Dirty Water the REAL STORY First off, let me say that the Standells are not from Boston; we never claimed to be. There are those who say that the lyrics “Boston you’re my home” insinuate that we claim we are from Boston. If that’s the case, the same must be said for anyone who portrays a Bostonian, like Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon in the movie “Fever Pitch”. The original song was written by Standells producer Ed Cobb, and presented to us as a possibility for recording. Quite frankly, the way it was written we weren’t impressed with it. Ed, an original member of the Four Preps, didn’t exactly exude a rock persona. We told Cobb that we would do the song if we could re-arrange it. Thus, we created the famous guitar riff, much of the lyrics, and a different chord structure. “Dirty Water” was recorded in 1965 in a converted garage, owned by recording engineer Armin Steiner. It was done on a 3 track tape recorder. All of the instruments were recorded on one track, background vocals on the 2nd, and lead vocal on the 3rd. References to a stereo version of “Dirty Water” (taken from the original master) are pure nonsense. The stereo version I believe was manufactured sometime in the mid-eighties. I can tell you that it is NOT true stereo, but electronically created. Also, the claims on YouTube of “original album version” (inferring that there was another version) are pure fiction. The 45 RPM and album versions are one-in-the-same. In listening to the song on YouTube which refers to the song in this manner, it is plainly obvious that this is a different recording of “Dirty Water”, a bootleg done in 1966 at Michigan State University, and released as part of “Standells the Live Ones”, on Sundazed Records in 2000. I have a very good working relationship with Sundazed. The finished version of the Standells hit song bore little resemblance to the original version written by Cobb, however none of the Standells were given writer’s credits – not even musical arrangement credits. As told in the Standells biography “Love That Dirty Water: the Standells and the Improbable Red Sox Victory Anthem” those credits were given to Ed Cobb’s close friend Lincoln Mayorga – who actually never set foot in the recording studio. Please don’t get me wrong, I admire him as a composer and arranger, but in truth he had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of “Dirty Water”. Lincoln readily admits this in the Standells biography. One of Ed’s quirks was doing special favors for his ‘friends’. After the recording was finished, the Standells completely forgot the song, and never in their wildest imaginations dreamed it would become the iconic rock song it was. The group had to re-learn it almost one year later when the song began to climb the charts. Today, “Dirty Water” is a part of the Massachusetts culture. It is not only played by most every sports team, but during the “Duck Tours” in Boston. “Dirty Water” has been celebrated by the Rock Hall of Fame as “One of the 500 songs which helped shape Rock & Roll”. The song has been used in numerous movies, TV shows, and in a new TV ad campaign. The song is still proudly performed by the Standells at the end of our set. We DO love that Dirty Water. -Larry Tamblyn
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:42:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015