Since the band's initial attempt to record a 7" blossomed into the full-length album Confusion Is Sex, their first single would have to wait until 1984. "Death Valley '69" b/w "Brave Men Run (In My Family)" was recorded in July 1984 by Wharton Tiers, who had also done Confusion and the Kill Yr Idols EP. They'd abandoned all material written in their first three years as a band, and sculpted a new set of continuous sound pieces that they debuted on May 19th, 1984 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. This set would form the foundation of their next LP Bad Moon Rising, with one conspicuous absence: a little tune called "Death Valley '69". The first known performance of the song wouldn't be until June 30th, at Danceteria in NYC, where they were joined by Lydia Lunch, who helped write the lyrics. I don't know if the song just wasn't ready in May, or if they were specifically waiting until she was available to debut it. At this show it served as an encore following "Satan Is Boring", but when they returned to Maxwell's in October, it was now inserted into the main set between "Society is a Hole" and "I Love Her All The Time".
The July recordings sound like demos, but when the single was released on Iridescence in December, plastered with Charles Manson references both in art and lyric (and also a curious early reference to "Expressway to Yr. Skull", a working title for Bad Moon Rising before it became its own song the following year), it set the tone for what to expect from the band post-Confusion. This version of "Death Valley" was also released on a Swiss compilation called Plow!, in a different (earlier?) mix featuring an alternate Lydia vocal, a less defined guitar part from Lee, and a longer feedback ending. They also cut about 8 reps of the chorus riff from the end of the song for the 7", and fixed the transition from the verse to the last chorus, where Kim had started playing the main riff too soon. Overall the Plow! version is about 30 seconds longer, and I might prefer it to the single, even if they added more vocals and tidied up some guitar parts for the 7".
They finished Bad Moon Rising in fall/winter of 1984 (with Martin Bisi producing), releasing it in March of 1985. On their first west coast tour in January, Lee stepped up to deliver an equally frantic version of Lydia's counterline vocal, which you can witness to great effect in the classic Gila Monster Jamboree, a Sonic Death fan club home video release in 1992. This film captures most of the band's wild Mojave Desert performance, their west coast premiere before a series of California shows and one in Seattle. Lee continued sharing vocal duties during the March European tour that was documented on the semi-official Walls Have Ears double-vinyl bootleg, but as of the summer North American tour, Thurston would sing the verse on his own, with Lee and Kim only joining in for the classic chorus. This tour also marked the point where Steve Shelley took over on drums full-time, with Bob Bert having made a slow exit over the summer. For me, these versions with Lee doing Lydia's part are the best live representations of the song, driving home the uneasy tension that carries the entire midsection. It would be just a short 24 years later until they tried that out again...
Speaking of Walls Have Ears, let's dial in on that for a moment. Much ado has been made of Blast First releasing the double-live bootleg without Sonic Youth's overall consent, but I'm more curious about the title itself. See, Sonic Youth were not the only recipients of the surprise Blast First bootleg treatment. Big Black, Head of David, and even the Butthole Surfers were all given live releases on the Not imprint, and while the Butthole edition is just a repackaging of their own double-bootleg Double Live with "Not" annotations, the other two fall more in line with the Sonic set. Looking at the SY release, there is no title on the front or back cover, just the band's name and two cool pumpkins mirroring the Bad Moon Rising aesthetic. The spine declares "this record is called..." three times, with "WALLS HAVE EARS", "THE SONIC YOUTH SOUND EXPERIENCE", and "NOT 1 (BUT 2)" listed after each. "NOT 1 (BUT 2)" is generally accepted as the catalog number, with "WALLS HAVE EARS" as the title, but on the inside sleeve another title is suggested: This record is called "THIS TIME, THE LAST TIME + HERE'S TO THE NEXT TIME" After that, it's declared "A WALLZ-HAVE-EARZ PRODUCTION". What's my point? Check out the liners of the Big Black boot ("NOT 2 (BUT 1)") where it is also identified as "A Walls Have Ears Prod". How about Head Of David? "A Walls Have Ears Production". Hmmm...
