Tagged: las vegas

October 29, 2010

Every Song Tells A Story: The Walking Man

The Story

I’m a big fan of the blues. It doesn’t matter to me what kind of blues it is. I just love the raw emotion and honesty mixed with mostly simple progressions. Most rock is derived somehow from the blues, when you look back and analyze things. It’s also as American as apple pie and all that jazz.

Odd as it sounds, this straight-up blues song is a story about a story. Well, it isn’t its own story with its own narrative, but I think you get the idea. If you read the lyrics, you’ll find it’s plain to see that this song is based on Stephen King’s opus, The Stand.

I moonlight with cover bands. There was a time when I was fronting one a few years ago. Usually when we warmed up or had time for a sound-check, I’d lead the guys into some sort of blues number. Sometimes it would be The Replacements’ “Hootenanny”. Other times it might just be some sort of blues in E since I’m a fan of the E-A-B progression. If we just broke out into slow E blues, I’d start to make up lyrics on the fly.

During this time, I was reading The Stand so the characters and plot were fresh in my mind. On more than one occasion, while we were playing some blues, I just started singing about The Walking Dude, the Trashcan Man and whatever else came to mind. I didn’t write any of it down right away but tried to repeat it each time we played.

Then one day as I was recording drum tracks for my original stuff, I decided to lay down two blues tracks knowing one of them would be this homage to The Stand. After that, I wrote down as much of the lyrics I could remember and polished up the rest.

If you’re a King fan you’ll know right away that the title of the song refers to Randall Flagg, the chief antagonist in the novel. He’s one of those villains you love to hate and shows up in many of King’s works. “I saw the Walking Man/Dude in the city of sin” refers to Flagg in Las Vegas, which is his de facto headquarters of sorts in the book. That verse is repeated at the end for emphasis and to create a “bookend” feeling, lyrically.

“Baby, Can You Dig Your Man?” is a song in the book by one of the principle characters, Larry Underwood. This poor guy was probably just about to make it as a musician when the crippling Super-Flu (nicknamed Captain Trips) hits and wipes out most of civilization. Since the song is mentioned in the book many times and since Larry is a musician, it stuck in my head. I felt I had to include it somehow.

The line about “your sister can” is a take on the traditional blues line where the jilted lover asks his girl for something (probably sex) and says that if she won’t, her sister will. It’s fairly common in blues songs. Initially, I wanted to include Larry’s name in the verse to enforce that the lyric was part of his song. At first, the line read, “If you don’t, my man Larry can.” I realized that made no sense though. That would make Larry gay and while that’s not a bad thing in itself, it diverts from the novel where Larry is clearly not gay at all (that we know of). So I changed the line to refer to “your sister” instead. Larry’s name didn’t make the lyrics.

The Trashcan Man verse was made up on the fly and one of the verses I remembered fully. Trash is a crazy pyromaniac in the book. The bit about desire at the end is just vague enough to be cool. I’m not 100% sure what it refers to but it rhymes and can be interpreted a few ways.

I wanted to get Mother Abagail in there somewhere since she was also a musician. I love that visual of the old woman playing her spirituals on the front porch with a guitar. That image stayed with me, just like Larry’s song. Of course, the “Hand of God” is an important reference, especially at the end of the book. I liked the notion that she could foresee things.

The song is mainly in first person to give people the impression that the singer is just another character in the book, watching the events unfold. It’s a very long book but if you get the chance to read it, I highly recommend it. Just be patient with it, especially in the middle. I know a lot of people who say they just couldn’t get through it and I admit that the middle drags at times but almost everything that happens is essential and connected in some way. It’s a fascinating read with lots of characters and some great imagery. Without it, this song might just be about some guy bitching about his girlfriend.

So thanks, Steve. Please don’t sue me.

The Recording

I recorded the drums for this song first, and on the same day I recorded the drum track for another blues shuffle I wrote called “Did You Tell Your Man”. These types of songs are very easy to play for me, so while I don’t remember how many takes I did, I can assure you it was only one or two. I just sang along in my head to make sure I was in the right place. I played loudly or quietly where I felt certain parts were happening. It all fell into place and felt natural.

The bass is very direct and to the point. There isn’t a lot of walking or moving around. Looking back now, I think I should have played a bit more, but at the time I was trying to finish the basic tracks in one big session (for both blues songs) because I wanted a friend to come in and play lead guitar for me. I wanted the tracks to be ready.

