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RIDING HIGH IN THE SADDLE

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 22, 2020…IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT 43 YEARS AGO AEROSMITH RELEASED ‘BACK IN THE SADDLE’ THEIR FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS.’ STEVEN TYLER DECIDED TO USE THE TERM “BACK IN THE SADDLE” AS A WAY OF DECLARING THE BAND WAS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM AND WAS READY TO ROCK HARD. TYLER ALWAYS THOUGHT “BACK IN THE SADDLE” MEANT HAVING SEX WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND MORE THAN ONCE IN A NIGHT, SO HE WROTE THE SONG ABOUT A COWBOY RIDING INTO TOWN TO SATISFY HIS SEXUAL URGES. HE WROTE THE SONG IN THE STAIRWELL OF THE RECORD PLANT RECORDING STUDIO, WHERE HE WOULD OFTEN WRITE ONCE THE TRACK WAS MUSICALLY FINISHED. THE MAIN RIFF OF THE SONG WAS COMPOSED BY GUITARIST JOE PERRY ON A 6 STRING BASS HE HAD RECENTLY PURCHASED. PERRY SAYS HE WAS “LYING ON THE FLOOR STONED ON HEROIN” WHEN HE CAME UP WITH THE RIFF. THIS WAS THE FIRST TRACK ON THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS’. AFTER THE BAND PUT THE TRACK TOGETHER AROUND JOE PERRY’S RIFF, THEY KNEW IT HAD TO BE THE OPENER FOR ‘ROCKS.’ THIS VERSION IS A LITTLE GRAINY, BUT IT’S AEROSMITH PERFORMING THE SONG IN CONCERT ON THEIR 1977 TOUR IN SUPPORT OF THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS’

HERE’S FROM A SHOW IN JAPAN CIRCA 2002