There has to be a better category for the enigmatic Andy Pratt other than “one hit wonder.” The song he is best known for appeared like a comet on the pop music horizon in 1973, bristling with the buzz and excellence of a new discovery. “Avenging Annie” is a power ballad on the level of the kinds of things Elton John was producing at that time, alongside Yes and the Bob Welch era Fleetwood Mac. Annie’s time in the spotlight was brief if you only listen for chart positions splash. Yet there is something about this song that packs a wallop, not only of memory but of deliverance as we drop the needle a half century away from this magnificent obscurity.
The saga of Andy Pratt began with a self titled album in 1973, and progressed through one called Resolution in 1976 that Rolling Stone said “has forever changed the face of rock.” After that, he pretty much disappeared, but it wasn’t for lack of being unique. He was educated at Harvard, attended Boston’s Life Institute, converted to Christianity, married a Dutch woman in 1988, and moved to Belgium in 1996, where he lives today. He says his best wish is for his music to offer inner healing. Just another famous Annie. American sharpshooter Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) had nothing to do with Avenging Annie. But her nickname was “Little Sureshot.”
“I wrote ‘Avenging Annie’ in the summer of 1972 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at my mother's 1926 Steinway B Baby Grand piano. I had broken up with my first wife... I was stoned on marijuana. On my turntable was the The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, in particular the Woody Guthrie song "Pretty Boy Floyd." You can clearly hear that the first part of "Avenging Annie" is an altered version of "Pretty Boy Floyd." I shut off the record and began playing "Pretty Boy Floyd." I was going into a creative trance, and I altered Woody's words, then out came a Bach-like piano riff which I liked, so I began singing to it in falsetto, taking the part of a woman I called Avenging Annie. A whole story came out, which was a fantasy version of my relationship with my ex-wife, combined with the outlaw theme of the American West. I worked on the song for a few weeks and played it for other people who liked it. I made a demo with Rick Shlosser and Bill Riseman, which became a hit at Brown University Radio WBRU. This new fame led to me being whisked away by John Nagy of Earth Opera, Clive Davis of Columbia Records, and Nat Weiss of The Beatles, being wined and dined in New York City and given star treatment at the famous Black Rock on 6th Avenue.
Once recorded and released on Columbia, ‘Avenging Annie’ took on a life of its own, which has never really stopped. My version was given extensive radio play, became a number one single in New Orleans and Providence, and reached about number eighty-five in the national charts. I did a successful tour of the East Coast, where Jimmy Buffet opened for me at Max's Kansas City, an Andy Pratt show was broadcast from Boston's Jazz Workshop over WBCN radio, and many other wonderful things happened. The Andy Pratt record, with ‘Avenging Annie’ is still available on various web sites, including www.amazon.com.
Roger Daltrey covered "Avenging Annie" in 1974, and his version appeared first on his One of the Boys album as well as other collections he released. My opinion of his version is that he was afraid to play the role of a woman in the song, and his band did not play the syncopations that we played in our version. I prefer my version. Still, I am grateful for his recognition of the song, and the added exposure that he helped me to gain.” —Andy Pratt, Sept 6, 2006. From: https://professormikey.substack.com/p/old-school-single-avenging-annie
