Steven Tyler: The Biography by Laura Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

The dynamics of the already spiky friendship between Tyler and Perry instantly became skewed.
    Elyssa was an independent spirit who fearlessly spoke her mind; sometimes, she has confessed, her mouth pre-empted her brain getting in gear; her unwillingness to be a delicate presence waiting patiently in the background until Joe was free to pay her attention suited Perry’s nature, too. The couple quickly became closer than two coats of paint, and the more Joe vanished with his new girlfriend, the more rejected Steven felt, breeding mounting jealousy. For all the fireworks in their friendship, Steven had waited all his life to have a buddy like Joe Perry. Suddenly, it felt as if Joe did not value that friendship any more. For a man who had taken such an interest in British bands, Steven must have noted that all too frequently women, or sometimes one particular woman, coming on the scene is a recipe for monumental disruption.
    It was not only Tyler who was affected by this change in the wind. Tom Hamilton, who had been mates with Perry before Joe and Steven had met, now felt excluded. A bust-up one day, when Joe was leaving 1325 Commonwealth Avenue to move into the Kent Street apartment building where Steven lived, did some damage to their particular bond. Outside Aerosmith activity, Joe’s total absorption was with Elyssa, and this imbalance would not be a temporary blip. Tyler recalled: ‘I clearly saw that Joe was pulling away and it really bugged me!’
    Although the Commonwealth Avenue apartment was shabby, it had been home for two years for most of Aerosmith, but with the lease expired each guy now went his own way into different lodgings. Steven headed for Lake Sunapee, where his mind turned to which songs they ought to put on the band’s debut album. Seven of the eight songs ultimately selected were Tyler compositions; songs he had been squirrelling away for some time. A particular favourite of Steven’s was ‘Mama Kin’, so much so that he had ‘Ma’ Kin’ (the song’s original title) tattooed on one arm. Perry’s initial reaction was that musically ‘Mama Kin’ was a little too simple. ‘Steven obviously loved that song,’ Joe recalled, ‘and inevitably the best ones are the easy ones.’ ‘Movin’ Out’, which Steven and Joe had co-written sitting on a bed at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue, was a cast-iron certainty for inclusion. Tyler felt this first songwriting collaboration between the friends had cemented their bond. Although Steven created ‘One Way Street’ alone at the piano in that crummy apartment, drummer Joey Kramer remembered working on it with Tom Hamilton. He confessed: ‘We drove the old lady downstairs crazy - Tom on his bass and me on a kitchen chair using a pedal on a cardboard box.’
    ‘Write Me a Letter’ was the product of six months’ development, and Brad Whitford recalled how the musical arrangement had been thrashed out during rehearsals in the back room at the Boston Garden. As a lyricist, Steven reacts spontaneously to something he sees or hears; he has the knack of picking out the gems in the mud and creating songs around them, and he puts pen to paper anywhere. ‘Make It’ was written in a car on his way back from Lake Sunapee to Boston. For a long time, Aerosmith would use ‘Make It’ to open their shows. ‘It’s a great way to get things going,’ revealed Tom. Besides ‘Movin’ Out’, the only other co-composition was a song called ‘Somebody’, on which Steven had collaborated with Steve Emsback, a guy he had known in the pre-Aerosmith days. It was ‘Dream On’, however, that became the album’s standout track.
    ‘Dream On’ began life one late, dark night at Lake Sunapee when Steven, aged seventeen, was feeling very lonely and a little emotional now that summer was over. Drifting indoors at Trow-Rico Lodge in a preoccupied mood, he sat down at the upright piano and tried to translate his feelings into music. From nowhere a melody gradually emerged