The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

“Innocent Man” is a song left out of the Nine Lives album. Originally written by Tyler, Perry, Hudson and Frederisken during the 1996 session, the song was produced by Glen Ballard at South Beach studios (a 1992 tape also lists the song, hinting to an earlier iteration of the song, with Frederiksen adding on to the demo later). At the time Sony rejected it as “they were looking for something else”, while the band said it sounded like “some other band trying to do an Aerosmith song”. It was later considered for inclusion in “Just Push Play” but was still left behind.

“Innocent Man“, that song, I mean, we have a full-on (production), I mean, it’s probably out there now, but we do have a full-on production of that, just like that record (Just Push Play), with strings and all those background (vocals)”

Conversation with Marti Frederiksen, Rock N’ Roll Fantasy’s MasterClass 2020/07/27

Tyler mentioned the song to Billboard in 1999, incorrectly referring to writing it in 1998 (when clearly it was written by 1996, or before), but it could mean that it was revisited and considered to be included in the Armageddon soundtrack:

“We have a lot of songs from the last tour and songs that I wrote when I hurt my leg last year, including ‘Innocent Man,’ which we wrote with songwriter Mark Hudson.”

Steven Tyler, Billboard 1999

An early demo of the song starts with a single piano melody with Tyler’s “uuu’s” harmonising, to later welcome the rest of the band for a rocking intro that features a rather dissonant piano in the background. Verses are slow and dark, with a riff in the key of Am and Perry adding often repetitive guitar fills in between lines. A problem with part of the chorus, and other instrumental parts, is the fact that their melodies are unmemorable, simply not catchy enough. The chorus feels slow, not powerful, and fails to make use of Tyler’s trademark high-pitched vocals. The guitar solo included is just a placeholder and could use further development. The demo includes several layers of back vocals, synth-orchestral fills and an outro in the key of Em that leads to an extended ending jam from the band, resulting in a +5 minute-long demo in need of additional production work. Hudson is known for trying to write in reference to The Beatles in all his songs, this link is not as prominent in this demo, other than a slight keyboard reminiscing that of “Strawberry Fields Forever”.

Lyrics talk about drug abuse, the tragedy of young lives trapped in addiction, the struggle to escape them, and begging for god’s forgiveness and mercy to confront a life in pain. They make reference to excess in drinking, smoking cigarettes, pot and heroin. Tyler’s own experience and testimony as a recovering drug addict point to the fact of constantly “chasing the high”, looking to recreate the same sensation of the first high every time he consumed, augmenting the dose every time when failing to achieve it, leading to experimenting with different substance abuse. It could also be a retrospective of Tyler’s life, looking back and wondering how he survived his journey from being an innocent teenager throughout his dark drug years in the early ’80s. They might additionally be referencing failed relationships that can come as a consequence of excess and abuse, with the “innocent girl” possibly being a reflection of Tyler’s ex-wife, Cyrinda Foxe.

The official song copyright information also credits Joe Perry and Marti Frederiksen as co-writers. Interestingly, the entry was registered in late May 2001:

Type of Work: Music
Registration Number / Date: PAu002594846 / 2001-05-30
Title: Innocent man.
Description: 7 p.
Copyright Claimant: EMI April Music, Inc., Juju Rhythms, Beef Puppet Music, EMI Blackwood Music, Inc., Demon of Screamin’ Music Publishing & Pearl White Music
Date of Creation: 2001
Authorship on Application: words & music: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen & Mark Jeffery Hudson.

“Innocent Man” copyright entry

Fans got to ask Mark Hudson himself about the song on March 10th, 2006, at the Mount Blue restaurant, who was gladly surprised that fans knew about the song. Hudson asked the fans to pass on the comment to Tyler and to ask him to get the song released. Tyler was hesitant to further comment on the song but acknowledged its existence.

Later that year Hudson would also confirm (through his MySpace account) that the band had completely reworked the song in the studio. This information seems to be corroborated in the song titles listed on the whiteboard in Pandora’s Box studio during the 2006/2007 sessions.

Furthermore, during a 2007 online chat for Boston.com, Joey Kramer confirmed, yet again, ongoing work on the song:

F_I_N_E___Guest_: What’s your favourite song that you are working on for the new album?
Joey_Kramer: It’s a song called “Innocent Man.”

Innocent Man
(Mark Hudson, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen)

Whatever happened to the innocent man?
21 years later he doesn’t understand,
if God wanted him to fly, he would’ve given him wings,
now his life becomes a symphony without the strings,

Whatever happened to the innocent girl?
she became a victim of a fucked up world,
she didn’t fit into the master plan,
because a woman shouldn’t be a man,

Purgatory’s waitin’, hail Mary take my pain way,
Drinkin’, flex my arms, smokin’ 20 packs of blunts a day,
Holy roll me over, get you here to say,

You can’t sail in the needle and the spoon,
or give all the credit to the man on the moon,
everyone complaining about the hand they’re dealt,
’cause they lookin’ for a feeling that they never felt,
get off the pot, get off your ass,
try to be the first but you’ll wind up last,
aaaahhhhhh…

(solo)

Whatever happened to the magical one,
he said, a heart’s out of rhythm and we come undone,
(on the runnn…)
hoping he could capture it and bring it back,
and resurrect the love before it fades to black,

Purgatory’s waitin’, hail Mary take my pain way,
Drinkin’, flex my arms, smokin’ 20 packs of blunts a day,
Holy roll me over, get you here to say,

You can’t sail in the needle and the spoon,
or give all the credit to the man on the moon,
everyone complaining ’bout the hand they’re dealt,
’cause they lookin’ for the feeling that they never felt,
get off the pot, (yeah) get off your ass, (yeah)
try to be the first your gonna wind up last, aaeeehhhh…
(outro)

Chords
Intro/Riff: Am – B – C / Em – F / Em
Verses: Am – G – Fm# – E (x4) / Dm
Chorus:
F – G – Am
Dm – Fm# – G
Outro: Em