he wanted to lop a piece out of it. We said, ‘No way’ and he said, ‘Well then, the only station that will play it is Radio Luxembourg and the pirate stations anchored off England. The BBC wont touch it as it clocks in at over five minutes.’ He convinced us to do the edit after reassuring us that the whole song could be on the Fire And Water album, like a bonus track. He was a smooth talker, old CB… they didn’t call him the baby-faced killer for nothing!

“When we recorded ‘All Right Now’ we had no idea it would become this iconic piece of music. We just wanted something people could dance to. It was a happy song. What stood out for me more than anything was Koss’s solo and the energy we created… just listen to the last verse on the album version for verification.

“The song stands alongside songs like ‘Stairway To Heaven’, ‘Honky Tonk Woman’, ‘Smoke On The Water’, ‘My Generation’, ‘The Wall’… all those songs that you remember where you were when you first heard them – a little number born in a sweaty dressing room in Durham.”