The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

“Loretta” is an Aerosmith outtake from the Nine Lives album, written during the 1996 South Beach sessions with Glen Ballard as a producer. Being a fast-paced pop/rocker with a slight punk feel (as much of the guitar parts are mostly played in 5ths), it is believed to have made it all the way to the end of the production line – from demoing to mastering. Possible causes of omission include the drug-heavy references, the controversial nature of the topic of transgenderism in pop song lyrics (despite Dude being a hit) and the repetitive nature of the riff and certain phrases.

The song starts with a rocking guitar riff that descends from G to F until the whole band kicks in for the intro. The verses feature aggressive Tyler melodies on top of guitar scratching over the G chord that result in a killer section. This leads to a pre-chorus in D that mimics the descending nature of the opening riff. Relieving the tension from the previous sections, the chorus arrives with a poppy-er melody over, now ascending, happy major chords. Layered background vocals (which sound a bit like the ones in “Girls Of Summer”) add to the pop sound that gets completed with Tyler’s super high pitched voice.

Steven hinted at Marti Frederiksen’s involvement in the songwriting of “Loretta” unintentionally during a 2015 interview where he sang a line while pointing at Marti. However, Marti disregarded his involvement in co-writing the song during his 2020 masterclass saying:

The BackBurner: Did you wrote a song called “Loretta” with them?
Marti: Nope, that might have been Mark (Hudson). I mean, they have collaborated with so many people, that I’m just honoured and grateful that I was able to do what I did with them, I mean, at the end of the day I probably wrote 40 songs with those guys, you know?, and probably had 25 of them on record, so, I’m grateful.

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

The bridge, yet again, changes the tone of the song to a dark one. This section includes an unusual instrument, a musical saw or violin, that help create this psychedelic “alternate universe” feeling, other sound FX, low back vocals, and some amazing screaming by Steven. The guitar solo section is sandwiched in between the bridge. The solo in the demo hits irregular notes that feel borderline dissonant, reminiscent of some arrangements in the “Get a Grip” song. The bridge ends in a sort of break over the guitar riff that leads back to a chorus to end the song with the repetitive lyric of “sweet Loretta your the man of the times” that concludes with, yet again, descending chords.

The lyrics seem to talk about an out-of-control transgender drug-addicted prostitute experimenting with cocaine (“blow”), prescription drugs (“so you take another pill”) and alcohol (“drinkin’ welfare whiskey”), making h@r “hallucinate madly”, never stopping the party.

The character could be taken from The Beatles “Get Back” verse 2: “Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman, but she was another man”. The Beatles intent behind these lyrics might have been wrongly understood as an attack towards transgender people, with Lennon referring to a joke towards Pakistani immigrants in the UK in the 1960s.

If the Beatles reference is real, it would list Mark Hudson as a potential co-writer, as he is a self-proclaimed “Beatles-freak” obsessed with including small references to the Liverpool band in all of his work. However, in Feb 2021 it was reported that Mark didn’t remember writing a song called “Loretta” according to an email with a fan.

The first known online reference to the song’s title comes from an April-May 1998 news report in the old “RockThisWay.com”. It is assumed that band members could have mentioned some of the working titles to the press before the album came out.

During 2004, a rumour on the internet spread saying that a line from “Loretta” was used in the Aerosmith’s Honkin On Bobo cover version of “You Gotta Move”, and was confirmed months after. YGTM includes an extra bridge which includes the one-liner: “I’m drinkin’ welfare whiskey smokin’ food stamp crack”.

In July 2011 Joey Kramer teased fans on Twitter stating that he had been listening to “Loretta” in his car recently, hinting that the song was considered and probably re-visited during the Music From Another Dimension (2012) album. His tweet has since been deleted.

Given the style of the song it’s also speculated this could have been one of the songs written with Robert DeLeo in 1995.

Loretta
(Tyler/Frederiksen/Perry/Hudson?)

I’ve been reading all about you in the Sunday Times, yeah,
I wanna be the punishment to fit your crimes,

Midnight downtown, you’re walkin’ the floor,
you fell into the roses and your dress got torn,
you’re hanging with “Ambrosia” and you’re gonna have a ball,
your monkey’s up the river and it’s ten feet tall,

It’s a long way, gonna dig that hole to China,
Oh won’t you blow that wimpy diner,
You’re a man of the times Loretta… haaa…

Your boyfriend’s in the closet with a girl named Jack,
Drinkin’ welfare whiskey, smokin’ food stamp crack,

You take it every night till you get your fill,
you never get enough like you say you will,
you’re wheeling and you’re dealing but you gotta learn to chill,
you got a lot of “nada” so you take another pill,

It’s a long way gotta dig that hole to China,
Won’t you blow that wimpy diner,
You’re a man of the times Loretta, ahhh!!!

It’s a long way, gonna ride that train to ruin,
I’m gonna get there me and you and,
You’re a man of the times sweet Lorettaaaa!, hahaha..

Sweet Loretta you’re the men of the time,
Sweet Loretta you’re the men of the time,

And in the morning, yeah,
The walls of Babylon come tumbling down,
I’m hallucinating madly,
I’m in the lust of sweet emotion cause I like it,

(solo)

And in the morning, yeah, the walls of Babylon come tumbling down,
I’m waiting for my “ex” to see me,
I’m in the lust of sweet explosion cause
I like it, like it, like it, like it, like it, like it, like it… (scream)

(stop)

It’s a long way gonna dig that hole to China,
Oh won’t you blow that wimpy diner,
You’re a man of the times,

It’s a long way, gonna ride that train to ruin,
I’m gonna get there me and you and,
You’re a man of the times,

Oh the squeeze of the mind,
You’re the 2 of a kind,
You were his before mine,
Sweet Loretta…

Sweet Loretta you’re a man of the times… aaaaaaaa…

Loretta Chords:

Verses: G
Pre-chorus: D
Chorus: G – Bm – C – D – Em – F
Bridge: Cm – D# – D – Fm