I Can Help

From the time he secured the deal, Swan began the composition of "I Can Help" in a music room which his wife, Marlu, had converted from a closet inside the small duplex that they shared close to Centennial Park.

The distinctive keyboards were played by Swan on a portable Farfisa organ belonging to Memphis session musician Bobby Emmons while Young's German Shepherd puppy, Bowser, tugged on his pants leg.

Dennis Linde and Johnny Christopher, who played acoustic guitars, were each miked with Sony ECM lapel mics, while the setup for Hayward Bishop's drums comprised another pair of ECMs overhead on the cymbals, an Electrovoice RE15 on the toms, an RE20 on the kick and a Shure SM58 on the snare.

[1] Keyboardist Bobby Wood was also booked for the session, but after hearing the track and realising he wasn't needed he joined Emmons and Young in the control room.

Emmons and Young suggested overdubbing handclaps at the end to convey an in-studio party atmosphere, as well as adding some bridge-section backing vocals by Lea Jane Berinati and the Holladay Sisters (Ginger and Mary).

[1] Swan's version of "I Can Help" was released toward the end of July 1974 and rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in November of that year.

To make more money from the song's commercial success, the co-producers returned to Young'un Sound to record more material for an I Can Help album.

"Everyone at the record company had actually wanted 'The Ways of a Woman in Love' to be the first single," Young recalls.

However, [Monument Records president] Fred Foster then hired a guy who was supposed to know the ins and outs of the business, and he said, 'There aren't any hits here.