Link Wray-Jack The Ripper (1961)

[Wisconsin222]

1:30-1:39 and 1:49-1:57 we found out where the Sex Pistols got their inspirtation for their hit "God Save the Queen" from.

[classiccarguy93]

This could almost pass for late 60s. Way ahead of his time!

[johnwaynesfoot]

"I used to have this thing about Link Wray, I used to play him every Saturday, God bless Saturday..." --Mark E. Smith

[Noodles37UK]

@johnwaynesfoot Marco Pirroni of Adam Ant fame led me onto this guy. Killer in the Home. This is a good way to get me back into the instrument.

[luxz777]

is the record moving?

[TehGav]

Youth of America! Is living in the jungle! Fighting for sur...oh wait.

[bwalla50]

Link's sound was seminal. Guitarists started looking for 'raunchier' tone after hearing Link Wray on this tune.

[DeresNoUserNames]

love when it gets to 0:55!!

[MREL1M1NATOR]

Yeah!



[Diogenes1360]

The 1st time this song was in a movie was in "Breathless" early 80's with Richard Gere. Richard is being chased through the back-streets of L.A. Much cooler than the "Gay" bartender scene from Desperado . . . "Where soar's the Silver-Surfer, there he soars ALONE."

[MrRichdo]

@Diogenes1360 haters gonna hate

[clarkewi]

1961 was THE year for 45's.

[sugarfoot59]

@clarkewi Sorry, but it before that, son. I bought my very first R&B later rock n roll....in 1953, and the 45's were if full flower! It appears that you were a little slow in catching up, I mean, in 1961, they were just continuing on from the BEST years.

[clarkewi]

@sugarfoot59 You could be right. I didn't really start listening to rock and roll until I saw Ricky Nelson sing on the "Ozzy and Hariett" show. Then I was hooked. That was in '61 and he was singing "Travelin Man". But many great hits in '61-'62 considered classics.

[sugarfoot59]

@clarkewi LOL, LOL, yes, I think you're right on with that one, it was just a continuation, but even at that date, rock n roll was already changing. I remember 'Ozzie & Harriet' show well, even before Ricky was old enough to sing, and even I liked what I heard from him, when he did begin to sing.

[derdudeisda]

I love when this song kicks in in Desperado! That's just Perfect...

[snap1920]

Dusk Till Dawn 2......

[131flora]

@mecormany: agree - motherfuck the r&r fall of fame

[131flora]

'and you will never hear surf music again...' (-3rd stone from the sun). Pure excitation

[kevingrin]

The bartender lived, but he disliked, and he gets the worst of all...

[RetroKimmie]

thank-you rolling stones magazine for bringing me here!!!!

[viktord1]

the bartender disliked

[BlutoUSN]

Sonic Bliss...

[cesacacolac]

who, really, who needs the hall of fame to justify what we really know .

[EbrethilDia]

Could that thing stop being... liquid?

[SquiSac01]

one whore disliked

[floralpattern1]

@SquiSac01 one cunt disliked

[revkenordquist]

@imcustomized I dunno. I bet he wished he made a few dollars more but he DID have integrity. What killed me was they put Janet Jackson in the R-n-R HOF and not LINK WRAY!?!?!?! I'm kind of a snob/purest (read closed minded) and believe rock-n-roll ended about the time Allan Freed coined the term for white America. The black R&B from 51-56, rockabilly, even 1948 "Move it on Over" was slap bass foxtrot, so I usually annoy folks into saying "Rock" not rock & roll for most of it.

[MiGrandeCazzo]

I wanna rock this in my '66 skylark...I reckon that might be a good time with a beer and a girly in hand

[lancetop]

1961! Link was a early early early PIONEER of hard rock music!

[Noodles37UK]

Is it true he punched holes in his amp to roughen its sound?

[exeuroweenie]

@Noodles37UK Yep,with a pencil.

[Noodles37UK]

@exeuroweenie Can't see myself doing that to my Marshall lol

[exeuroweenie]

@Noodles37UK Lol hell no,got to be a better way.I can't imagine what Marshall amps would cost over there.

[duqmiguel]

@Noodles37UK Cool . . its all True! . . .

[MrBillies12]

What a song...and so early 60's too - unbelievable! It really rips!

[ChrisYonts]

This video is making me vertiginous!

[kitthevideoman]

I remember hearing this tune covered by a band at a junior high school dance. Link Wray wrote and performed a classic here. Simple, hard-hitting, memorable, the heart of rock n roll.

[20FlightBlues]

always thought this gem was 1963, guess i'm thinking of run chicken run

[cdsorvinyl]

Thanks absolutely the best.....

[newfuckingwave]

@imcustomized yeah fuck the rap and pop hall of adequacy

[jacksradiocomm1]

Thanks Link Wray~!

[GrisGrisOnUrDoorStep]

Im a mod and a rocker

[jamreaper]

@GrisGrisOnUrDoorStep you're a mocker :P

[PapillionDAmour05]

Timeless..

