Thursday, April 21, 2005
Anatomy of a Joke.... I Mean Song.....
If all goes well, by this time tomorrow, well probably a little later, there will be a new This Week's Song and it will be something only a few of my friends have ever heard. As much as the guys tried to tell me differently, I always thought that the sound of Patient 957 was driven by TSA's guitar. Yeah, my harp made us sound different than every other band in the area, and JB's songwrting gave us a unique, shall we say outlook as a band. To me, paticularly early, it was all about the full sound we got from TSA's twelve string. We used that on songs like Hey Sandy and Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away. Those songs in particular, and lots of others were really driven by that full 12 string sound.
TSA and JB will know better exactly how we decided to do the Guess Who's American Woman in the first place. All I know is that I was at TSA's one day and he played the opening riff. It was fantastic, not sounding like we were copying the original because he was playing it acoustic, but being easily identified as what it was supposed to be. It really was the alterna-folk/acousti-punk sound that we had developed in the band. They asked me if I could play that screaming lead guitar part on harmonica. I gave it a shot, but a guitar has more notes available than a harmonica, and while I could get close for a measure or two, ultimately it was never going to sound right no matter what I did, short of buying a chromatic.
I went to the kazoo next. A kazoo is going to have all the available notes, and be easy to play as well. I played that guitar solo on the kazoo, and while I was able to recreate the notes, it didn't have the right sound. TSA joked about wax paper and a comb. JB had never heard of that, so TSA started searching the house for those items. I had heard of George Clinton playing wax paper and comb through a Leslie amp with Parliment/Funkadelic and was anxious to give it a try. We tried the song again but the sound still wasn't quite right. I jokingly, and I stress jokingly because most of the cool stuff in 957 started out as a joke, I jokingly suggest that I play the kazoo through the wax paper. We gave it a shot and that was it. It was the approximation of the Guess Who's original sound that we were looking for.
We opened with American Woman at Cheers that night. The crowd was floored. Screaming kazoo solo, JB doing a great job on vocals with me basically screaming harmonies, TSA and Brian laying down the groove on 12 string and bass, it was an immediate hit. It was the first (and only) time that 957 was ever asked to do an encore. Doc Waller walked into Cheers just as we were packing up our gear after our set. Shawn made us do American Woman one more time for Doc. To see the smile on Doc's face as I launched into the kazoo solo made my evening.
We had always considered the song a joke. When Shawn asked us if we'd play it at an ASO show at the Firehouse we agreed. That performance, though only one song, may have been the best in the short life of 957. As TSA launched into the beginning of the song, folks rushed the stage and started dancing. They looked at me oddly when I opened with the kazoo, but kept on dancing. TSA told me later that he wanted to tell people to just sit down, to not dance to our jokes. American Woman became our one dance number. Wherever we played it, people came up and danced as TSA just shook his head.
When TSA and I started scrambling for material when we started performing as a duo, American Woman would get brought up occasionally. We tried it a few times while practicing, but never really went any further. The main problem was that I couldn't remember the words. Last night at Dunn Bros., I decided I really wanted to play it again. I went to an internet terminal and found the lyrics. Not having acces to a printer, I had to take notes, key words in each verse to lead me to the correct lyrics. I went over it in my head a bunch of times while listening to the other acts and waiting for TSA to get off of work.
When Andy arrived, the first thing I said was, "I want to do American Woman." Actually the first thing I said after he arrived was, "I'm lying in bed, just like Ken Jones did," as Mike and I were playing Brian Wilson until Andy arrived. That may be the first time he's ever heard the song when he wasn't playing it. Anyway, Andy definitely wanted to give American Woman a try. We did, and notes in hand, I still managed to screw up the lyrics. Still, that song is the one thing that people commented on about our performance. There's just something about it, a juxtaposition of the serious and the just plain goofy, that makes people take notice. I'm glad to be a part of it. It was recorded by the acrossroads gang and should be on their website tomorrow and right here as soon as I notice it. Enjoy the mangled lyrics, oh yeah, there's some guy playing kazoo on it too......
The rest of the night was great, Afferent borrowed Mike's drum machine for an interesting affect. Six Mile Road showed off some of the technical skill that it takes to play bluegrass, I hope to see them someplace where they can add in their vocals. I have a real affinity for bluegrass and I hope to see them play around some more. They're going to try to do an open bluegrass jam this summer, maybe I'll practice up (a lot!) and try to sit in.
