Matt is off working on his own thing for next time, which will come along with a newsletter. Meanwhile, I thought why not celebrate our nation’s proudest moment—that would be now, am I right? — with a story of the American dream—or one version of it anyway: Red Guitar.
I'm not really sure when Walter wrote this. Early 90s for sure but what else is new? ( I’ll share some more recent vintage soon). It showed up on his song lists about then, but as I've learned, sometimes he had song titles on these lists before he had the songs.
Obviously he never got very far with this---no bridge, no solo section, a big hairy 2 minutes, etc. But it has always been one of my real favorites and if you can't hear it already I'm not sure I could explain it. There’s the fantastic swinging syncopation over a great popping’ bass, the optimum Becker dissonant note in the riff , of course —
— but what really gets me is the singing. So free, casual, even as the narrative voice tells a sad story with affection but no sentimentality. He's saying there was, after all, nothing to be done. And in his easy, swinging style, we hear he’s managed once again to write himself a ditty that he really enjoys singing. Clever gent.
And because our experience of life is comprised largely of contrasts, comparisons, distinctions, and similarities — we are pattern-recognition animals, above all—sometimes I find myself thinking of this little tune as Becker's N Gang
Would that be so wrong?
Enjoy,
D-Mod
RED GUITAR (Walter Becker)
Back in school we were no damn good
Terrorizing the neighborhood
The one cool thing we ever did
Was Bad News Nicky And The Dead End Kids
Hey now!
C’mon Nicky, tell the people who we are
Oh there you go, playing on that Red Guitar
C’mon Nicky, some day you will be a star
Oh don’tcha know — playing on that Red Guitar
Reviews are good, fans are legion
Tearing’ it up in the Tri-state region
Goin’ station-to-station, coast-to-coast
Now who do you think they like the most?
The time roll on and it just don’t stop
And it sure turns ugly at the top
Ahhhh I got out while the gettin’s good
You hung back..and did what you could
C’mon On!
Now they call me back to town
To make this speech, lay you down
The one true thing I got to say
Was we had some times along the way
C’mon Nicky, tell the people who we are
Oh there you go, playing on that Red Guitar
C’mon Nicky, some day you will be a star
Oh don’tcha know — playing on that Red Guitar
Yeah, I dig this. This is cool. Great bass, obviously, and I agree that the casual, effortless singing is one of the tunes highlights...and oddly enough, even at 2 minutes, it seems complete, although I'm happy to loop it several times in a row.
Sounds like "She Was Good", what is great!
Agree with you @Moderator: D-Mod on the swinging! Really like the way his vocal plays against the vamp. And who doesn't like a red guitar? Thank you!
Since they weren't included here, I took a stab at the lyrics. @Moderator: D-Mod @Matthew Kerns please correct me where I'm wrong.
Red Guitar by Walter Becker
Back in school we were no damn good
terrorizing the neighborhood
The one cool thing we ever did
was Bad News Nikki and the Dead-End Kids
Hey now, come on Nikki
tell the people who we are
Oh, there you go
playin' on that red guitar
Come on Nikki
some day you'll be a star
Ah, don't you know
playin' on that red guitar
Leads are good
fans are legion
Tearin' it up
in the tri-state region
Goin' station-to-station
and coast-to-coast
Now who do ya think
they like the most
And the time roll on
and it just don't stop
Then it sure turns-up
at the top
Ah, I got out
while the gettin's good
You hung-back
and did what ya could
Come on
now they call me back to town
To make this speech
to lay you down
What you think
I got to say
Is we had some times
along the way
Hey now, come on Nikki
tell the people who we are
Oh, there you go
playin' on that red guitar
Come on Nikki
some day you'll be a star
Ah, don't you know
playin' on that red guitar
Good effort! Just a few pebbles to clean up. FYI the "official" lyrics are on its YouTube page. My bad for not also posting them here, which I have now done, above.
I posted our "offish" lyrics above, where they always belonged. Cleaned up a couple of typos that were on the YouTube version too --- so this should do it
Thanks! Feel free to delete mine.
The best way I can describe this song: it's just fun! It's got a familiar sounding chord progression, but then Walter throws in just enough difference to catch your attention. Bouncy and loose, I like it! Agree 1000% on the singing too. Then again, I might be biased because I like red guitars. Case in point, here's an old picture of my Strat.
Beautiful Strat, Dan.
Thanks. Too bad I'm not a very good player! It's an American Special I picked up used a few years ago, but I did upgrade this guitar since I took that picture so it's not really that anymore. I swapped out the neck and pickups with ones from an American Standard I picked up off Craigslist, so it has the wiring from the American Special where the neck and bridge pickups have tone control instead of neck and middle, but plays and sounds like an American Standard otherwise. And I was able to take the other guitar that I swapped the parts out from and resell it quickly for a decent price, so I basically managed to upgrade for almost free!
God, this is gorgeous- honestly, too much emotion involved to even try to assess what’s missing and how it might have grown. What a gift in these tired difficult days. Thank you.
I agree, I love the Red Guitar it's been going around my head all day and night and I can't stop listening, so catchy and laid-back. Thanks for posting !!
Fans are legion/Tri-state region = rhyme of the week