Ten years after Made in USA, Sonic Youth were ready for more soundtrack action. When Richard Linklater adapted Eric Bogosian's play Suburbia as a feature film, SY and a host of DGC labelmates (and even some non-Geffen folk) provided the music. I always thought SY "scored" the film, but having just watched it for the second time (the first being on a high school date when it was in theatres), there isn't really any incidental music - it's basically just songs from the official soundtrack, plus a few others (Meat Puppets "Scum", Ministry "NWO", Ed Hall "Huge Giant Omen"), but no score. Except...
At two key moments in the film, particularly the very end, we're treated to a slow, menacing melody played by Thurston and Lee in the style of "Sunday". Indeed the second appearance leads directly into "Sunday" which plays over the closing credits, with some slight sonic surgery. If you're familiar with the version on the Suburbia soundtrack, you know it's about three minutes longer than its comparatively tight single counterpart on A Thousand Leaves. The 8-minute take has been pruned to a neat 3 and a half minutes for the credits, plus the roughly 90-second instrumental lead-in (I think it's the same instrumental bit played at both points in the film). Regardless, Sonic Youth receive special billing in the credits: "Original Music Composed and Performed by SONIC YOUTH"
They have three songs on the soundtrack album, as well as Thurston's lovely classic "Psychic Hearts". In addition to future Culkin/Korine fusion fodder "Sunday", Sonic Youth offer "Bee-Bee's Song" and "Tabla in Suburbia". Ironically, the latter track, a sparse instrumental, does not feature in Suburbia, but it's fun nonetheless. "Bee-Bee's Song" is our focus this week - a cool, haunting Kim tune with a curious design. Bee-Bee is one of the main characters in Suburbia, part of a group who spend most of the film drinking behind a convenience store. About half an hour in, she wanders by with a boombox, which is playing her theme song. She stops and dances for a bit before being joined by a dude named Buff, and they chat while the song plays in the background. They disappear together as the song fades out, having played for about 4 and a half minutes total. Later, Bee-Bee's boombox can be heard playing the intro to "Candle", which does not appear on the soundtrack. ("Psychic Hearts" appears in one of the film's key liquor acquisition scenes.)
These songs were some of the first things recorded in the band's new Echo Canyon studio, built on the back of non-stop Washing Machine touring. They settled down after April '96, aside from a brief festival run in August. Suburbia premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 11th, 1996 with the SY material presumably already in place. "Sunday" appeared on the final 1996 set list - November 23rd in Las Palmas, Spain - but no recording exists to confirm whether it was played. Although they spent most of 1997 playing brand new lengthy instrumentals that would eventually shape the basis of A Thousand Leaves (or the various SYR EPs), they didn't introduce "Sunday" into the set until August - I wonder whether they'd considered leaving it as the "Suburbia song" but figured the forthcoming album might need something resembling a single. I know people always praise the soundtrack version, but I actually prefer the final cut as it appears on A Thousand Leaves - I do miss the heavy Bi-Phase on Lee's guitar, but I like the tighter drums, and I don't think the radically extended one-note jam midsection ever hits a height that justifies its length.
The soundtrack was released in February 1997 alongside the film. As a side note - Wikipedia claims that Police drummer Stewart Copeland composed the score for Suburbia, but I find zero evidence to support this in the film itself (not to mention the absence of a score). What's up with that?
"Bee-Bee's Song" is an anomaly in the Sonic Youth catalog - to the best of my knowledge, it is the only original track recorded between 1991 and 2005 to feature Thurston on bass. While "My Friend Goo", "Lee #2" and "Rats" all have Kim swapped to guitar, "Bee-Bee's Song" is just Thurston on bass, Lee on guitar, and Kim on vocals - a line-up dating back to "Beauty Lies in the Eye" or even "Making the Nature Scene". All of those songs (minus "Nature Scene") were written on guitar first, with Thurston adding a bassline later, but "Bee-Bee" really sounds like it was written around the bass part. Kim sings roughly the same melody, while Lee augments it with fluttery bursts of AD-80 magic, and Steve manages to make a clay drum, maraca, kick drum and ride cymbal sound virtually electronic.
