Couchriders In The Sky

WALTER BECKER & LARRY KLEIN

movie: Matt Kerns

Gene:

Page:

Door:

Somebody’s:

Upside:

Deal:

Downtown—

these were some of the names on CD labels and tape canisters while Circus Money was being made. Every song — from the music charts to the tape on the mixing board — was known by an abbreviated name only. The reasons and history behind this longstanding convention — and some of the unexpected, Keystone-Kops effects of violating it — would make for a fairly amusing story we could tell about the 2vN era, and perhaps some day we will.

But hold on — what’s this — other names? on other labels: Building: Mayor: Mouse: Lucky: Lucy: Danger: and more! They didn’t make the cut. Ouch.

And perhaps oddest of all, you find one apparently called “Couchies”

We posted the demo for Couchies way back in April.

When you superimpose a melody on some tracks, their character changes rather dramatically, because the melody isn’t really echoed, particularly, by the harmonic structure of the track itself. We felt this was true here. What do you think?

Take a listen to some of your favorite musicians, playing along with Walter’s scratch vocal, on

Couchriders in the Sky

Stay wait: Couch, um, ride um, Huh!? For those not old enough to remember quasi-novelty songs from the mid-century, you might want to look it up. Except it wasn’t Couches anybody was riding. Burl Ives; Gene Autry: Johnny Cash — it was a classic.

A brief word about vocals. Oooooo so tempting to apply just a touch of auto-tune….just 3 notes!? Can we? Should we? We learned the plug-ins, we tried them out, we tweaked and leaked, squinted and squirmed, we wept, we prayed, we microlistened…and then…

… we took all autotune OFF.

That’s what you’re hearing today; Walter’s uncorrected naked scratch vocal.

This issue will become more relevant soon enough: Pitch, especially holding it steady for long notes, may not have been WB’s forte; it is in fact the forte of very few singers, even among the accomplished. But any honest listener of the contents of this site has to admit that Walter was a much better and skillful (natural, uncorrected) singer than usually given credit for. I mean….c’mon people! Re-listen if you need to. And if you’re still not down with it, we’ll be coming for your secret decoder ring forthwith.

But the point, Watson, the point is this: Walter was not inevitably disturbed about an off-pitch warble in a woking vocal. For one thing, a career with Fagen utterly schooled him on the concentration, experience, and practice required for strong, steady vocals in the studio or on the stage. So for Walter, his vocal limitations were just facts, not failures. Certainly an observer wouldn’t find the tsk-tsking, the averted eyes, the oh-dear-that-was-terrible head-drop. Walter took for granted —rather sanely, it seems to me — that informal and non-perfected vocal sessions were just gonna be….informal and imperfect.

But there was a particular type of self-perceived “weak” singing

that did bother him; it was a voice that, given the choice, he would largely keep to himself. As we move deeper into the stacks, we may have to make some hard decisions, and leave some DATS in their cases. But there’s nothing terrible about “hard” decisions, if one’s respect for all Walter has given us will tamp down that impulse for more,, more, more — no matter what.

But later for that!

For now, enjoy Becker/Klein’s

Couchriders in the Sky!

(Thanks again to Uber-mench Larry Klein , a blessing to our boy in every possible way, plus 10).

Couchriders In The Sky

WALTER BECKER & LARRY KLEIN

© 2007/2018 Zeon Music LLC and  © 2007/2018 Strange  Cargo/ Downtown Music (ASCAP)

This is no Grace Line tour

This is no Disney ride

No hipster buccaneers

Wait on the yonder side

This river's fast and wide

This water cold and deep

And there's no place for you

Where stones and fishes sleep

Spliff and chalice

Chalice and spliff

Oxi's and dexi's

Like dragon's teeth

I know what happens

And you do too

You seen the rushes

On the pay per view and

Yes

We are leaving

In the morning

For the afternoon and more

Say good evening

Say goodbye

Couchriders

Couchriders in the sky

And who goes on this boat

I guess we don't know yet

We see through low-res eyes

In dusky silhouette

This couch is long and low

The bolsters warm and deep

And there is room for you

Where kings and counsellors sleep

Switchblades and matches

And black cat bones

Spacecones in batches

And casing stones

The headland’s rising

And don't you know

As up above so is it

Down below and

Yes

We are leaving

In the morning

For the afternoon and more

Say good evening

Say goodbye

Couchriders

Couchriders in the sky

Vocal, bass- Walter Becker

Drums- Keith Carlock

Electric piano - Ted Baker

Piano - Jim Beard

Guitar - Jon Herington

Producer: Larry Klein

Engineer: Elliot Scheiner