Walk This Way — Песня Aerosmith

1975 single by Aerosmith

"Walk This Way" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album Toys in the Attic (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit singles for the band in the 1970s. In addition to being one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the 1970s, it also helped revitalize their career in the 1980s when it was covered by hip hop group Run D. M. C. (in collaboration with Aerosmith) on their 1986 album Raising Hell. This cover was a touchstone for the new musical subgenre of rap rock, or the melding of rock and hip hop.

The song starts out with a two measure drum beat intro by Joey Kramer, followed by a guitar riff composed by Joe Perry. The song proceeds with the main riff, with Perry and Brad Whitford on guitar with Tom Hamilton on bass. The song continues with rapid fire lyrics by Steven Tyler. In December 1974, Aerosmith opened for the Guess Who in Honolulu. During the sound check, guitarist Joe Perry was "fooling around with riffs and thinking about the Meters," a group guitarist Jeff Beck had turned him on to. Loving "their riffy New Orleans funk, especially 'Cissy Strut' and 'People Say'", he asked the drummer "to lay down something flat with a groove on the drums." The guitar riff to what would become "Walk This Way" just "came off [his] hands." Needing a bridge, he:blockquote| played another riff and went there. But I didn't want the song to have a typical, boring 1, 4, 5 chord progression. After playing the first riff in the key of C, I shifted to E before returning to C for the verse and chorus. By the end of the sound check, I had the basics of a song. But they still needed lyrics. At the hotel that night Tyler wrote lyrics for the song, but left them in the cab on the way to the studio next morning. He says: "I must have been stoned. All the blood drained out of my face, but no one believed me. They thought I never got around to writing them." Upset, he took a cassette tape with the instrumental track the band had recorded and a portable tape player with headphones and "disappeared into the stairwell." He "grabbed a few No. 2 pencils" but forgot to take paper. He wrote the lyrics on the wall at "the Record Plant's top floor and then down a few stairs of the back stairway." After "two or three hours" he "ran downstairs for a legal pad and ran back up and copied them down." Record World said that "the pattern that sent 'Dream On' up the charts is again being established." In 2022, it was included in the list "The story of NME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs", at number 26.

"Walk This Way" was one of two hit singles by the band to hit the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1970s, the other one being a re release of "Dream On". "Walk This Way", though, helped Toys in the Attic to be the bestselling Aerosmith album, and one of the most critically acclaimed. Aerosmith's version of "Walk This Way" often competes with "Sweet Emotion" and "Dream On" for the title of Aerosmith's signature song, being one of the band's most important, influential, and recognizable songs. The band rarely omits it from their concert setlist, still performing their classic version of the song to this day. The song has also long been a staple of rock radio, garnering regular airplay on mainstream rock, classic rock, and album oriented rock radio stations. In 2009, it was named the eighth greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. Fee Waybill, Steve Lukather, Tim Bogert and Tommy Aldridge covered the song for the Aerosmith tribute album Not the Same Old Song and Dance (Eagle Records, 1999). Aerosmith reference lyrics from the song in "Legendary Child". The line "I took a chance at the high school dance never knowing wrong from right" references lyrics from the songs "Walk This Way" and "Adam's Apple" respectively. Both songs first appeared on the album Toys in the Attic. In 2019, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 1986, the hip hop group Run DMC covered "Walk This Way", in collaboration with Aerosmith (with its leaders Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on vocals and guitars, respectively). While working on Raising Hell, Rick Rubin pulled out Toys in the Attic. At shows, Run DMC had freestyled over the first few seconds of the song on a loop, not knowing what the full song sounded like, or even hearing the lyrics. While Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels had no idea who Aerosmith were at that time, Rubin suggested remaking the song. Neither Simmons nor McDaniels liked the idea, and considered the lyrics "hillbilly gibberish", though Jam Master Jay was open to it. Rubin brought in Tyler and Perry to re record their parts; initially, Run and DMC intended to mimic Tyler's delivery, but were convinced by Jam Master Jay to do it in a more natural rap flow. Even after recording with Tyler and Perry, Run DMC did not want the record to be released as a single, and were shocked when it was played on both urban and rock radio stations. "I never even thought 'Walk This Way' would be a single," Rubin recalled. "Not that I didn't like it, but I didn't think in those terms." DMC called it "a beautiful thing" in a trailer for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. This version of "Walk This Way" charted higher on the Billboard Hot 100 than the original, peaking at number 4, becoming Run DMC's biggest hit. It was also the first hip hop single to reach the top five on the Billboard charts, as well as one of the first big hip hop singles in the UK, peaking at number 8. Cash Box called it "a raucous, sure to please version of the Aerosmith classic." The song marked a major comeback for Aerosmith, as they had been largely out of mainstream pop culture for several years while Tyler battled addiction and Perry and Brad Whitford were out of the band. Their 1985 comeback album, Done with Mirrors, had also not met commercial expectations. Aerosmith followed "Walk This Way" with multi platinum albums and Top 40 hits, starting with Permanent Vacation and its hit "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" in 1987. In 2008, "Walk This Way" was ranked number 4 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop". The chorus of Run DMC's cover contains a pitch alternation that Aerosmith adopted in most future live performances. In collaborations, the other singer often says "talk this way" every alternate line of the chorus. This rap style delivery may explain why the song worked so well as a hip hop song when it was covered eleven years later.