There's some cool production work going on in this song. It sounds like Thurston is running a DI signal and going through an amp - the amp signal is quite trebley and the way he picks the notes makes some of them buzz aggressively. About 2 minutes in, he turns on a thick fuzz. A minute later he drones a distorted low E while Lee picks idle harmonics, and then you can hear the main bass riff start up again, fading in while the previous track fades out. It's a simple effect that works well.
I'm not 100% sure about Lee's tuning on this song - there are very few low notes so I was theorizing a G tuning or possibly even use of a capo. However, when Thurston hits the low E and lets it ring, Lee plays some harmonics that actually sound like low E harmonics, followed by E harmonics an octave higher. He was using EEBBEF# regularly around this time, generally on a Tele (which fits the no-trem-bar sound of this track), but it could just as easily be a unique tuning that was never documented.
They never played "Bee-Bee's Song" live. It got one more chance to shine on the web-only Mix Tape #2. It joins "Tuck and Dar" in the small but prestigious category of "awesome Sonic Youth songs named after film characters". Not only is Bee-Bee an interesting character, she's apparently a Sonic Youth fan too! The movie's okay, worth checking out if only to hear that otherwise unavailable 90 seconds of "dark Sunday" riffage...seriously cool shit!
Alright, you know what? It's on YouTube, just watch. Spoiler alert though! I suppose in a way this is another song for Bee-Bee.
Back in '98 Larsen did a tab in GGDAGA - again, it was probably good enough, but I was curious to see if I could pinpoint Lee's tuning based on those harmonics. I'd already done the bass tab but I don't think I realized it was Thurston at the time (and it is, right? I mean, part of the chorus riff was even in "See-Through Playmate"!). Let me know if you have any comments or corrections!
"BEE-BEE'S SONG"
LAYOUT
A -
B -
A -
B -
C -
A -
B -
C -
D -
C -
E -
C
KIM
n/a
n/a
THURSTON
bass
CENTER/RIGHT
LEE
EEBBEF#
LEFT
A SECTION 00:00-00:25 Thurston's verse riff: G------------------------------------------------------- play three times D------------6-8----------6-8----------6-8-------------- A----8--8---------8--8---------8--8----------6--6---7--- the last time, slide backwards from 7th fret E------------------------------------------------------- into B section... Lee plays his part clean and with lots of analog delay. Sometimes he lets the notes ring, but he often uses a staccato approach so the delay is key. F#-------------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- E--13--------13--------13--------11-------14-- E--------------------------------------------- F#-------------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- E--13--------13--------13--------11-------14-- E--------------------------------------------- F#-------------------------------------------- E---------------------------13---------------- B------------------------13------------------- B------------------11-11---------------------- E--13----------------------------11-------14-- E--------------------------------------------- B SECTION 00:25-00:33 Thurston: G-------------5-5-----------6-6-----------5-5------------ D-------------------------------------------------------- A----3--3---3------3--3---3------3--3---3------3--3--4\-- E-------------------------------------------------------- Lee: F#-------------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- B------------------6-------------------------- E----8------------------------6--------------- E--------------------------------------------- A SECTION 00:33-00:50 Thurston plays his sequence twice. Lee: F#--------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------13----------------------------- B------------------------13------13------------------------ B------------------11-11--------------13------------------- E--13-----------------------------------------11--11---14-- E---------------------------------------------------------- F#-------------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------------- E--13--------13--------13--------11-------14-- E--------------------------------------------- B SECTION 00:50-00:58 Lee: F#-------------------------------------------- E---------------------0----------------------- B--------------------------------------------- B------------------6-------------------------- E----8----------------------6\8---------11---- E--------------------------------------------- C SECTION 00:58-01:14 Thurston: G--------------------------6----------------------- D-------------6---8--8-6-8--------------4---6------ play twice A----8--8-6-8------------------6--6-4-6--------7--- E-------------------------------------------------- Lee: F#------------------------------------------------- E-------------------11----------------------------- B----------------11-------------------------------- B-----------11------------------------------------- E----13-----------------------11--11\14----16--12-- E-------------------------------------------------- F#------------------------------------------------- E-------------------------9------------------------ B-------------11--11---11-------------------------- B----------9---------9----------------------------- E----13-----------------------11--11\14----16--12-- E-------------------------------------------------- A SECTION 01:14-01:30 Thurston plays his sequence twice. Lee: F#-------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------13---------------------- B---------------------11-13------------------------- B------------------11------------------------------- E--13--------------------------------------11---14-- E--------------------------------------------------- F#--------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------- E--13-------------13--------11-------14-- E---------------------------------------- B