I played I Shall Be Released with Mike and Eric ( a former guitar student of Mike's) at the beginning of the night and after TSA arrived we all played Hotel California Gypsy Kings style. Mike is pretty demanding on harmonies, and I've learned a whole lot singing those two songs in particular. Someday I may be a passable vocalist. TSA and I then did that one Kazoo song, Plastic Jesus and finished it up with Got My Mojo Workin'. I always feel like I have to do a song where I play harmonica after playing American Woman, I'd hate for people to think that all I can do is play kazoo....
BOJ
TSA and JB will know better exactly how we decided to do the Guess Who's American Woman in the first place. All I know is that I was at TSA's one day and he played the opening riff. It was fantastic, not sounding like we were copying the original because he was playing it acoustic, but being easily identified as what it was supposed to be. It really was the alterna-folk/acousti-punk sound that we had developed in the band. They asked me if I could play that screaming lead guitar part on harmonica. I gave it a shot, but a guitar has more notes available than a harmonica, and while I could get close for a measure or two, ultimately it was never going to sound right no matter what I did, short of buying a chromatic.
I went to the kazoo next. A kazoo is going to have all the available notes, and be easy to play as well. I played that guitar solo on the kazoo, and while I was able to recreate the notes, it didn't have the right sound. TSA joked about wax paper and a comb. JB had never heard of that, so TSA started searching the house for those items. I had heard of George Clinton playing wax paper and comb through a Leslie amp with Parliment/Funkadelic and was anxious to give it a try. We tried the song again but the sound still wasn't quite right. I jokingly, and I stress jokingly because most of the cool stuff in 957 started out as a joke, I jokingly suggest that I play the kazoo through the wax paper. We gave it a shot and that was it. It was the approximation of the Guess Who's original sound that we were looking for.
We opened with American Woman at Cheers that night. The crowd was floored. Screaming kazoo solo, JB doing a great job on vocals with me basically screaming harmonies, TSA and Brian laying down the groove on 12 string and bass, it was an immediate hit. It was the first (and only) time that 957 was ever asked to do an encore. Doc Waller walked into Cheers just as we were packing up our gear after our set. Shawn made us do American Woman one more time for Doc. To see the smile on Doc's face as I launched into the kazoo solo made my evening.
We had always considered the song a joke. When Shawn asked us if we'd play it at an ASO show at the Firehouse we agreed. That performance, though only one song, may have been the best in the short life of 957. As TSA launched into the beginning of the song, folks rushed the stage and started dancing. They looked at me oddly when I opened with the kazoo, but kept on dancing. TSA told me later that he wanted to tell people to just sit down, to not dance to our jokes. American Woman became our one dance number. Wherever we played it, people came up and danced as TSA just shook his head.
When TSA and I started scrambling for material when we started performing as a duo, American Woman would get brought up occasionally. We tried it a few times while practicing, but never really went any further. The main problem was that I couldn't remember the words. Last night at Dunn Bros., I decided I really wanted to play it again. I went to an internet terminal and found the lyrics. Not having acces to a printer, I had to take notes, key words in each verse to lead me to the correct lyrics. I went over it in my head a bunch of times while listening to the other acts and waiting for TSA to get off of work.
When Andy arrived, the first thing I said was, "I want to do American Woman." Actually the first thing I said after he arrived was, "I'm lying in bed, just like Ken Jones did," as Mike and I were playing Brian Wilson until Andy arrived. That may be the first time he's ever heard the song when he wasn't playing it. Anyway, Andy definitely wanted to give American Woman a try. We did, and notes in hand, I still managed to screw up the lyrics. Still, that song is the one thing that people commented on about our performance. There's just something about it, a juxtaposition of the serious and the just plain goofy, that makes people take notice. I'm glad to be a part of it. It was recorded by the acrossroads gang and should be on their website tomorrow and right here as soon as I notice it. Enjoy the mangled lyrics, oh yeah, there's some guy playing kazoo on it too......
The rest of the night was great, Afferent borrowed Mike's drum machine for an interesting affect. Six Mile Road showed off some of the technical skill that it takes to play bluegrass, I hope to see them someplace where they can add in their vocals. I have a real affinity for bluegrass and I hope to see them play around some more. They're going to try to do an open bluegrass jam this summer, maybe I'll practice up (a lot!) and try to sit in.
I played I Shall Be Released with Mike and Eric ( a former guitar student of Mike's) at the beginning of the night and after TSA arrived we all played Hotel California Gypsy Kings style. Mike is pretty demanding on harmonies, and I've learned a whole lot singing those two songs in particular. Someday I may be a passable vocalist. TSA and I then did that one Kazoo song, Plastic Jesus and finished it up with Got My Mojo Workin'. I always feel like I have to do a song where I play harmonica after playing American Woman, I'd hate for people to think that all I can do is play kazoo....
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 9:29 AM 
