TL;RD:
- Aerosmith’s “Rag Doll” acquired its title from a songwriter related to Pat Benatar.
- The melody makes some lyrical selections that do not actually work.
- Then again, Aerosmith’s weirdness is a part of the band’s attraction.
Some traditional rock The songs are bizarre. For instance, Aerosmith’s “Rag Doll” does a very unusual lyrical selection. That did not cease it from changing into successful.
Joe Perry defined how Aerosmith’s ‘Rag Doll’ got here to have its title
Joe Perry is the lead guitarist for Aerosmith. In his 2014 guide Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith, Perry mentioned the origin of “Rag Doll”. “’Rag Doll’ was born out of one other collaboration,” she stated. Steven [Tyler], [songwriter Jim] Vallance, and I had the track written aside from the title,” he wrote. “Holly Knight got here in and named it.” Knight is a songwriter greatest identified for co-writing Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.”
“Once more, we voluntarily shared the credit score pretty, not simply because Holly earned it, however as a result of the machine ran so effectively,” Perry recalled. “When you had something to do with the writing of the track, she was break up evenly. That took the stress off any credit score disputes and let creativity circulation. And for the reason that band would ultimately play the track, regardless of the way it began, at all times ended up sounding like Aerosmith.”
Aerosmith evaluating a girl to a sure sort of toy was a nasty lyrical concept
Perry recalled the response to the “Rag Doll” music video. “’Rag Doll,’ one other high-priced Marty Callner video from [the album] Everlasting Trip, blew us off to the get together within the blissful brothel ambiance of New Orleans,” she wrote. “MTV performed the video shit, and thanks additionally to ‘Dude [Looks Like a Lady]’ and the perpetually in style Run-DMC/Aerosmith ‘Stroll This Approach,’ we had been on TV screens throughout the Western world.”
Aerosmith is a enjoyable band and it is good that “Rag Doll” helped them keep related within the Eighties. But it surely’s an odd tune. Perry stated Knight determined it needs to be referred to as “Rag Doll”. I can perceive why individuals used to name girls “dolls” (and I can perceive why that slang fell out of style. However what’s so flattering in calling a girl a rag doll? No lady desires to appear to be Raggedy Ann, a until it is sporting a Raggedy Ann Halloween costume.
‘Rag Doll’ sounds a bit like Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas years
Musically, “Rag Doll” is a bit unusual. Aerosmith was usually in comparison with The Rolling Stones, however “Rag Doll” echoes Elvis Presley throughout his years in Las Vegas. That horn line might be imagined to sound like New Orleans jazz, however it’s extra paying homage to Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds.” Many rockers thought the sound was passé within the mid-Seventies, so it is jarring to listen to Aerosmith strive within the Eighties. Moreover that, who is aware of what Perry and firm meant with that line about ” the again door”.
“Rag Doll” is a bizarre track, however that weirdness is a part of what makes Aerosmith endearing.