BoomBoomBigelow
Genius of Love
An old friend of mine who resides in Chicago and is an artist, musician, and guitar builder, posted this on his Facebook page (I hesitate to post a link because I think Facebook is Shiva and Satan, or maybe LinkedIn is...I haven't decided):
Richard W Watts
about an hour ago ·
Questions I May Never Get Answered.
In yet another sailing excursion through YouTube the other day, I once again rolled up on a familiar favorite - "Sleepwalk", Santo and Johnny’s 1959 instrumental hit. This song has been kind of an enigma to me – almost a singularity. It has always been a favorite of mine. This is not because I’m mired in a case of deep nostalgia for my pre-teen years, because it has also hit a chord with guitar players of all ages over the years, and has become immortalized by, among others, Jeff Beck, Les Paul, Larry Carlton, Brian Setzer, The Shadows, The Ventures, Joe Satriani, and a long list of others who may not have recorded it, but know it intimately, like Chet Atkins and Leo Kottke. I think it is safe to say that if there were one song over a 50 year time period that all guitar players love, and it is essentially a very simple song, "Sleepwalk" would be a prime candidate. I’ve always wondered why that is?
The story is that two teenage Italian-American brothers from Brooklyn, Santo and Johnny Farina, in a fitful, dreamlike, late-night binge of inspiration, hammer out the essentials of Sleepwalk sometime in 1958/59, and it is released as a single in the summer of 1959 where it goes to the top of the charts. The orchestration is simple: Santo on steel guitar playing the “melody” line, and Johnny on electric guitar playing rhythm underneath his older brother’s lines. But what?.... a steel guitar as the lead instrument on an early rock-and-roll hit? Where, exactly, does THAT come from, and why is it in the hands of an Italian-American kid from Brooklyn?
In a time in which the only formats you ever heard steel guitar were in Western Swing and Hawaiian music, and strictly as a back-up instrument in country arrangements out of Nashville, how does an inner-city, streetwise New York kid of the 1950’s decide, "oh yeah! steel guitar’s IT for me, man!" (a triple-8 Fender – 3 necks, 8 strings each – no less) It seems as out of place in its milieu, as say, wearing a pink tutu on a date to the movies. And yet, it is a much loved classic that will likely live forever.
Especially in the earlier days of rock-and-roll, instrumental chart toppers were not unheard of -"Tequila" by the Champs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdMTl9zHQ9Y), "Miserlou" by Dick Dale and the Del Tones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8), "Walk Don’t Run" by the Ventures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW21rcHiVU0), and of course the later surf-hits "Wipeout" by the Surfaris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13yZAjhU0M), and "Pipeline" by the Chantays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7c2ZKamzS4) - but mostly, their popularity did not survive intact into following decades except among niche groups. So why does Santo and Johnny’s singular hit maintain – even thrive?
At heart, Sleepwalk is a slow-dance, romantic ballad, with an early rock-and-roll chord structure, familiar for its day – but without vocals. If you were to listen to "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1st_9KudWB0), or "Donna" by Richie Valens (), both from around the same time, you would hear the structural similarities. Maybe more importantly, and less anachronistically for a couple of guys coming out of the streets of 1950’s Brooklyn would be the influence of Doo Wop (which was often practiced as vocal harmonizing without musical instrument accompaniment) and hits like "One Summer Night" by the Danleers (), and "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins ().
Now, go back and listen to a higher fidelity version of "Sleepwalk" (). After you get past the intro, listen how Santo digs into the melody line. It comes on as a scream, a wail, but falls quickly back to a moan, a lament. He slides with the precision of a master and holds the vibrato for prolonged effect before wailing again. He stutters. He breathes. In the Dick Clark TV version below, Santo looks like he could still be 18 years old, but he plays with the subtlety and depth of a practiced master of the instrument. Teenagers, of course, are avid learners and are often quite athletically adept on their instrument of choice, but subtlety and depth are usually much harder, and longer, to come by. Having a little more life behind you helps a great deal, but Santo nails it. There is no better version of this song, that I’m aware of, than Santo and Johnny’s original. Simplicity of structure, minimal orchestration, and absolute fearless passion in nailing those notes. Humbling, really. A vocal track over the top of this would add nothing (in fact there was a version by a Betsy Brye around the same time that carried vocals – it was forgettable.) The odd thing is that the most ardent and passionate defenders of this song have always been guitar players, not steel players. They probably consider it too easy, but guitar players have always seen the possibility in this song – and have tried a million ways to get those ringing, high harmonics, the slides, the melody line, and the chord structure all simultaneously onto a single instrument playing in real time while trying to hold the passion of the original together. I think that’s why it appeals. Nobody’s really done it yet (because we don’t have enough hands to quickly change from “slide” to “no slide”, or standard tuning to more “slide friendly” altered tuning and back, or enough fingers to simultaneously fret chords and play slide melody lines), but several have come close, and one day … who knows?
