It’s hard to tell which came first — “Voodoo Medicine Man” or “Buried Alive.” What’s certain is that Voodoo began as a rough jam with the working title “News for You Baby,” where Steven Tyler’s only lyric was “ain’t nothing to it, news for you baby.” Once the band developed the groove and Tyler wrote the final words, that sketch evolved into Voodoo Medicine Man.
Buried Alive, however, feels like its own beast. It shares lyrical DNA with Voodoo, but not its structure or purpose. The famous spoken intro in Voodoo — “Sired by a shaman, I was left as a child, dragged from my cradle, I was weaned in the wild, ran with the wolfpack, flesh torn to shreds, no compensation, I was left there for dead…” — actually comes directly from Buried Alive. It’s widely believed this narration was recorded as a separate element called “Hoodoo” and later added as an insert over tribal chanting to introduce Voodoo Medicine Man.
The Buried Alive bootlegged demo leaked in the late 90s is raw and hypnotic — almost entirely a one-chord jam built around bass and drums with minimal guitar work. It sounds more like a band lost in a trance than a finished song. Steven’s vocal performance is what gives it life: strained, desperate, almost gasping for air. When he stutters “B-B-B-Buried Alive,” it feels like he’s choking and clawing his way out from under the dirt, screaming to keep breathing.
Musically, it never quite finds form — there’s no bridge or chorus lift, just an endless pulse. That probably explains why it ended up as the very last song on the B-list during Pump’s creation — a fascinating idea that never grew beyond its raw sketch. Still, its energy and themes clearly fed into Voodoo Medicine Man, which refined the mysticism and primal chaos into something sharper and more cinematic.
Lyrically, Buried Alive explores pain, rebirth, and transformation through suffering. Voodoo Medicine Man later expanded that vision, turning personal struggle into a wider reflection on corruption, chaos, and Mother Earth’s vengeance. They’re thematically connected, but musically worlds apart.
In 2008, an online vendor known as SLCD listed a CD titled Aerosmith – Unreleased Tracks for sale at US$500, claiming it had come from a former Geffen executive. Among the songs was “Buried Alive,” included alongside other Pump-era outtakes such as “Sniffin’.” The version featured on the disc was likely a clean transfer from the original master, as it sounded noticeably clearer than earlier circulating copies. Only one CD was ever sold — reportedly purchased not long after it appeared, quite possibly by Aerosmith’s management, since the listing drew considerable attention on the old AF1 forums.
Interestingly, the opening vocal melody from Buried Alive — that haunting, wordless phrase before the first verse — is something Steven Tyler has revisited multiple times during his piano improvisations at live shows in the 2010s. It’s a small reminder that, even decades later, pieces of this lost track still live somewhere in his creative bloodstream.
Buried Alive
Sired by a shaman
I was left as a child
And I was dragged from my cradle
And I was weaned in the wild
And I ran with the wolfpack
I had my flesh torn to shreds
There weren’t no compensation
I was left there for dead
I was buried alive
I was buried alive
I think I was buried alive
I was buried alive
Praying for mercy
I was too weak to crawl
I got nowhere to run to
I think I’ve got my back to the wall
In desperation
I was fit to be tied
I got a feeling I’ll be waiting forever
Anticipation too proud
I was buried alive
I was buried alive
I was buried alive
I was buried alive…
The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos 