Aerosmith’s iconic Toys In The Attic celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 8. The Boston rockers’ third album was a turning point in their history as it catapulted them to stardom. Speaking to Guitar Player, guitarist Joe Perry detailed the writing of the iconic “Walk This Way” with drummer Joey Kramer and how the film Young Frankenstein inspired its creation.
“I was thinking of some of the funk that I really liked and thought, let’s see if we can get something that’s got that kind of groove,” Perry says. “We were in soundcheck in Hawaii, and I asked Joey to just play straight, funky twos and fours while I started working on a riff.
“The first part was basically the verse, and then, you need a place to go, and I changed from down to the E chord from a C. Every chord change needed a little signature to it, like a little bit of a riff. By the time I finished the soundcheck, I pretty much had all the parts.”
All it was missing was a vocal hook, which, unusually, came from the silver screen. Needing a break from the studio the band — minus Perry, who remained at the studio — went to see Young Frankenstein. The Mel Brooks comedy features a scene based on an old vaudeville visual gag, in which comedian Marty Feldman, as Igor, instructs Gene Wilder, as Dr. Frankenstein, to “walk this way.” Frankenstein assumes he means “follow me,” but Igor demonstrates that he wants him to walk as he does, with a limp and assisted by a stubby cane.
Perry says the group was still laughing about the line when they returned. “Steven said, ‘Okay… walk this way. I think that’s what I needed.’”
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“I was thinking of some of the funk that I really liked and thought, let’s see if we can get something that’s got that kind of groove,” Perry says. “We were in soundcheck in Hawaii, and I asked Joey to just play straight, funky twos and fours while I started working on a riff.
“The first part was basically the verse, and then, you need a place to go, and I changed from down to the E chord from a C. Every chord change needed a little signature to it, like a little bit of a riff. By the time I finished the soundcheck, I pretty much had all the parts.”
All it was missing was a vocal hook, which, unusually, came from the silver screen. Needing a break from the studio the band — minus Perry, who remained at the studio — went to see Young Frankenstein. The Mel Brooks comedy features a scene based on an old vaudeville visual gag, in which comedian Marty Feldman, as Igor, instructs Gene Wilder, as Dr. Frankenstein, to “walk this way.” Frankenstein assumes he means “follow me,” but Igor demonstrates that he wants him to walk as he does, with a limp and assisted by a stubby cane.
Perry says the group was still laughing about the line when they returned. “Steven said, ‘Okay… walk this way. I think that’s what I needed.’”
The post AEROSMITH’s JOE PERRY Explains How Young Frankenstein Inspired “Walk This Way” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