Now, the Sonic Youth record is widely identified as Walls Have Ears, even by Blast First mogul Paul Smith himself, so I suspect that was the intention and they just carried it forward to enhance the spooky bootleg nature of further Not-releases, but it's still curious to me. And even if it is unofficial, it's still an interesting document of Sonic Youth in 1985, one disc capturing Bob Bert's final tour with the band (and that great Not-Lydia-but-Lee vocal), and one introducing Steve Shelley on his first European tour with them, including brand new songs like "Green Light" and "Expressway To Yr Skull" (possibly released ahead of EVOL?). The liners are full of great live pictures and all kinds of wacky bootleg mislabels (the Steve version of "Death Valley" is identified as "Spahn Ranch Dance", furthering the Manson association). It's become a somewhat legendary release, but there are definitely better live recordings from this era. The band certainly thought so, finally releasing their own version of another classic bootleg Anarchy At St. Mary's Place in 2012 as Smart Bar Chicago 1985, a fantastic set from August 11th containing a nice sampling from all of their records, plus new songs like "Secret Girl", "Expressway", and a rare performance of "Kat N Hat", which unfortunately does not feature the vocals Lee was working on, evident at other shows on this tour. Dig it if you haven't!
In June 1985, they released another Death Valley '69 single, this time as a 12" featuring the album version backed by one song from each of their previous releases, and a Bad Moon Rising outtake called "Satan Is Boring". It also included a stylized lyric sheet with art by Savage Pencil, and an interview from a fanzine. They also filmed a video for the track around this time, directed by Richard Kern and starring both Bob Bert and Steve Shelley as corpses (as well as drummers), along with future EVOL cover icon Lung Leg. This was later collected on the Screaming Fields Of Sonic Love VHS tape in '95. YouTube deems it too gory to embed, but dig it here if you have the stomach!
The song was played pretty heavily until the fall '85 European tour, where it was promoted to an encore that they didn't always get to play. It only popped up a handful of times in 1986 and 1987, having been steamrolled by the EVOL and Sister material. One noteworthy performance was on May 23rd, 1986 in London when Lydia Lunch made a rare guest appearance. The last time they're known to have played it in 1987 was actually in Chicago at the Hold That Tiger gig. After this, it would not appear until a curious circumstance on August 3rd, 1990 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the second night of the North American Goo tour. They'd already established "Catholic Block" "Mary-Christ" and "Kool Thing" as a trilogy of sorts, to be played in a row at most Goo shows ("Mary-Christ" would be introduced as "part 2" of "Catholic Block", and would segue into "Kool Thing" like it sorta does on the album). However, on that night in Pittsburgh, they tried something different: after "Mary-Christ", they launched into "Death Valley '69", playing the entire intro and chorus before stopping abruptly when the verse should begin and starting "Kool Thing" instead. It's certainly an odd occurrence, and I always wondered if it was just a spur of the moment attempt that fell apart, or if they planned it. Well, years later I stumbled across pictures from the show, and you can actually see the band's set list:
If you take a close look, it actually says "DV 1/2" between "Mary" and "Kool", indicating that they did plan on playing half of the song. A weird idea for sure, and not something captured on any of the many other Goo tour recordings. However, on the first night of the European Goo tour, September 2nd in Dublin, Ireland, the band respond to an enthusiastic request for the song and cut "My Friend Goo" from the scheduled encore to play "Death Valley" in its entirety, after Thurston teases "We would love to play that, but we haven't played it in 12 years." There's some back and forth with the crowd ("You know the words? Cuz I sure don't!" "We can do the chorus, that's all we know. That long middle part, man? It's like no!") and Lee seems open to trying it, so they joke that it'll just be a rehearsal. Really, it's not a bad take, with Thurston changing the lyrics to "Karen I love it!" and making up most of the middle (with some help from Lee!). This remained a one-off "you had to be there" moment, though we'll revisit the Dublin gig soon to discuss another interesting incident...
Since I haven't mentioned it yet, "Death Valley" may have been the first song written in the F#F#F#F#EB tuning ("Brave Men Run" is another candidate, though it's always called the "Death Valley" tuning). After the Confusion era of vaguely modified standard or "anything" tunings, they started to craft their own brand of unison/octave tunings that would become a staple of the Sonic Youth sound. Though Thurston certainly favored it, songs like "Starpower" or "Pipeline" would find both guitarists using F#F#F#F#EB, as would "Kool Thing", whose demo was literally called "DV2", a common tactic in working titles referring to previous songs. Sometimes they would even tease the chords of "Death Valley" during the palm-muted chug-chug intro to "Kool Thing" (check out 1991: The Year Punk Broke).
