The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

Written during the 1992 demo sessions for Get a Grip at the A&M Studio in Los Angeles, for the first attempt at the album. It got to the end of the recording process, from a simple demo (October 14, 1992) to a final mix mastered track (February 1, 1993).

A demo starts with a drum machine program (which could have been played by, and/or later replaced by Joey Kramer) with a single guitar scratching the A chord till the rest of the band joins in. The main riff is played in the fashion of Nine Live’s “Something Gotta Give” chorus, which could have been very well inspired by recycling this song. The verses are possibly the best part of the song. They sound dark and mysterious with a heavy guitar arrangement in Dm that sounds reminiscent of the ones in “Fever”. The pre-chorus is played in the key of G, speeding up in preparation for the chorus. A fast passed chorus follows with Tyler screaming vocals on top of the opening riffing chords. The solo is good and long, it could be a Joe/Brad interpolation playing different parts. Towards the end Tyler joins in harmonising, resulting in a memorable melody that leads to the pre-chorus and a final reprise of the chorus to end with a band jam until it fades out.

The lyrics are OK, but get too repetitive in the chorus. They seem to talk about a man in trouble after dealing with drug lords; it also sounds like a possible alternate bizarre dimension with a desolated city during the decay of civilization, people going to hell, mental health issues, cars and heavenly creatures. They could have been written in an attempt to make a call back to “Kings and Queens”.

A version of the demo was compiled/reconstructed by fans using different bits and pieces of samples leaked over the years including different studio versions, and recordings of the demo being played over the phone from an online vendor with a copy of a CD of Aerosmith’s “Unreleased Tracks” selling for $500 who claimed that the CD had been provided by an ex-Geffen executive during 2008. This was an earlier version of the demo including some additional Tyler vocalizations. The CD was sold with no extra copies made. It is assumed that Aerosmith management bought it, as it was making a lot of “noise” in the official AF1 forums.

There’s no sleep in the heart of the city,
There’s no shelter from the midnight rain,
I’ve got a mansion on a hill down in memory lane,

I saw the light from a broken mirror,
Spitfire from an angel’s wings,
I’m on a dealing but the devil didn’t need a thing,

That’s my soul,
Something is going over me,
I lose control,
Whatever kind is meant to me,
It’s Murphy’s law,
But things are looking good,
Something’s gotta give, gotta give, gotta get…

Strange, I just wanna get strange,
The whole world is going insane, yeah,
Who’s flying this plane,
I just wanna get strange,
Driving on the heat of this train,
My brains are going under in flames,
Baby, you can keep the change,
Cause I just wanna get…

Neck deep and I hear of confession,
Hail Marry, are you full of grace?
No trip to the river gonna save my face, yeah…

Look down from the top of the mountain,
Stay there from the gates of hell,
I’m the one who stole the coins from wishing well, yeah,

Bless my soul,
Something is coming over me,
I lose control,
Whatever kind is meant to me,
It’s Murphy’s law,
When things are looking good,
Something’s gotta give, gotta give, gotta give…

In-room,
So I can make a mess of things,
I get down!
My angel’s got a broken wing,
It’s Murphy’s law,
When things are getting good,
Something’s gotta give, gotta give, gotta give…

Strange, I just wanna get strange,
The whole world is going insane,
Guess who’s flying this plane,
I just wanna get strange,
Driving off the edge of this train,
My brains are going up in flames,
Baby, you can keep the change,
Cause I just wanna get…

(solo)

Bless my soul,
Something is coming over me,
I lose control,
Whatever kind is meant to me,
It’s Murphy’s law,
When things are looking good,
Something’s gotta give, gotta give, gotta get…

Strange, I just wanna get strange,
The whole world is going insane,
I just wanna get strange,
Guess who’s flying this plane,
I just wanna get strange,
The whole world is going insane,
I just wanna get strange,
I just wanna get strange,
My brains are going up in flames,
I just wanna get strange,
Yeah, let me off of this train,
I just wanna get strange, strange, strange…

Guitar Chords:
Intro: A – D
Verses:
D – D – D – C
D – D – D – C – A#
Pre-Chorus:
G
A# – G
Chorus:
D – A
Solo:
G – A – A# – A#
G – A – A# – C
D
E