[hebneh]

I only knew this from the Raybeats version of the 1980s, which had a really good music video that I taped off TV and watched repeatedly. Now I know that they didn't originate this song. Both versions are excellent.

[Donny803]

Mondo Trasho FOREVER!!!!

[chainlinkray]

@imcustomized You got that right . He should be in the Hall Fame just because of all the people he influenced like Bob Dylan,Eric Clapton,Pete Townsend,Neil Young,Jimmy Page,Bruce Springsteen,Jeff Beck,Jerry Garcia,The Ventures and countless others who are already in The Hall Of Fame. Nuff said!

[Diogenes1360]

Someday, son, when your a man . . .

[utichnica2809]

I love this song. It's my mobile phone ringtone. :D

I think I'll never stop listening it. Damn.

[voidforpurpose]

Link Wray, inventor of the Power Lead line!

[DoctorSess]

@mecormany But he's in rock n roll heaven...Madonna is forever damned to pop hell.

[creechharry]

Link...I hope to shake your hand in heaven!

[riccardohermes]

il delirio dei suoni....

[Princeigor]

BIGGEST HANDCANNON I EVER FUCKEN SEEN

[wetmidget]

used extensively in the movie "breathless." which tarantino might've ripped off a little bit.

[Diogenes1360]

@wetmidget Yeah. . .

[glennrice]

This is my all-time favourite 45 -- the absolute essence of rock 'n' roll guitar. I love Link Wray. He was elemental, like wind or lightning. His early 60s records will never be bettered, and this one has the glory that crowns them all.

[aucksmix]

@mecormany My band played Link's hits back in the early sixties. I met Link a couple of times back then. A quiet, charming guy. I tried to get Paul Allen (Microsoft) interested in pushing the RR Hall of Fame to induct Link. Didn't happen. So much for the credibility of that organization.

[assoverteakettle]

This rumble music is bad ass!  Makes me want a black 69 Camaro and a heap of trouble.

[donn409]

@mecormany Madonna sucks! Link Wray rules!

[beegeelovessurf]

@chainlinkray Absolutely!

[IDidTheDinosaur]

and then...

in walks the BIGGEST mexican i've ever seen.

he sits down at the bar and do you know what he orders?

[dass0137]

@IDidTheDinosaur what does he order? what does he order?

[Diogenes1360]

Dig! this, real! Bad men, are walking in the shadows, they are not meant to be seen, By the general public. They live a life all they're own, un-recognized.

[51362879]

Surf music!

[TheDoors78521]

Groovy stuff

[Glenn1949]

Read somewhere that drummer was Link's brother? This is fantastic and just two years before the Safari's Wipeout! Listened to this several times & believe what makes the drummer great is his knack for being just a little ahead of the beat. In other words LEADING the rythem like the classic drummers Gene Kroupa (sp) & Sandy Nelson.........remember? Teen Beat?

[Donny803]

Mondo Trasho forever!!

[showtimescott]

Desperado

[ivymercer]

top tunes

[TheNeonTide]

HOW DO YOU DO THAT

[scmorgan72]

Link was ahead of the times....

[charlottewray]

@scmorgan72 Yes he was. No ones music was like his at all

[Diogenes1360]

Jack!! Babiee, Pass me your knife!! I got me some cuttin to do....

[kasponya]

Yeah Joe, love this! Link Wray is the man!!!

[vinnyguitarandbass]

His music is so badass!

[Diogenes1360]

Chain Lightning, un-leashed!! baby-look-out!!

[lancetop]

This song is also featured in John Waters' first full length film Mondo Trasho. It's in the first scene of the movie, when a masked man beheads a chicken.

[mcul2112]

even better than the revved up one....

[Diogenes1360]

remember breathless ? with richard gere? garrachillo

[geekatron1995]

Hahahaha! The bartender NEVER gets killed! 

[NUmetalage1994]

@geekatron1995 Haha no The bartender had it worse than anybody. (Bartender loses the smile on his face) Bahaha classic

[greezeyD]

just caught a 45 of this, not swan, but norton. clearly a re-issue. it was good on the net, but it ROCKS on a 45!!!

[sjaakiepappa]

Briljant music, Thank God for Tarantino And Rodruiquez that they appreciate wrong and briljant B-movies and let us show the beauty of it

[fireblade95]

musta had six fingers on each hand, stonking............

[precisionbizzle]

i love the sound of link's guitar in this song. he's the reason why i want a danelectro!

[imcustomized]

@precisionbizzle Join the club, man! That's exactly what got me started, too.

[flakbac]

great the way this was incorparated in the richard gere movie breathless

[Forbrtishesyesonlyy]

The Bartender never gets killed!

[1DarkPunk]

@Forbrtishesyesonlyy no man the bartender got it worse than anybody

[inkey2]

Jack The Ripper and Ace of Spades are my favorites of Link Wray. I remember when I was teaching guitar many years ago I used to use his music as an example of......."it's not the chords you play or how complicated it is....."it's how you play it".

