WCSX Classic Cuts : Back in the Saddle
WCSX Classic Cuts
Aerosmith: “Back in the Saddle”
The Hook: Put on headphones and listen to the sounds you can make with a guitar cable and four expensive microphones.
Album: Rocks
Year: 1977
Writers: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry
Stats: Peaked at number-38 on the Billboard Hot 100
Background: One of the highlights of “Back in the Saddle” is what Wikipedia calls the “sound effects of a galloping horse and whips, and screams and yodeling by Steven Tyler at the end of the song.” It goes on to explain that “a real bullwhip was intended to be used for the whip effects and hours were spent trying to get it to crack. The band members ended up cut up and hurt without making any progress.” Tyler explains how he and producer Jack Douglas finally got the sounds they were looking for.
Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler on how he and producer Jack Douglas came up with the sounds you hear at the end of “Back in the Saddle.” OC:…doing that. :25
“I said, ‘Jack, set up four Neumanns. Neumanns are these vocal mics – they’re German and they’re just superb, you can turn them up so loud. And I get up like this to it, and ‘doodoop-doodoop- doodoop’ – you can hear the blood go through your veins, it’s such a good microphone. I set up four of them and I took a guitar cord and I went ‘whoo-whoo.’ And that’s what you hear – put the headphones on to hear it. And I still have a scar to this day from doing that.”
