Sleep Walk - what a lash up

[Jif]

I don't doubt that you are correct Basil, but I still enjoyed both versions

Agreed Jim, but in my heart and soul I can't enjoy them when I know the musicians are not giving a damn about the tune..One can only give so much latitude before it changes from "Artistic Interpretation" to "DILIGAF"

In the case of Tom Brumley, his playing is SO good and the recording is pristine with obviously first rate musicians, it's hard to not think that someone somewhere just didn't give a shit about Santo's chords that were intended to be played under the melody. ! Tom cleverly avoids the harmonies at the point that would underline the chordal mistake, so I can presume that he modified those lower notes to suit the backing. It goes without saying that Tom would have been very familiar with the original and all its nuances: he shows that by his superb embellishments and grace notes.. No it's not his fault that the chords are wrong.. I praise him for maintaining the melody whilst playing over the incorrect chords.

But a question for you Geoff, how familiar are you with the original ? Just curious..



ANYONE notice anything unusual in this version ?

Not as familiar as you are Basil obviously, I'm pretty new to steel, I have listened to it on many occasions but more as a listener than a steel player.

I understand what you are saying, if you know a piece really well and someone doesn't play it to the script it can be annoying, and as you say the gap can move away from the bounds of artistic interpretation. However, the occasional mistake or misinterpretation doesn't always spoil things for me, I tend to enjoy the good bits

Probably why I'll never be as precise as lot of other players but at this stage of my life I just want to play the best I can and enjoy it

[Ken Byng]

To dissect the first clip of Johnny playing, he plays bar 16 as a half bar. It could be excused once if he was unable to hear the bass player or even the whole rhythm section, but then he does the same thing in the second chorus where it goes into the bridge.

In the Tom Brumley version, where Tom's silky smooth tone and beautiful technique is unquestionable, I think it is a case of the arranger wanting to be clever and veering away from the basic chord structure. Most novice musicians could hear the 4m chord, and certainly someone with the highly perceptive ear of Mr Brumley would hear what sounds like a straight F chord being played instead of the F minor. Lloyd Green is another big hitting pedal steel player who recorded it for Monument, and there the arranger kept it honest to the original chord structure. Lloyd double tracked his version, and it didn't have the beautiful tone of Tom's, although it was still very listenable and true to the original arrangement.

Sleep Walk was discussed on the USA steel forum, where Paul Franklin described it as a wonderful piece of music that other steel players should aspire to when wanting to write an instrumental. It has a beautiful and highly recognisable melody, standard 50's and 60's chord progressions, and could sound great if played by a solo flute or a full stringed orchestra. Santo was a relatively young man when he wrote Sleep Walk, Teardrop, The Long Walk Home and several other instrumental pieces. Hopefully he has maintained some kind of royalty income since he dropped out of the limelight in the 1970's.

[Ken Byng]

I think that Tom Brumley's keyboard player used Larry Carlton's version as the template for Tom's arrangement. Even down to the use of the Yamaha DX7 sound in the intro.

[Basil Henriques]

I understand what you are saying, if you know a piece really well and someone doesn't play it to the script it can be annoying, and as you say the gap can move away from the bounds of artistic interpretation.

Embellishments and varied arrangements I can understand and empathise with, but for a fact Bobby Ingano's version(S) are pure laziness on the part of the musicians (They all are Hawaii's finest) ~~~ laziness and total lack of diligence even to the extent that all the videos involved and Bobby's CDs call the tune Sleepwalk (Totally incorrect, it's TWO words Sleep Walk: Of course this MAY be a surreptitious way of circumnavigating royalties)

I think it is a case of the arranger wanting to be clever and veering away from the basic chord structure.

As for the arranger being clever, I would argue that a wrong chord substitution has been made. Substitution is acceptable up to the point when it become jarring and blatantly incorrect, and that's what I feel about the omission of the relevant F minors. The composer wrote the melody and chordal movement specifically intending to emphasise the specific sections with light and shade and tension and release. the F minor is pivotal to both those intents. The change F minor to G7 with the melody notes associated with that part is tension on the F minor and reinforced by the G7th and then released by the following C: substitute an F major and the whole effect is diminished.

