Twist Me Up A Smoke - by Keith Rowe
On November 7, 2022, Jeremy Richmond, Gord Deans, Karen Heaton, Lindsay Southerland, and I recorded four of my original songs at the inimitable Sun Studio - where Elvis paid its owner, Sam Phillips, a few dollars to record two songs for his mother, starting rock and roll as we know it today.
Check off one Bucket List item.
It's is a museum by day - miraculously identical to its 50's setup. Every night it is transformed into a fully functioning recording studio, and can be rented for a ridiculously small fee.
Everything you hear, including the vocals, was recorded live off the floor the way they did it back in the day. There are no overdubs, except for a guitar shot at the last second.
Geek notes: The room is exactly the same as Sam's setup in the 50's. He did the acoustic treatment on the walls and ceilings. Apparently he and his wife laid the floor tiles. They stood me on the X where Elvis had recorded That's Allright Momma - his first hit - and others. The kit was left behind by Larry Mullen Jr.'s, when U2 recorded several songs at Sun for Rattle and Hum in the 80's. The drum overhead mic is a priceless, 50's RCA ribbon mic. The vocal mic for Karen and Gord was a late 40's Altec "birdcage" combination ribbon/dynamic. I think I played through an ancient Gibson Explorer amp, with another very old ribbon mic in front of it.
Twist me up a smoke, give me a light
Sit down here beside me in this
Full moon circle night and you can
Tell me all about me and I'll tell you if you're right.
Twist me up a smoke give me a light
When I was six years old and you were five
We taught each other how to cheat and
Lie and swear and fight it was a
Hazy definition, of friendship, I'll agree
But I was six years old and you were five.
I thought it was all your own doing my friend
Thought it was all up to you
But circumstances always reveal my friend
And tonight it's revealed
What they've done to you
Then one full moon night you were gone
Did you get sick of here, or did
I do something wrong
Every dying soldier on the
Table brings the fog
All I know is one night you were gone
I thought it was all your own doing my friend
Thought it was all up to you
But circumstances always reveal my friend
And tonight it's revealed
What they've done to you
Now I see you're out there flying still
Catch it on a wing instead of
looking, looking, looking, looking for a life in pills
Proud of how you've climbed out of the
Hole that dragged you down heart of the
soul of your will
Now I see you're out there flying now