Robotman

ROBOTMAN FROM THE VOID OF SPACE

HISTORY: This was the second song recorded for the DRUG SONGS album. The initial recording for the basic tracks in PCM Studio C was from a series of "Summer Sessions" and these sessions for "Robotman" were held sometime in late July 1992. The recording process was very complicated and it ended up taking a very long time to complete. Each individual part was punched-in onto the original session tape by just one of the PEYOTE COYOTES at a time. The remainder was recorded during a number of different sessions held over the next several months. As a result of this practice, the sessions for this song and several others tended to drag on for what seemed like forever. This started a trend of taking a year or more to make an album. That pattern of recording would continue for several years up to the end of the Century. The two earliest known surviving rough mixes of "Robotman" were found on Master # 6743B dated September 15, 1992. Also contained on this tape were two early versions each of "Symphony In Asia Minor" and "KRAP". It also known that some early "monitor mixes" were made for reference purposes after these songs were first recorded during the previous three months. Unfortunately, it seems these tapes have not yet been located, if they still even exist. There is also another very likely scenario, one of the versions of each of the songs on this tape actually were the missing original "monitor mixes" and the second versions were done later in September when the tape was eventually dated. In the tape vault there is also a 10" mono album master reel made by Dave Raupp and Gary Bright on February 14, 1993. This was the first time that any serious attempt appears to have been made to assemble the tracks for the DRUG SONGS album. The tracks appeared in a very similar running order to what was eventually used on the final album masters. Then on April 1, 1993 a stereo remix master labeled "RS5" was compiled by Gary on his own. Judging from the overall sound of it, the mixes seem to be what could have been considered "final". This tape appears to be from when the DRUG SONGS album was next being reassembled. The original tape remained unused for almost a decade, apparently because there was some additional recording to be done. The next known PEYOTE COYOTES recording session was for "2000 Light Years From Home". This took place on April 26-27, 1993 and at some point the song was added to the album lineup. The second day is logged as Tom Lepold's first actual PEYOTE COYOTES recording session. The following month in May 1993 sessions began to take place for what was to become known as the DRUNKEN HILLBILLY SESSIONS. The sessions continued for an entire year, ending with the BIG HOUSE SESSIONS in May 1994. Other compilation tapes from August 1993, January 1994 and later, contained further remixes from the DRUG SONGS period and versions of several additional new songs. Many of those newer recordings eventually appeared on other PEYOTE COYOTES projects like DRUNKEN HILLBILLY COLLECTION, ON THE ROAD TO GIZA and then finally CARDIOLOGY

TECHNICAL: The sound effects used on"Robotman" had never been done before. Robert Lance and Gary Bright recorded two of these effects together. They stuck straws into the ends of two kazoos and blew them into a closely miked glass jar that was partially filled with water. The amount of water was used to "tune" the jar to the recording. This created a very unique bubbling sound that was slightly reminiscent of the backing vocals during the guitar solo of "Octopuses’ Garden" on The Beatles ABBEY ROAD album. The song features an opening acoustic guitar solo played by Dave with a metal slide on some very dead guitar strings and was recorded over the intro of the song. This solo accidentally wiped part of the original lead vocals following it on the same track. This is why the vocals sound so much different after the first two lines. Robert and Dave had programmed the sound of the vocals with a digital signal processor. The set up for this sound spoken by Dave was recorded onto the end the session tape and forgotten about. Later another song, "Return To Zero" was recorded onto this same piece of tape. When it was being mixed down, this spoken track of Dave's was discovered and used as Dave's lead vocal for that song. Robert took the hand written notes he made of the digital processor settings for Gary's robot vocals with him when he left the studio and could not later find them when the beginning of the track had to be re-recorded. This was because during the overdubbing of Dave’s opening solo; the first two lines of the songs vocals were accidentally erased. Then Gary played an electric solo on his Fender Thinline Telecaster using a fifth of Jim Beam as a slide. Dave coached Gary on this solo over an extended overdub session. It was like, "No not that note, this one!" By the time the bottle was empty the solo was completed. This was not the first time nor was it the last that a bottle would be used to measure the length of a session. There are still several unusable outtake versions of this solo on various tracks on the multi-track session tape. Some of these tracks were used in part on some early rough mixes. Robert made the first contributions of piano on the backing tracks. Then at a much later time an additional overdub was added. One night Robert clapped a coconut (one of two) on the cement patio outside in the back of the studio. The idea was to recreate the old sound effect of horse hoofs. Robert refused to use both of the coconut halves and insisted on generating the effect with just one. For this really bizarre overdub, a microphone was run outside through a window. These were the original coconuts that Gary used as drinking cups on the beach at Waikiki every day. Gary brought them back from Hawaii when he and Dave were there on vacation during the summer of 1985.

I'm a robot man, fa-fa-from the void of space.

I ain't got the time, ain't got no place.

I got a solar tan, out on the desert sand.

JA-JA-just about a mile from the Rio Grande.

I heard this cowboy say, fifty light years away.

On the radio, "Come to West LA".

As I mosey along, JA-JA-just a singin' a song.

I've been on the trail, fa-fa-far too long.

As I rode the range, tried to rearrange.

A train to Santa Fe and people think I'm strange.

Down in Mexico, found sombrero.

I lost my steel guitar at the girlie show.

UNRECORDED LYRICS:

When my space ship crashed in the Yucatan.

I worked the Mayan fields as a hired hand... (Unfinished)