The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos

“Give it Away” or “Give it a Push” is the working title of a rock song that didn’t make the final cut of Aerosmith’s Nine Lives album. It’s speculated that it was originally written by Perry and Frederiksen during the 1995/1996 early pre-production session, and demoed at the Avatar studios in NY, possibly under Glen Ballard’s production.

A demo of the song was found in one of the lost Avatar Studios DAT (digital audio tape) found in a trash bin in the UK during the early 2000s. The tapes contained TV mixes of released tracks and demos simply listed as “rough”.

3 of these were early pre-production demos of rocking semi-grunge songs with someone other than Tyler on vocals. It is assumed that the voice belongs to Marti Frederiksen, as he is known to have started working with Joe. One of the “rough” demos featured Tyler on lead vocals, this is the demo we are referring to as “Give it Away/Push”. It is unknown if the musicians playing on the original demo are Aerosmith, or if it’s rather only a Perry/Frederiksen demo with Tyler on top.

Steven mostly scatted random lyrics, but some bits and pieces were still comprehensible. Lyrics seem to talk about the struggles of a relationship because of the side effects of drugs and gangsters. Verses were mostly spoken words on Tyler’s lower register, with an ascending tone and melody during the pre-chorus. The pre-chorus and chorus both included a second layer of vocals to harmonize Steven’s vocal melody ideas for the song.

Some sections of the guitar work, scratching the muted strings, could have inspired part of the “Attitude Adjustment”, and the riff could have been recently played by Tom in a Masterclass.

The demo had interesting riffs but failed to deliver memorable melodies. It was probably the only “rough” demo (other than “Where the Sun Never Shines”) for which Tyler attempted to write lyrics. Structurally, all the sections of the song sounded very similar to each other. Tonally, it didn’t really fit the rest of the Nine Lives album.

Clearly not an “A list” song, Tyler and the band probably lost interest (seeing how “Do you Wonder Why” was also in the tapes) and Steven never finished work on it.

Give It Away
(Perry, Frederiksen, Tyler)

Aaaa…
Give it away,
Give it away,
Give it a play…

Verse 1:
I see P. Toldretch, tried to tell me where it’s at,
Oh, Captain Dan kinda killed her with his viewer stack,
He grabbed the cocaine/tool kit, honey did the monkey rich,
He got what he deserved, lift his biceps on the bench,

Pre-Chorus:
And I was elsewhere,
With some girls underwear,
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh…
I didn’t kissed that,
I killed her with her hat,
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh…

Chorus:
Give it away,
Give it away,
Give it a play…

Verse 2:
I see Judy Hina, who’s a gangster pay the check,
Now I come as I house cracker and put “cemento” to her neck,
For this sweet is a goody, as the goody with the rat,
I gifted my night numb and turned into a glass,

Pre-Chorus:
I knew a weak peaty on props,
You’re 20 dogs love that ass,
As you know aaaa….

Chorus:
Give it away,
Give it away,
Give it away… aaa…
Give it away,
Give it away,
Give it away… aaa…

(solo)

Pre-Chorus:
Did ever occur to me,
We need some harmony,
Aaa, aaa, aaa…
And where we draw the line,
You drove and meant to that,
And what I did it was one on one…

Chorus:
Give it a push,
Take it a push,
Take it a push, aaa, aaa, aaaia…
Take it a push,
Step in a push,
Take it a push, aaa, aaa, aaaia…
Take it a push,
Let’s take it a push,
Take it a push, aaa, aaa, aaaia…
Check it a push,
Let’s take it a push,
Take it a push, aaa, aaa, aaaia…
Take it a push,
Let’s take it a push,
Take it a push, aaa, aaa, aaaiaaaaoooo….