Writing and recording Waitress Blues on Deep Salvage.


Please use the player below to listen to Waitress Blues while you read!)

When I first read these lyrics, I liked them but I was a little bummed. Given the title, I figured Dave wanted a blues riff, and I have no desire to write a blues song. What's to write besides the lyrics? I mean, maybe if could play the guitar properly, I would be more into the blues, because then I could stretch out record some sort of blistering solo. But I can barely play the guitar! After a few days of mulling over what to do, I finally wrote to Dave and just straight up asked him if he wanted a blues pattern. He wrote back immediately and said no. He also commented briefly on the lyric structure, in which the verse and chorus are the same, and simply said that this was what made the song interesting. I, of course, had completely missed this!

Anyway, at first I was very relieved to not be writing a blues pattern, but then I started thinking to myself, does a blues have to be I/IV/V over 12 bars? Maybe not. So I picked up the Maton (hallowed be thy name!) and starting futzing around. I had been noodling on the riff that starts the song, thinking I would use it for one of mine, but I went ahead and hummed some of Dave's words to it and they seemed to work. And then, just like that I was stuck. Where to go? After much noodling, I hit on the idea of verse being in the V key of the chorus. To me, this is cool, as the song has a nice bit of tension that sneaks up on the listener. For the solo, knowing I had a monster guitar player in Tim, I went ahead and made that a standard 12-bar blues, complete with some old riffs I'd learned back in the eighties, and it was time for some drums and bass. Andy Korn went first, absolutely pounding out a beat and coming up with the KILLER idea of the flammed snare hits in the verse. Next up, Sam swung by Hyde Street and, wow, watching him play this song was just incredible, especially for the 12 bar blues bit. With guitar, drums and bass in the can, it was time for a little throat. I knew early on in creating this song that RodDamnit would be the perfect singer, and sure enough, he came into Hyde Street and BELTED the vocal. I had Josh add harmonies, plus I had Larkin Gayl do one line and it was time for a little mixology!

To read Dave's notes on the lyrics, please click here.

<a href="http://deepsalvage.bandcamp.com/album/deep-salvage">The Forgotten Place by Dave Tutin and Jeff Shattuck</a>