More General questions

[tuneylune]

Hello Mr Dunaway,
Been listening to a lot of ACG and DD material the last week or so and would like some clarification

1- Usually it seems the first name listed in the credits is responsible for the lyrics. Did Glen have anything to do with that for "Gutter Cats VS The Jets" or did He work more on the music?

2- Getting back to "GCVTJ", it seems You are playing all through the song, starting from the intro and the only time it seems You get a break is when Neal hits the drum before "The Jet Song" begins. Did You do any exercises to limber up Your fingers?

3- On OLD SCHOOL 1964-1974 demos/rehearsals, some of the songs , especially "Halo Of Flies" and "Luney Tune" have different lyrics than what was on the final album. How was it decided what set of lyrics would be the finisher?

4- I find "See You on the Other Side" from BDS LIVE IN PARIS to be quite heartfelt...was this ever recorded for a studio release?

5- On the three Blue Coupe albums, it seems You normally get one vocal per album ("Keep Rolling On" and "I'll Forever Stick Around" I enjoy especially). Are You more shy about singing than Joe or Albert?

6- I may have asked You this at a convention, but the memory banks are not quite what they used to be , so will put it out again. Was listening to a Classic Rock station in Maryland a year or so before moving north and the Disc Jockey (believe He was called "Weasel', a legend in that area) was doing an Alice Cooper special and He mentioned that Glen had lived in the Washington DC area for awhile. To the best of my knowledge, in his Youth, Glen lived in Akron Ohio before his family moved to Phoenix AZ. Which is correct?

Thanks for any answers You can give and doing this for The "Sick Things"

TL

[Dreary]

1. The order of names in our songwriting credits don't reflect who wrote the lyrics.
I wrote "Gutter Cat" and I gave Glen a credit because he learned the chords and helped me present it to the rest of the guys. That way I could concentrate on singing and play bass. Like on many songs, Glen supplied the attitude, which was always a vital ingredient but it never gained him a writing credit. So, concerning royalties, as the sole creator of the song, I would have gotten a dollar for every dollar generated. But since I shared it with Glen, I would have gotten 50 cents on every dollar. And then, because the song got connected to "Jet Song" I got 25 cents on the dollar.
Who cares? I wrote a song with Glen, Bernstein, and Sondheim!

2. Playing is physical exercise. The more you practice, the greater your endurance. And like an athlete, or a dancer, you learn to warm up before you tackle the task at hand. Neal and I would usually ease into it by improvising on a spontaneous riff that would gradually get more challenging as we loosened up. When the jam got to the point that we were pushing hard to outdo each other, it meant we were ready to play. "Street Fight" was one of those warm up jams. We didn't know they were recording.

3. We collaborated on every line of every song until it got good enough that nobody could think of anything better. It was ongoing and relentless. That approach was actively alive with everything we did. We would even change songs after it was released, and would have done more so if we weren't jumping right into writing a new album. It often felt like a recording was a snapshot of a moving train.

4. Neal and I wrote "I'll See You On The Other Side" for the Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend at the Whisky in Hollywood. It was genuinely heartfelt at that first performance and it was heartfelt at the GBMW in Cleveland, and then in Paris. I hope to do a proper recording some day.

5. After decades of writing songs with Alice in mind, I've simply continued to feel comfortable in handing off the lead vocal task to someone else. Once when Ian Hunter was hanging out at a Bouchard, Dunaway, Smith rehearsal, I sang a new song then handed the lyrics to Joe. Ian grabbed the lyric sheet and handed it back to me. Then he slid his chair right in front of my microphone, sat down, and said, "You're singing it!" No pressure there! But ever since, I've been singing more often. As for Blue Coupe, I'm the least aggressive about it and Joe and Albert will each have recorded lead vocal tracks before I did.

6. Both Glen and Neal were born a stone's throw apart in Ohio. They both migrated to Phoenix, Arizona around the same time where they attended high schools that were a stone's throw apart.

[Daggers & Contracts]

Hello Dr. D,
5. After decades of writing songs with Alice in mind, I've simply continued to feel comfortable in handing off the lead vocal task to someone else. Once when Ian Hunter was hanging out at a Bouchard, Dunaway, Smith rehearsal, I sang a new song then handed the lyrics to Joe. Ian grabbed the lyric sheet and handed it back to me. Then he slid his chair right in front of my microphone, sat down, and said, "You're singing it!" No pressure there! But ever since, I've been singing more often. As for Blue Coupe, I'm the least aggressive about it and Joe and Albert will each have recorded lead vocal tracks before I did.

Thank you for those answers. Very informative.
Ian Hunter is a very good vocalist/musican but, an acquired taste as far as singing.
I love the Hunter/Ronson Band! Not forgetting Mott.
Did Ian tackle that song or others during that session?
Also, any recordings laying around?

[Dreary]

Hello Dr. D,
5. After decades of writing songs with Alice in mind, I've simply continued to feel comfortable in handing off the lead vocal task to someone else. Once when Ian Hunter was hanging out at a Bouchard, Dunaway, Smith rehearsal, I sang a new song then handed the lyrics to Joe. Ian grabbed the lyric sheet and handed it back to me. Then he slid his chair right in front of my microphone, sat down, and said, "You're singing it!" No pressure there! But ever since, I've been singing more often. As for Blue Coupe, I'm the least aggressive about it and Joe and Albert will each have recorded lead vocal tracks before I did.

Thank you for those answers. Very informative.
Ian Hunter is a very good vocalist/musican but, an acquired taste as far as singing.
I love the Hunter/Ronson Band! Not forgetting Mott.
Did Ian tackle that song or others during that session?
Also, any recordings laying around?

I would have to dig it out to remember the song but it was called "The Real Thing" from the Bouchard, Dunaway, and Smith Back From Hell album and, even though Ian didn't take a shot at singing it (he insisted that I had to do it) he did make some suggestions that warranted a co-writing credit.