As discussed in the entry for "The Ineffable Me", the band spent all of 1997 performing exclusively new material, which would result in the A Thousand Leaves album and some SYR EPs. The 1998 tour focused entirely on this record with one exception: almost every show closed with "Death Valley '69" (followed by a lengthy noise improv). I don't know what caused them to resurrect this long-abandoned song and spotlight it equally with their current compositions, but they did! Aside from "Shadow of a Doubt", which popped up a few weeks into the tour, no other pre-'97 song would be played in '98. In February '99, when they started shaking things up a bit on a European tour, it still closed most shows (except for February 3rd in Marseille, where they played the set list backwards and opened with it!). After the July "gear theft" mini-tour, it fell out of favour, until the following summer's NYC Ghosts & Flowers tour, where they randomly pulled it out once to close their second night in Washington, DC on June 20th (now with Jim on guitar!). I filmed it from the front row, so check it out:
Unlike most of the songs Jim learned, it did not enter regular rotation, and was only played once more, on October 19th during their first performance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After that, there would be the occasional rumor it had been heard at soundcheck, but it wasn't until June 30th, 2009, a few nights into the North American Eternal tour in Toronto, that they would try the song again (this gig is also noteworthy for being the first of not very many performances of "Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn" and the final performance of "She Is Not Alone"). Most notable was that the song had been given the "Eternal" treatment, with all three vocalists singing simultaneously! Finally!! The song once again became a popular set closer in 2009 and 2010, and in 2011 it was paired with "Brave Men Run" (unearthed after an unprecedented 26 years) at all six full shows they played, including their final gig in Brazil. You can check out this version on either the Berlin 10/21/09 or Brooklyn 08/12/11 sets available via bandcamp.
Just for fun, here's another video I filmed in Seattle, Washington on May 22nd, 1998, when they played "Shadow of a Doubt" for the first time in 12 years, followed by a rockin' "Death Valley" and some delicious noise. Enjoy!
Larsen (DoublDwn11) did a pretty good tab for this song back in the day, but I thought it would make an interesting entry so I gave it a slight revisitation 20 years later. Let me know if you have any comments!
"DEATH VALLEY '69"
LAYOUT
A - CHORUS - B - A - CHORUS
KIM
EADG
CENTER
THURSTON
F#F#F#F#EB
LEFT/RIGHT
LEE
F#F#F#F#EB
CENTER
A SECTION 00:00-00:28 Thurston starts with: B-------- E-------- F#---0--- trem pick this note then slide backwards from a high note F#---0--- F#---/--- this lasts for 4 reps of kim's bass riff F#---/--- Then play: B--------------------- E--------------------- F#---7----10-11---8--- trem pick F#---7----10-11---8--- F#---/-----/--/---/--- x 4 F#---/--------/------- Lee plays the same thing: B-------- E-------- F#---0--- trem pick this note then slide backwards from a high note F#---0--- F#---/--- this lasts for 4 reps of kim's bass riff F#---/--- Then play: B--------------------- E--------------------- F#---7----10-11---8--- trem pick F#---7----10-11---8--- F#---/-----/--/---/--- x 4 F#---/--------/------- Kim plays: G----------------------------- D----------------------------- x 8 A----------------------------- E---2-2-0--0-2-2-2-2-0--0-0--- A SECTION (CHORUS) 00:29-00:48 Thurston: B--------0---0---------0---0-0--- E--------0---0---------0---0-0--- F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- use your thumb to mute the F# strings when playing F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- the E chord F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- Lee plays the same: B--------0---0---------0---0-0--- E--------0---0---------0---0-0--- F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- use your thumb to mute the F# strings when playing F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- the E chord F#---0-0-------0-0-0-0----------- Kim plays: G----------------------------- D----------------------------- x 6 A----------------------------- E---2-2-0--0-2-2-2-2-0--0-0--- A SECTION 00:49-01:15 B SECTION 01:15-03:39 Thurston begins by strumming the 7th fret: B-------- E-------- F#---7--- he lets a few chords ring until he starts singing F#---7--- F#---7--- F#---7--- When he starts singing, he switches to slightly muted harmonics: B----------------- E----------------- F#---*7*-*7*------ play over and over F#---*7*-*7*------ F#---*7*-*7*------ F#---*7*-*7*------ Until the very end of the verse, for the final four cries of "HIT IT", where he just starts trem picking the middle F#s like the intro: B-------- E-------- F#---0--- F#---0--- F#---/--- F#---/--- Lee's part is buried down the middle but he controls most of the tension. B------0------0------0------0----- E--------0------0------0------0--- F#---5------5------5------5------- play twice before vocal starts F#---5------5------5------5------- F#-------------------------------- F#-------------------------------- (you can also just play the 5th fret twice instead of the open B but i think the ringing notes help...?) like this: B--------------------------------- E--------0------0------0------0--- F#---5-5----5-5----5-5----5-5----- F#---5-5----5-5----5-5----5-5----- F#-------------------------------- F#-------------------------------- When the vocal starts, it gets a little harder to hear, but he switches between the 5th and 7th