At the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show in January 2001, performers *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly joined Aerosmith onstage for an encore performance of "Walk This Way" with Spears and members of *NSYNC singing different parts of the second verse, Blige adding background harmony, and Nelly performing a rap towards the end of the song. DMC and Steve Tyler closed out the July 2005 "Celebration of the Seas" event on Key Largo with a stage performance of "Walk This Way". Aerosmith and Run DMC performed "Walk This Way" at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020.

The song won both groups a Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Single in 1987. Rolling Stone ranked the original version of "Walk This Way" at number 346 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and the version by Run D. M. C. was ranked at number 293 in 2010. In 2000, "VH1: 100 Greatest Rock Songs" included "Walk This Way" at number 35. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 23 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked the original version of "Walk This Way" at number 34 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. In 2009, VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" included "Walk This Way" at number 8. VH1 ranked the version by Run D. M. C. at number 4 on VH1 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs.

In 1993, "Rolling Stone: The Top 100 Music Videos" included "Walk This Way" (with Run D. M. C.) at number 11. In 1999, "MTV: 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" included "Walk This Way" (with Run D. M. C.) at number 5. In 2001, "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" included "Walk This Way" (with Run D. M. C.) at number 11. In 2007, "Fuse: 25 Greatest Music Videos" included "Walk This Way" (with Run D. M. C.) at number 24.

In 2007, British girl groups Girls Aloud and Sugababes recorded a cover of "Walk This Way" as the official Comic Relief charity single. Their version was produced by American producer Dallas Austin, making it Girls Aloud's first single not to be produced by Xenomania. The track charted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, giving Girls Aloud their third number 1 and Sugababes their fifth. The music video was a comic re enactment of the Run D. M. C. video. "Walk This Way" was promoted through numerous live appearances and has been included on tours by both Girls Aloud and Sugababes. Contemporary music critics criticised the cover version, but supported the single due to its fundraising nature. While the Run D. M. C. cover is nearly identical to the original version, the Girls Aloud/Sugababes version has a few changes tweaked into the song; the additional line "Walk this way, you wanna talk this way" is added, the lyrics are moved around, and the beat is slightly sped up and realized on a drum machine to add a further dance feel to the song.

The idea of a Girls Aloud and Sugababes collaboration came from Comic Relief co founder and trustee Richard Curtis. Several songs were possibilities, including Blur's "Girls & Boys" and Candi Staton's "You Got the Love", which was Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts' idea and favourite choice. Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud said, "It's a fantastic song and hopefully will raise tons of money for people living in really difficult situations here and in Africa." It was also available as a digital download.

"Walk This Way" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1 on March 18, 2007 ― for the week ending date March 24, 2007. The following week, the single dropped to number 2; it was dethroned by another Comic Relief single, "I'm Gonna Roll (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers with Peter Kay and Matt Lucas. In its third week on the chart, "Walk This Way" dropped twelve places out of the top ten, placing itself at number 14. The song also charted at number 8 on the Billboard European Hot 100 Singles chart.