The song is very stripped down and for rhythm guitar, I only played an acoustic. If you listen closely in the background, you’ll hear it drift in and out between the vocals.

The great lead guitar on the track is played by my old friend Tommy Hayes. We used to work together at a local music store when he was just a kid and I was in my early 20’s. He was always a big blues guy and after reconnecting, I heard some of his playing and thought he’d really be great. He agreed to come down and play on the two blues tracks for me.

All the electric guitars you hear on this track are by Tommy. He does some great lead work and I especially love the little fills that decorate the song here and there. There’s one I really love at around 2:45 (right after the first Trashcan line).

The vocals are pretty subdued at first but pick up a little before the solos for some emotional weight. “She’s a bad girl” was just ad libbed on the fly. The “Hand of God” stuff was intentionally big to lead into the more powerful guitar solo. The first guitar solo was on the mellow side but I asked Tommy to really kick it in for the second one. I kicked the vocals up a little at the end, also, just to have some fun and try to get a big ending out of the tune.

While it’s really just a plain, traditional blues romp, there’s something I like about the song. I don’t know if it’s just nostalgia or whatever, but it’s got something I like. I believe it’s the fact that it’s not over-produced. It’s very simple and has a live sound to it. It’s raw and honest, as the blues should be.

The Lyrics

I saw the Walking Man in the city of sin
I saw the Walking Dude in the city of sin
Looked in his eyes; what a mess I was in

Tell me baby, can you dig your man
Tell me baby, can you dig your man
Because if you don’t, I know your sister can
She’s a bad girl

The Trashcan Man likes to play with fire
The Trashcan Man likes to play with fire
Little did he know her name was desire

I dreamt about that woman strumming her guitar
I dreamt about that woman strumming her guitar
She said, “You better take care children. Here come the Hand of God.”

I saw the Walking Man in the city of sin
I saw the Walking Man in the city of sin
Looked in his eyes; Lord, what a mess I was in

Lou's News / Writing

May 20, 2010

My First Tattoo

I’ve been tattoo shopping for a while now but could never make up my mind what to do. I talked to a lot of people and ran many a design past them to gauge opinions. The usual stock answer was always something like, “You have to pick it because it has to mean something to you.” Sure, that’s true. But a little help is always welcome. I had picked out a few designs that my wife cringed at or my friends would say were too cliche and generic.

I was at the diner one night, probably a year ago or something, with my friend Jim. We went to grammar school together and he has a really cool Jaws tattoo. We started talking about ideas for me and all of the sudden he just lights up and says, “I got it!” He knows I’ve always been a big fan of The Police. The band, not the law enforcement agency, though I have nothing against them either.

Anyhow, Jim suggested the cover of The Police’s album called Ghost in the Machine . It’s the one with “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, “Spirits in the Material World”, “Invisible Sun”, and some others. I always loved the cover of that album (which was designed by a guy named Mick Hegarty) because at first glance, it looks like just a bunch of weird seven-segment display symbols or digital runes or something – but they’re clearly not numbers.

Now, the seven-segment display had been around a while but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the LED thing really went mainstream. If you’re like me, you remember when “digital watches” came out. These used that seven-segment display where you turn on or off any number of those segments to create numbers or letters.

In 1981, when Ghost in the Machine came out, the digital thing had been around a while but I don’t recall if it was ever used in “pop art” the way it was used on this album cover. There are no letters or numbers here and the segments are customized as if the design incorporates a strange hybrid of traditional seven-segment display and the more versatile sixteen-segment character block.

In any case, what you’re really seeing on the album cover are three faces of the three members of the band, The Police (Andy Summers, Sting, and Stewart Copeland). Look again – it’s them. In fact, I’m pretty amazed how many people have never noticed this…but more on that in a little bit.

So I carefully considered this as an option for a long time but I really wanted the first tattoo to be something with my kids’ names on it. I even put together a little something in Photoshop with two guitars crossed at the neck with banners on each side with the names on them. On top, there’s a winged heart with some music notes. Pretty nice, but pretty big, pretty expensive (I assume), and probably not a one session job. So I figured I’d keep saving until I got up a bunch of money and get that done one day.

