Smokin gun commentary

Smokin' Gun
Alas, the lyrics to this song were written again and again during the turbulent 60s, and 70s.

In fact, Smokin' Gun could have been the never-ending saga of man's inhumanity to man. John, Tom, and Chuck were all
born in 1947. Since that time there have been more than a few assassinations and attempted assassinations of the
famous and the infamous.

A partial alphabetical list would have to include former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, singer Sam Cooke,
Viet Nam's Ngo Dinh Diem, President Gerald Ford, India's Mathatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi, singers
Marvin Gaye, and John Lennon, Black Muslim leader Malcom X, Pope John Paul, political activist Vernon Jordan,
President John Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, The Reverend Martin Luther King, assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Ronald Reagan, Neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell, Egypt's Anwar Sadat, singer
Selena, rapper Tupac Shakir, actress Sharon Tate, designer Gianni Versace. and Alabama Governor George Wallace.

Smokin' Gun was an attempt to personify the Assassin's most notorious Lethal Weapon of Choice, and to chronicle some
of it's most recent achievements . . . at least as to the date of the recording.

Tom remembers playing John's demo tape to Chuck, the drummer, and the rhythm guitar player we used on the track.
He said there would eventually be a big horn section, but the rhythm track had to have a controlled, almost cold
aggression of people standing on the edge. The rhythm track, from the beginning of the power guitar chords, was
played as though it would never be played again, the last guitar choir, like the assassin's bullet, had an uncompromising
finality. As all the tracks came together, Smokin' Gun was the song that Tom played over and over, driving people at
Creative Space mad. Ther speakers he had there were huge.

The lead guitar was recorded a few times with different players. Finally a solo was played that Tom liked, particularly
the end chorus. Tom and Bruce Garnitz talked a lot about the horns, and when they were recorded Bruce had a major
horn chart interwoven in with the solo guitar. It was amazing. Bruce was used to working with Tom so he would always
over arrange because he knew Tom would listen over and over to what had been recorded, then go back into the studio
late at night and start erasing away individual notes if they seemed too busy or were conflicting. Keep in mind this was
a time when automating muting didn't exist, so he would go in and out of record on notes no longer then an inch or so
on tape.

When Tom mixed Smokin' Gun (and it was remixed many times), the solo section seemed to work best with the horns
and lead guitar challenging each other for dominance, and each pushing against the other in a crescendo that ends in a
gasp. Everyone needed a break a moment of reflection at the end of the solo, but the drummer brings everyone back to
their sense, it's not settled, it's not over, it's not done.

In the end chorus there is a very unique interplay between two piccolos and the guitar. On a few of the tracks, including
this one, the last thing that was recorded was Chuck's bass. He had played on the first day of recording with a drums
and rhythm guitar. By re-recording the bass after everything was added, it allowed revise the bass part to better lock to
the hits and emphasis that was not yet there when he initially played the part.

This was another song that about a year after it was completed Nia Peeples came into the studio and sang new lyrics to
the track. The lyrics were so different. It also gave Tom an opportunity to add more sounds. Once he had lived with the
Prufrock version, he wanted to add more percussion, and a Sympathy For The Devil chant at the end.