fret: B------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0------0------0------0------0----------------------- E--------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0-------------------- F#---5------5------5------5-------5------5------5------5------5------5------5--------7---------------- F#---5------5------5------5-------5------5------5------5------5------5------5--------7---------------- F#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/---------------- F#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/---------------- He switches to the 7th fret on the 4th "YOU'RE RIGHT", and picks the 7th fret through "YOU WERE RIIIIGHT" "I WAS ON THE WRONG TRACK" B------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0------0------0------0------0----------------------- E--------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0------0-------0------0------0-------------------- F#---5------5------5------5-------5------5------5------5------5------5------5--------7---------------- F#---5------5------5------5-------5------5------5------5------5------5------5--------7---------------- F#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/---------------- F#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/---------------- He hits the 7th fret when Thurston sings "AND NOW IN THE CANYON..." This time he sticks to heavily trem picking the 7th fret while they sing "SHE STARTED TO HOLLER": B--------- E--------- F#---7---- hold this note until the THIRD "I DIDN'T WANNA"... F#---7---- F#---/---- F#---/---- At that point (2:11) he breaks to harmonics: B---------- you can let the open E and B strings ring out a bit when you strike the harmonix E---------- F#---*7*--- he hits that harmonic chord about 9 times then switches to the 5th fret F#---*7*--- F#---*7*--- F#---*7*--- At 2:27: B---------- E---------- F#---*5*--- F#---*5*--- x 5 F#---*5*--- F#---*5*--- "DEEP IN THE VALLEY" (2:35) B----0--- --0-- E----0--- --0-- F#---5--- strum/pick in similar rhythm then: --7-- "IN THE BACK OF A CHEVY" F#---5--- --7-- F#------- ----- F#------- ----- He sticks to attacking that 7th fret chord, then around 3:00 he starts to build up: B----(0)------ E----(0)------ F#---12--13--- bend/shake the notes while picking, add the 13th fret for dissonance F#---12--12--- (this is the kind of thing that works better by feel than a specific tab) F#----/---/--- F#----/---/--- Around 3:13 he climbs higher: B---------------- E---------------- F#--19--20--21--- keep playing furious variations of the highest notes F#--19--20--21--- during the final ascension of "HIT IT" F#---/---/---/--- F#---/---/---/--- before exploding into the outro/chorus Kim drones the A string and throws in a single high note on the D string, which changes each time. I don't actually think she played the exact same note progression every time they played the song, but this is how the album version worked out: G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------10----------------------------8---- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------10--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------10--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------8---- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------10--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------10--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------9-----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------10----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------10----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------10----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------12----------------------------12----------------------------12--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "DEEP IN THE VALLEY..." G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------11----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------10----------------------------11--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------12----------------------------13--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------12----------------------------13--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------13----------------------------12--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------13----------------------------14--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------14----------------------------15--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G--------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------15----------------------------15--- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------- E--------------------------------------------------------------- G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D----------------------------16----------------------------16------------------------------------- A---0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--- E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A SECTION 03:39-04:05 This is basically the same as the intro of the song. A SECTION (CHORUS) 04:05-05:11 This time, the drums and bass drop out for one rep of the main chorus riff, then re-enter to play once. Then the vocals enter for the proper chorus, repeating "DEATH VALLEY '69" four times before Lydia squeals over the riff until the end. Beginning with the drum/bass-less run through the riff, it is played 14 times before finishing on F# (all open F# strings). However, after the last "Death Valley '69" is sung, the guitars start doing wild trem picking beginning around the 17th fret and climbing up, bending and shaking as they go. text + tab by Chris Lawrence
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