Aerosmith: Get Your Wings
by: Tanner Clayton
This week we’ll talk about the same band Aerosmith, but we will be talking about their breakthrough album 1974’s Get Your Wings. So last week we talked about Aerosmith and their first album titled “Aerosmith” and how it didn’t do to well commercially and I discussed some of the tracks and the stories behind the songs. This week we’ll talk about the background of the name of the title and the logo! This is the record were they came up with a logo. Also before I begin I should have filled you in on some more important info, The name! where did the name Aerosmith come from you might ask? Well drummer Joey Kramer came up with the name, he said during an interview that when he was in high school we would write that name all over his notebooks the name came from a harry nilsson album Aerial Ballot.
Get Your Wings was released March of 1974 just a little over a year after their first release self-titled album “Aerosmith”. Coming into the production of this record they knew they couldn’t bomb it, with a steady fan base now Aerosmith wasn’t under as much pressure. Get Your Wings had three singles on it “Same Old Song And Dance”, “Train Kept A Rollin” and “S.O.S Too Bad”. Overall I think its a pretty good record..and so did the public.
You can definitely tell a difference in this album compared to their last album with their vocalist Steven Tyler. For the first album Steven Tyler altered his voice so it sounded like any other musician of there day. This sophomore effort sold over 3 million copies, which is only one million more than their first record. Shortly after the release of this record they re-released their first record “Aerosmith”, this time saying “Aerosmith: Featuring Dream On”. With Aerosmith now being a household name in music they could finally experience fame.
Same Old Song And Dance, S.O.S. (Too Bad), Train Kept a Rollin’ (singles)
So all in all the sophomore effort was a success for the “Bad Boys From Boston”. But lets get started with the stories behind the hits.
“Same Old Song And Dance” is the first track of the 1974 album “Get Your Wings”. Lead guitarist Joe Perry came up with the main riff while sitting on his amp, listening in Tyler quickly started writing down lyrics to Perrys music. The band decided they wanted to add some more classical instruments so they brought in some horns for Dick Wagner to play. This song has also appeared on the 1980 release “Aerosmith: Greatest hits”.
They also happened to make it a clean version so they ended up changing the lyrics from “Got you with your cocaine” to “ You shady looking loser”.
On with the second hit “Train Kept A Rollin”
Train Kept A Rollin was actually a cover that Tiny Bradshaw actually sang first and “The Yardbirds” later recorded their own version and later on Aerosmith would too. Train Kept A Rollin was the only song 3 of the 5 band members had played before joining Aerosmith. Steven Tylers band before Aerosmith “ Chain Reaction” has covered the song and Joe Perry and Tom Hamiltons band has done covers of the song. After Aerosmith formed they wanted to record a live version but long time producer Jack Douglas persuaded them to do a two part studio version. The first part was a slow and bluesy version, while the second part was more spirited old school rock and roll. The second part Jack Douglas added a live crowd to make it sound like a live show version. That is the effort behind the sophomore hit Get Your Wings by: Aerosmith released in 1974.
My opinion: Although not my favorite album it does have good songs on it such as the ones i talked about and others like lord of thighs and seasons of wither, but all in all it is and always will be a fan favorite album.