“Amie, what you want to do? I think I could stay with you for a while, maybe longer if I do.”
“Aime” certainly has stuck around. The Pure Prairie League song — recorded in 1972 — took three years to turn into a hit, but has since endured for decades. The band’s Craig Fuller told the story of “Aime” to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.
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Let’s take it back. Pure Prairie League is a band out of Ohio. You’ve done it the hard way; you’ve played the clubs, been on the road for years. In 1971 you finally attract the attention of RCA.
CF: RCA New York. They came to see us play a festival in Cleveland. … I think they brought the (A&R) fellow back with the power to sign. Then we played on the front porch of our house and they said, “Oh, that’s good, let’s do that.”
So you recorded the album “Bustin’ Out.” In terms of musicianship, it’s still one of my favorite records ever. It still actually sells CDs. And RCA signed you, but then they drop you. But “Amie” gets some airplay on country stations and airplay on pop stations and college stations and AOR stations. … So in 1975 they re-sign the band and put the single out.
CF: Well, when we recorded it in that mecca of country music Toronto, Canada, it was longer, and I think they edited it for radio and got it shorter. I guess you’re right. It kept bubbling there along and they decided to give it another shot promotion-wise.
Who is Amie?
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CF: Just a song I wrote. Just an exercise in song craftsmanship.
Boy, people really dissect that song — about what it’s about. I’ll give you my take on it: The guy may have waited too long. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
CF: That’s just as fair as my take on it, because all I was doing was stringing words and music together.
There’s some genius to it. You fell into one, Craig, I’m telling you.
CF: I think the track on that song had a lot to do with it. We were up there luxuriating (with) a large budget for back then. We were in Toronto all summer right across from Maple Leaf Gardens. It took us all summer to record that record. It wasn’t even mixed yet and at that time Gordon Lightfoot came in. We had the whole (studio) blocked out in the days and Gordon Lightfoot would come in and record in the evening. He did a record in two weeks. Stompin’ Tom Connors, who was a guy from Canada, country kind of guy, he did a record in two nights. So we were just up there having a good time.
So tell me about the resilience of that song. Through the decades you’ve played it around the world. That’s one that everybody recognizes. So the lead singer of Evanescence, Amy Lee, apparently was named after that song, even though she spells it with a Y. I told you we were just in D.C. lobbying for songwriters two or three weeks ago and ran into another Amie that allegedly was named after that song. You’ve got to hear that a lot.
CF: I’ve had mothers come up and say, “I named my daughter Amie — and she named her daughter Amie.”
Wow. That means it’s been a while, right?
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CF: Exactly. That was the joke.
So one last question, Craig. In your mind’s eye, did you get back with Amie?
CF: Amie is just a song so I get along with Amie really well.
Yeah, but did you get back with her? Have you ever thought about that?
CF: Does the character?
Yeah, does the character get back with her? Do they end up happily ever after or is it a hard lesson learned for him for the rest of his life?
CF: I suppose the protagonist of the song is just laying it out and then it’s up to her.
I love that version.
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