The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

“Where the Sun Never Shines” is a song left from the 1996 sessions for Nine Lives. It is believed that Marti Frederiksen and Joe Perry wrote the music earlier in 1996, when they first meet, working on an iteration of the demo with alt scatting lyrics from Marti with working title “Cheating Nights”. This earliest demo version was found in a “lost” DAT tape (possibly the same session where they wrote “When the Monkey Comes/Angel’s Eye”), and probably is new material Joe wrote alone with Marti before bringing it to Steven.

The song made it to the South Beach sessions with Glen Ballard. It is assumed that Tyler liked the demo Perry and Frederiksen prepared him with, and decided to add his lyrics and vocals to the demo. It is unclear if this demo features a drum machine or Steve Ferroni on drums, but the South Beach version is definitely the same basic instrumental track that Joe and Marti put together, so chances are that bass and drums were done by Marti, with Joe on guitars, and Steven simply replacing Marti’s vocals and lyrics with his own.

In a 1997 interview with MTV Latinoamerica, Steven Tyler mentions the song as having an Indian flavour to its melody. Indeed, the guitar work on the demo has a certain twang of Asian/Indian sound in places, as well as in some vocal harmonies.

The song starts with an interesting guitar sound as a sort of intro. It’s a palm-muted guitar with a flanger/Wawa effect in a stereo pan going left to right. The main verse riff is catchy, Tyler delivers his vocals on the verse with great rhythm. A pre-chorus follows with vocal harmonies that make it the highlight of the song. The chorus, perhaps, is a bit anticlimactic as at times sound similar to the verses, it’s not the strongest part of the song. A good Perry solo jumps in, better than expected, much in the style of what he did in “Angel’s Eye”, yet it’s very repetitive. A fade-out jam closes the song after the chorus is repeated one more time.

The lyrics are ok, featuring playful sexual references, classic Tyler. The title itself could have been a reason for the song being omitted from the album, with Tyler basically shouting out loud that he loves anal sex, even in a more explicit meaner than ‘Fever’ – “I’d rather be O.D.in’ on the crack of her ass“. The phrase “where the sun never shines” is a euphemism for ass, anus or ass-hole. Another rumour pointed to the band writing the song for “The Sun Records” compilation album being worked on at the time and was maybe discarded by them as well.

A fan covered the song based on samples leaked, lyrics and independent research.

Where The Sun Never Shines
(Tyler, Perry, Frederiksen)

Harder than a furnace,
And whether it turn us,
Oh, but you know it lies,

She up to the hill in a ’70s thrill,
A one-world to the wise,

A little meditation,
A good vibration,
And you won’t know who you are,

She could be your lover,
And take you to another place beyond the stars…

And make you wanna come,
To sin above,
A shadow in the sun,
We’re out of here,
I ain’t nowhere to stay,
And I come up to see no light of day…

I go out of my mind,
Where the sun never shines,
Yeah, the pleasure is all mine,
Where the sun never shines,
I’m back up that line,
Where the sun never shines,
It’s the end of the line,
Where the sun never shines…

I love to lust to love you,
I wouldn’t have it any other way,
And if you hate to sin,
And you love the sinner, and that’d makes you okay,

Love was great, but I couldn’t relate,
Until I feel in love with the night,
I see bell of toys, has a way,
Out working out our lives…

And make you wanna come,
To sin above,
A shadow in the sun,
We’re out of here,
I ain’t nowhere to stay,
And neither will be getting in our way…

I go out of my mind,
Where the sun never shines,
Yeah, the pleasure is all mine,
Where the sun never shines,
I’m back up that line,
Where the sun never shines,
It’s the end of the line,
Where the sun never shines…

Chords:
Verses: E
Pre-chorus:
B – A – G – A (x3)
B – A – B
Chorus:
E – G – A – G