Richard W Watts
about an hour ago ·
Questions I May Never Get Answered.
In yet another sailing excursion through YouTube the other day, I once again rolled up on a familiar favorite - "Sleepwalk", Santo and Johnny’s 1959 instrumental hit. This song has been kind of an enigma to me – almost a singularity. It has always been a favorite of mine. This is not because I’m mired in a case of deep nostalgia for my pre-teen years, because it has also hit a chord with guitar players of all ages over the years, and has become immortalized by, among others, Jeff Beck, Les Paul, Larry Carlton, Brian Setzer, The Shadows, The Ventures, Joe Satriani, and a long list of others who may not have recorded it, but know it intimately, like Chet Atkins and Leo Kottke. I think it is safe to say that if there were one song over a 50 year time period that all guitar players love, and it is essentially a very simple song, "Sleepwalk" would be a prime candidate. I’ve always wondered why that is?
The story is that two teenage Italian-American brothers from Brooklyn, Santo and Johnny Farina, in a fitful, dreamlike, late-night binge of inspiration, hammer out the essentials of Sleepwalk sometime in 1958/59, and it is released as a single in the summer of 1959 where it goes to the top of the charts. The orchestration is simple: Santo on steel guitar playing the “melody” line, and Johnny on electric guitar playing rhythm underneath his older brother’s lines. But what?.... a steel guitar as the lead instrument on an early rock-and-roll hit? Where, exactly, does THAT come from, and why is it in the hands of an Italian-American kid from Brooklyn?
In a time in which the only formats you ever heard steel guitar were in Western Swing and Hawaiian music, and strictly as a back-up instrument in country arrangements out of Nashville, how does an inner-city, streetwise New York kid of the 1950’s decide, "oh yeah! steel guitar’s IT for me, man!" (a triple-8 Fender – 3 necks, 8 strings each – no less) It seems as out of place in its milieu, as say, wearing a pink tutu on a date to the movies. And yet, it is a much loved classic that will likely live forever.
Especially in the earlier days of rock-and-roll, instrumental chart toppers were not unheard of -"Tequila" by the Champs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdMTl9zHQ9Y), "Miserlou" by Dick Dale and the Del Tones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8), "Walk Don’t Run" by the Ventures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW21rcHiVU0), and of course the later surf-hits "Wipeout" by the Surfaris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13yZAjhU0M), and "Pipeline" by the Chantays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7c2ZKamzS4) - but mostly, their popularity did not survive intact into following decades except among niche groups. So why does Santo and Johnny’s singular hit maintain – even thrive?
At heart, Sleepwalk is a slow-dance, romantic ballad, with an early rock-and-roll chord structure, familiar for its day – but without vocals. If you were to listen to "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1st_9KudWB0), or "Donna" by Richie Valens (), both from around the same time, you would hear the structural similarities. Maybe more importantly, and less anachronistically for a couple of guys coming out of the streets of 1950’s Brooklyn would be the influence of Doo Wop (which was often practiced as vocal harmonizing without musical instrument accompaniment) and hits like "One Summer Night" by the Danleers (), and "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins ().
Now, go back and listen to a higher fidelity version of "Sleepwalk" (). After you get past the intro, listen how Santo digs into the melody line. It comes on as a scream, a wail, but falls quickly back to a moan, a lament. He slides with the precision of a master and holds the vibrato for prolonged effect before wailing again. He stutters. He breathes. In the Dick Clark TV version below, Santo looks like he could still be 18 years old, but he plays with the subtlety and depth of a practiced master of the instrument. Teenagers, of course, are avid learners and are often quite athletically adept on their instrument of choice, but subtlety and depth are usually much harder, and longer, to come by. Having a little more life behind you helps a great deal, but Santo nails it. There is no better version of this song, that I’m aware of, than Santo and Johnny’s original. Simplicity of structure, minimal orchestration, and absolute fearless passion in nailing those notes. Humbling, really. A vocal track over the top of this would add nothing (in fact there was a version by a Betsy Brye around the same time that carried vocals – it was forgettable.) The odd thing is that the most ardent and passionate defenders of this song have always been guitar players, not steel players. They probably consider it too easy, but guitar players have always seen the possibility in this song – and have tried a million ways to get those ringing, high harmonics, the slides, the melody line, and the chord structure all simultaneously onto a single instrument playing in real time while trying to hold the passion of the original together. I think that’s why it appeals. Nobody’s really done it yet (because we don’t have enough hands to quickly change from “slide” to “no slide”, or standard tuning to more “slide friendly” altered tuning and back, or enough fingers to simultaneously fret chords and play slide melody lines), but several have come close, and one day … who knows?
