Quote:
Originally Posted by michelej1
So, I know we've talked about it before, but there are different Keep Me Theres and one isn't an evolution of the other? Did the Butter Cookie chords progress into what became The Chain or are they completely unreleated?
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There's a pretty good discussion of this somewhere in the Ledge archives. Help me find?
There are several (well, basically two) demoish thingies that both seem to have the name KEEP ME THERE: the thingie on the RUMOURS reissue with the name BUTTER COOKIE (KEEP ME THERE) as well as another thingie that came via bootleg CD from the Loftus & Nephew (James) corps (MISSING LINKS & RUMOURS: THE OTHER SIDE), & that latter thingie was also named KEEP ME THERE (years before the reissue).
It's the latter thingie (KEEP ME THERE from MISSING LINKS & RUMOURS: THE OTHER SIDE) that not only is structurally & harmonically related to THE CHAIN but also contains some of the actual tracking that ultimately got left on THE CHAIN (including some or all of the B3, the Rhodes, & the percussion & therefore possibly the bass).
But the BUTTER COOKIE thingie has no musical relationship to THE CHAIN. As to its title, I posit the possibility that Lees & Co. pulled the title from the wrong label or tape box or otherwise got it screwed up.
The evolution of THE CHAIN is a big mess, as everyone knows, but I think it's an even bigger mess than that. That's why I think it's goofball to take any of the band's (or even Ken's) simplistic pronouncements about it (without direct reference to audio files & written records) as completely accurate -- especially at this late date. It's also goofball to swallow Stevie's simplistic pronouncements (also made years after the fact) about who "wrote" it ("I wrote THE CHAIN") as completely accurate. What Stevie is referring to & what we think she may be referring to are probably different things. It would be like a discussion about who wrote "the Bible" -- which Bible? which iteration? which translation? from which era? which language?
If you listen to the Loftus KEEP ME THERE, you clearly hear the enormous similarities with THE CHAIN as it exists on RUMOURS (as I said earlier, you hear even some of the same tracks). The question remains, Where should it be placed on the CHAIN timeline? Does it predate or follow Stevie's alleged contribution of the "chain" concept to the song's lyrics, or even the group decision to take the song that way? OR -- is it something Chris & bandmates were working on A) under a different title (perhaps KEEP ME THERE) or B) with a different purpose in mind (different track, different album)?