SECTION 01:30-01:38 Lee: F#----------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------ B------------------------------------------ B------------------------------------------ E----8------------8---------11--------8---- E------------------------------------------ C SECTION 01:39-01:54 Lee: F#------------------------------------------- E-------------------------------------------- B----------13-------------------------------- B--------------11---------------------------- E---13--------------------11--------16---13-- E-------------------------------------------- F#------------------------------------------- E-------------------------------------------- B----------13-------------------------------- B--------------11---------------------------- E---13--------------------11--------16---12-- E-------------------------------------------- D SECTION 01:54-02:18 Thurston turns on the fuzz: G------------------------------------------------------------ D-------------6--5---------------6--5---------------6--5----- play twice with picking variations A----8---6-8--------6---8---6-8--------6------------------6-- E------------------------------------------8---6-8----------- Lee: F#------------------------------------------------------------------ E------------------------------------------------------------------- B----------------------11------------------------------------------- B------------------11----------------------------------------------- E---13----11-13------------------11\8-8--------------8-----11--10--- E------------------------------------------------------------------- F#--------------------------------------------------------------------- E---------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------------- B----------------------------------------------------------------9--8-- E--\13----11-13---16--15------13----11-13---16--15--11/8----6^8-------- E---------------------------------------------------------------------- C SECTION 02:18-02:58 Thurston plays the main riff five times with fuzz. Lee: F#------------------------------------------------ E------------------------------------------------- B-----------------------11^13-11------------------ B-----------------11^13--------------------9------ E---13----11-13---------------------11--------12-- E------------------------------------------------- F#-------------------------------------------------- E------------------------------9-------------------- B-------------------------9^11---------------------- B----------------9-11--11-------------------9------- E---13-----11-13---------------------11---------13-- E--------------------------------------------------- F#-------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------- B--------------------------------------- B------------13-------11-------9-------- E---13-------13------------------------- E------------13------------------------- F#-------------------------------------------- E--------------------------------------------- B----------------------11--------------------- B----------------11^13--------------------9--- E---13------------------------------11-------- E--------------------------------------------- F#------------------------------------------------------- E-------------------------------------------------------- B-------------------------11----------------------------- B----------------11^13-13-------------------------------- E---13------------------------------11--11\14----16--12-- E-------------------------------------------------------- E SECTION 02:58-03:45 Thurston: G-------- D-------- A----7--- let ring w/ fuzz -> fade E----0--- Lee: F#------------------------ E------------------------- Lee plays 12th fret and 5th fret harmonics as well as B---<12>-----------<5>---- muted strings w/ delay B---<12>-----------<5>---- E---<12>-----------<5>---- he plays harmonics on the higher strings too eventually E---<12>-----------<5>---- My only issue with EEBBEF# is that I can't replicate the G harmonics around 3:35-ish. It sounds like he's playing the 5th fret harmonics on the BEF# strings, but where does that G come from? C SECTION 03:36-04:43 As the distorted E note drones, another track of the band playing the main C section riff is slowly faded up the center. Thurston's bass is clean again, playing the main C riff eight times. The riff continues but they come to a sudden stop halfway through, ending on the D# note, sliding back from the 6th fret on the A string. Lee: F#-----18--------18------------------------- E---------------------18-----------16------- B-----------18-------------16-----------17-- x 2 B------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- F#---------18--------18--------------------- E-----------------------18---------16------- B------18----18---18---------16--------17--- B------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- F#------------------------------------------ E------------------------------------------- B--------------------11^13------------------ x 2 B--------------11^13--------11-------------- E-----13----13---------------------11------- E------------------------------------------- F#-----18--------18------------------------- E---------------------18-----------16------- B-----------18-------------16-----------17-- B------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- F#---------18--------18--------------------- E-----------------------18---------16------- B------18----18---18---------16--------17--- B------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- F#---------18--------18--------------------- E-----------------------18---------16------- B------18----18---18---------16--------17--- B------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- E------------------------------------------- F#----------- E------------ B------18---- B------------ E------------ E------------ text + tab by Chris Lawrence
special thanks to Larsen '98
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