Then, last week, I went to Las Vegas with my high school buddies because we all turned 40 this year. While walking around on Sunday night, I spied a tattoo shop and the bug hit me again. I knew I couldn’t get that huge thing I wanted but at the same time I felt like I should go home with more than a key chain or some other souvenir. I wanted to say, “Oh this? I got it in Vegas with my buddies!” I figured it would be small enough so it wouldn’t be too expensive and I could probably have it done in an hour or two. The guys were all going to see a show so the plan was simple. While they were gone, I’d meet up with an old friend of mine who lives out there and she’d drive me over to the place to get it done.

That’s pretty much how it went down. I even talked the guy down a little in price. There was no one in the joint on a Monday night so I guess he didn’t mind helping me out, which was nice. The whole thing took under an hour to do.

First he went online for a better photo than the one I had saved on my Crackberry. He printed one out and made a bluish stencil, which is sort of like one of those temp tattoos you put on kids. just slap it on the arm, peel it off, and there’s a light blue version of what’s going to end up on your arm. Then he started working on outlining the segments in black. When that was done, he filled in the rest with red. Pretty simple!

I have to admit that I was really braced for a painful experience because sometimes you hear these horror stories that make you nervous. Whatever this guy did, though, he did it well because it hardly hurt at all. It doesn’t feel like needles. It almost feels like scraping or light slicing or something like that. You’ve probably had worse in a doctor’s office. People’s tolerance to pain varies, I suppose. The guy was done before I even knew what happened. He just said, “OK, get up and take a look.” and there it was. No major pain, no tons of blood everywhere, no fuss, and it looked great!

He covered it up for me, said to leave it on for an hour and then just gave me some final tips and pointers for taking care of it. I was in and out in no time. It was a very pleasant experience, I’m glad to report.

Oh! But I forgot. Talk about feeling old…

When I showed the design to the tattoo girl at the desk (who was all of about 19), she had no idea what it was. I talked her through it. The artist who actually did the work on me, however, didn’t look like a young guy. I was guessing him in his 30’s. I was a little shocked to see that he also didn’t know what it was. I explained and even after that he held it up and said, “Does it go like this?” I replied, “Uh…no…that’s upside down, dude.” Am I really that old now?! He was a good guy though. Very friendly and no-nonsense at the same time. Plus he had a Mohawk. You gotta love a guy with a Mohawk.

I remember him saying to me, before the first needle touched my skin, “Welcome to your new addiction.” I won’t be one of those people that covers my whole arms or anything, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get my original one done (with the kids’ names on it) some time in the future, probably on the other arm.

So when we got back, we started playing penny slots (to waste time and get free drinks!) while waiting for the guys to get back from the show. The cocktail waitress asked what happened and I was tempted to go into this story about being shot for a second, but she realized what it was before I could say anything. I showed her the picture I had on my Crackberry and of course she said, “What is that?” I explained, “You know the band The Police? Sting? It’s an album cover.” She liked it more after that.

The guys got back and we took off the patch. They liked it too. From that moment on, however, it seemed that no one could recognize this design. Now, in a way, that’s kind of cool if you take my meaning. It’s a conversation piece now! I can dig that. I’m kind of interested to see who can recognize it.

We were playing roulette at one point and I noticed the pit boss looking at me. This went on for a while. He finally walked by and said, “I’m trying to figure out what language that is.” I talked him through it. He liked it after that, too.

So the night went on like this but at one point, at a poker table, two British fellows walked up and before they even sat down, one looked at me and went, “The Police!” I was so excited! I had to tell him what album it was but still, that was cool. He was the only person in Vegas to recognize it.

I posted the photo up on Facebook and about 3/4 of the comments were to the effect of “What is that?” Only some of my musician friends got it, of course. Nothing wrong with that though! I’m enjoying explaining it to everyone.

In the end, I’m happy with it and I’m glad it’s starting conversations. In fact, while I was still in “thinking mode” last year, I went on the net to see if I could find anyone else who had the same tattoo done. Believe it or not, I could not find one photo. That most certainly doesn’t mean I’m alone but if you search for something like a yin-yang or a winged heart, you’ll come up with lots of results. So, that’s pretty cool, too.

I have a tattoo that I like, inspired by music and a good band, and I have a fun story to tell. Mission Accomplished, I say.