King Harvest

King Harvest was a 1970s French-American rock band that formed in Paris, known for their 1973 hit single, "Dancing in the Moonlight".

Background

Formed by a group of four American expatriates in Paris in 1970, King Harvest was best known for its one US hit single, "Dancing in the Moonlight", which was released in 1972. Although the band had a constantly fluctuating membership, it always included its four core co-founders: Dave "Doc" Robinson (lead vocals/bass/keyboards), Ron Altbach (keyboards), Ed Tuleja (guitar), and Rod Novak (saxophone), all of whom had previously attended Cornell University. At one time, the band consisted of three keyboardists, with Sherman Kelly (who wrote "Dancing in the Moonlight") joining Altbach and Robinson. Sherman Kelly's brother, drummer Wells Kelly, who would later go on to form the band Orleans, also served a brief stint in the group both in Paris and in the US. It was Wells who introduced the group to "Dancing in the Moonlight", but he left Paris before the song was recorded. Steve Cutler, a jazz drummer and fellow expatriate from New York, joined King Harvest for their last six months in Paris, recording "Dancing in the Moonlight" and playing clubs and concerts in Paris and London.

King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

"King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is a song by The Band which originally appeared as the final track on their second album, The Band.

The song is credited solely to Robbie Robertson, although Levon Helm claims that "King Harvest" was a group effort. It is sung in first person from the point of view of an unnamed, poverty-stricken farmer who, with increasing desperation, details the misfortune which has befallen him: there was no rain and his crops died, his barn burned down, he has ended up on skid row. A labor union organizer appears, promising to improve things, and the narrator tells his new associates "I'm a union man, now, all the way", but, perhaps ashamed of his station, begs them "just don't judge me by my shoes." The events depicted in the song are most likely a reference to the organizing drives of the Trade Union Unity League which created share-cropper unions from 1928-1935, throughout the U.S. South.

Noted rock critic Greil Marcus called it "The Band's song of blasted country hopes" and suggested that "King Harvest" might be Robertson's finest song, and the best example of the group's approach to songwriting and performing. Author Neil Minturn praised its "dark, eerie earnestness."