WALTER BECKER MEDIA

  • Home

  • Forum

    • Rarities & Unreleased
    • WBU
    • Street Legal
    • Brill Bldg. Becker
    • Fake Book
    • Everything Else
  • FAQ

  • Downloads

  • walterbecker.com

  • More...

    Use tab to navigate through the menu items.

    1 9 5 0 - 2 0 1 7 

    e s t.  2 0 1 8

    WB's 'Hey 19 Rap' of the Week

    To see this working, head to your live site.
    • Categories
    • All Posts
    • My Posts
    Moderator: D-Mod
    Mar 15, 2018
      ·  Edited: Mar 16, 2018

    Private Gig; Spitbacks?

    in Rarities & Unreleased

    Girl Next Door to the Methadone Clinic



    12 comments
    Clas
    Mar 15, 2018

    Schmear?

    0
    ShaunMac
    Mar 16, 2018

    6 packs for spitbacks. Hell of a lyric.

    i.ozkiwi
    Mar 16, 2018

    great song - donald should record it - or somebody should - steel guitar in there. a modern country classic

    0
    Matthew Kerns
    Mar 16, 2018

    @ShaunMac, I absolutely agree. Great lyric. This song is full of them. The stripped down one man and his guitar version here really serves the song well.


    For anyone unaware, a spitback is a methadone dose placed into an addicts mouth at the clinic but secretly not swallowed. The dose, which later would have been spit back out, is later sold or traded, in this case for "six pack and cigarettes and such."


    The mention here of spitbacks, traded for six packs or cigarettes sitting next to cold cuts and good sandwiches is so casual that its rather haunting to me, as removed from that world as I am. It makes for a very powerful lyric and a damn fine song.

    t.vd.kuilen
    Feb 12, 2019

    Are 'spitbacks' not controlled after (so called) use in methadone clinics ? I don't like the idea of romanticize 'junkie girls' because an addiction is terrible enough. And mr. Becker is the first one to be aware of that.

    0
    paul
    Feb 12, 2019  ·  Edited: Feb 12, 2019

    @t.vd.kuilen I think it's a fact of life for artists to comment on what they have gone through. The list of popular songs with addiction as a background or theme is quite long. I don't think it condones or romanticizes. It does not judge, either. In my view it shows the fragility of the human psyche, but of course, everyone will have their own perception. Art at its best :-)

    0
    t.vd.kuilen
    Feb 12, 2019

    @paul

    What's the connection with this big selfportrait of Vincent van Gogh ? Does Vincent symbolizes the eternal 'suffering artist' ? If so, that's an outdated romantic view of the 19th century on art. He wasn't an addict but very ill in his head and at that time there was no medication against manic depression. Not all artists have a fragile human psyche, luckily.


    0
    paul
    Jan 01, 2019

    Oh my. What a song. I love the fragility of it. Chills! Thank you so much for this. Happy 2019 y'all.

    0
    hourstuff
    Jan 17, 2019

    @D-Mod: Just curious, was a demo ever recorded of Methadone Clinic or is the live version all that exists?

    Moderator: D-Mod
    Jan 27, 2019

    to tell you the truth, I don't know! Never heard a demo but that doesn't mean much

    Moderator: D-Mod
    Apr 01, 2019  ·  Edited: Apr 01, 2019

    There is most definitely a live version....with a verse and talking intro not included here in the dining room. By the way, are you signed up for the Walter Becker Newsletter...? Hummm?


    And because this little ditty seems to have a life of its own, we've come across it yet again in the DAT stacks...and it's a real surprise. We'll get to that one too, some day.

    hourstuff
    Apr 01, 2019

    Oh yeah, I get the newsletter, and enjoyed the New Year's treat!


    Look forward to hearing one of these other versions one day perhaps.

    12 comments

    Walter Becker Media Forum