[Jif]

Embellishments and varied arrangements I can understand and empathise with, but for a fact Bobby Ingano's version(S) are pure laziness on the part of the musicians (They all are Hawaii's finest) ~~~ laziness and total lack of diligence even to the extent that all the videos involved and Bobby's CDs call the tune Sleepwalk (Totally incorrect, it's TWO words Sleep Walk: Of course this MAY be a surreptitious way of circumnavigating royalties)

Hi Basil,

I was aware and a little surprised that the guitar player was not keeping the time very well, he is there at times but a lot of the time he's not there and I agree with you that this was lazy playing on his part. However, I was blanking that out to a certain extent and listening to Bobby's technique and tone, which to me as a relative novice in the steel world is way beyond my capabilities and well worth listening to, I enjoyed his playing. I have his CD and enjoy listening to it.

TBH I quite like playing that sounds a little casual as long as it fits the musical structure.

Yes, perhaps it shows a little lack of respect for the composer that they had a " total lack of diligence" in not getting the name right, but then my nickname is Jif and you replied to me as Jim, sometimes passion can dull our accuracy

[Ken Byng]

Embellishments and varied arrangements I can understand and empathise with, but for a fact Bobby Ingano's version(S) are pure laziness on the part of the musicians (They all are Hawaii's finest) ~~~ laziness and total lack of diligence even to the extent that all the videos involved and Bobby's CDs call the tune Sleepwalk (Totally incorrect, it's TWO words Sleep Walk: Of course this MAY be a surreptitious way of circumnavigating royalties)

Hi Basil,

I was aware and a little surprised that the guitar player was not keeping the time very well, he is there at times but a lot of the time he's not there and I agree with you that this was lazy playing on his part. However, I was blanking that out to a certain extent and listening to Bobby's technique and tone, which to me as a relative novice in the steel world is way beyond my capabilities and well worth listening to, I enjoyed his playing. I have his CD and enjoy listening to it.

TBH I quite like playing that sounds a little casual as long as it fits the musical structure.

Yes, perhaps it shows a little lack of respect for the composer that they had a " total lack of diligence" in not getting the name right, but then my nickname is Jif and you replied to me as Jim, sometimes passion can dull our accuracy

Ouch!!

[Basil Henriques]

Yes, perhaps it shows a little lack of respect for the composer that they had a " total lack of diligence" in not getting the name right, but then my nickname is Jif and you replied to me as Jim, sometimes passion can dull our accuracy

And then again that unpredictable "predictive text" can alter what one writes. I had eventually noticed the error but had passed the "edit" deadline. Your real name was included in the closing sentence Geoff ! so in effect even without knowing it I had corrected myself before closing; more so than those whipper snappers did.

[Jif]

That's OK Basil, been called names a lot worse than Jim. Knew it would be something like that, if your eyesight is anything like mine these days, I'm lucky to get it right first time, never mind unpredictive text

TBH I was running out of reasons to justify me liking Bobby's playing, truth is I just like to listen to his style and he does generally put a lot of feeling into what he plays. He's hampered a bit on that version of Sleep Walk by the backing as you rightly point out, but I can listen through that and imho he gets a really nice tone out of that Frying Pan.

I've never tried to play Sleep Walk myself, which is why I'm not totally familiar with the format. I'm still struggling with harmonics if truth be known but it's next on my long list to conquer.

All the best Basil, I do appreciate you sharing your expertise with the rest of us. I've listened to a lot of your playing on YouTube - Respect

[Ken Byng]

Just need to clarify one thing. Ann Farina is given a publishing credit as a third of the composer of Sleep Walk. It has been widely published (including in the relevant pages from the March 2007 issue of aloha Dream, and Wikipedia) that Ann was Santo and Johnny's sister. Not correct. In fact they have no sister, and Ann is actually Santo's wife. That fact actually rankles with Johnny. Obviously he only gets a third cut of royalties instead of a straight cut with his brother. I think that having his wife listed as a co-writer was a very shrewd move by Santo.

[Uncle Roy]

Well the only thing I know about Sleep Walk is that I do it every morning about 3am from the bedroom to the bathroom for a pee