[MrDeejay45]

It kills Wipeout easilly :o)

[moparmonster1965]

If y'all like this song, get the double disk set on Norton Records.

[CardiohallPictures]

I really like the soundtrack for Robert Rodriguez's Desperado. I felt it was very reminiscent of a Tarantino soundtrack. Too bad none of his other soundtracks are like this. I think that if all his soundtracks were like this one, his movies would be so much better.

Awesome Song BTW, it really went great with the mood of the movie.

[topman165]

love this track, I too have an orig copy on swan, I remember buying this at broadgreen record centre collectors shop near croydon back in 1973, funny how the best things in life you will always remember to the detail.

[Building529]

@chainlinkray He probably did. The Surfaris did a cover of this song in fact.

[sidDkid87]

Y.E.S.!!!

[philipatoz]

Link, Dick Dale, The Ventures - all guitar heroes, all unique in their own ways. And all from an era when instrumental pop tunes could sell a lot of records. I can't think of the last big-selling instrumental pop song? Anyone know?

[lemonite1]

@philipatoz Mighta been Rockit by Herbie Hancock.....

[nomiclas]

@philipatoz you're correct.this is early surf music and with a great sharp guitar edge but that was link.some of the best instrumentals ever!

[srsteve12]

@nomiclas One of his songs sounds just like Outer Limits so major influence on the Surf era. I had surf bands then but didn't hear all of Links songs just Rumble.

[WashPCC]

"nother great D.C. area artist, along with Marvin Gaye and others.

Got to see Link in some club in Georgetown as an under aged teen with fake ID back in the mid sixties. 67 I think. Those were the days, man!

[mjazzguitar]

The pioneer of heavy guitar.

[weeegooo]

eres un payaso link wray NO SABES CUANTO TE ODIO!

[sayzou]

Awesome !

[markvalluzzi]

Sounds alot like Nokie Edwards

[lemonite1]

@chainlinkray I read somewhere that they recorded this in a barn and they did not have a proper drumset. I think its one tom tom drum and a can full-o-nails for a cymbal.

[pompitus]

@lemonite1 , This was recorded at Ray's studio after hours in a stairwell on the third floor of the Portland Building in D.C. at 1129 Vernon Avenue, NW(directly across the street from the old WTTG Studios). The tiled walls gave them the sound they wanted, and for the mix-down they build a 'coffin-style' box to put Link's amps inside so they'd get the desired resonance. This is according to a quote attributed to Link's daughter, Sherry.

[coetmor]

Just found Link from Iggy Pop's recommendation on Jools Holland programme this week. Link is sheeeet hot. Amazed that Rumble was the song I loved from Pulp Fiction. God the internet is great.

[voidforpurpose]

First great primal lead lines in rock history!

So much fun to play, too!

(Especially the two treble strings version the second time.)

Rock on Link!!!

[lysyrg25]

WOW what a great song...1961 a good year.....I was born that year.

[Delfan1961]

Before the Wray clan moved to Accokeek, Maryland and set up a studio in an old chicken shack, Vernon Wray (aka "Ray Vernon") rented space in an office building in downtown Washington, D.C., where the group recorded after the daytime office workers had left for the day. Nothing happened with "Jack The Ripper" on it's initial 1961 release (probably lack of distribution, if nothing else), but, in '63, it reached the bottom half of Billboard's & Cash Box's "Top 100" charts, on the larger Swan label

[UnholyMB]

Fantastic song, one of Link Wray's best.

[yakadee1]

It's a pretty simple song to play for anyone interested in learning it. Make sure your guitar is tuned down a half step to sound like this recording though. E would be E-flat, A would be A-flat etc. Thanks for posting.

[purpelaar]

I know Link Wray from a hitsingle at the end of the 70s, with some other rock a billy guy I think. It was a cools ong but dont recall the name right now. YouTube is great for filling in " blanks" in my databank which otherwise might fool itself more and more as the years go by.

I know Jack The Ripper from LORD SUTCH AND FRIENDS. Did Lord Sutch write the lyrics after all?

[DWNicolo]

Link Wray was a rock god!

[wildbilltexas]

I read somewhere that they stuck Ray's amp in a staircase to get that awesome sound. Great record.

[Duraan84]

It does have a spaceous tone.

[clarkewi]

Wray was "The Edge" 20 years before "The Edge". The "Rumble Man" was the source. His songs are amazingly simple - the simplicity of genius.

[loveyourwhiteshoes]

never heard about Link Wray before, I love it

[ArmedHogs]

Beautiful ladies, classic cars and guns that will blow your head off

[fleetwoodfanforever]

Links music made breathless that much more hot. I so love that film. Gere is on fire,but link makes it happen.

[TheSoulTwins]

Also used in "Breathless" (remake of 'a bout de souffle - jean-luc goddard's classic) starring valerie kapriskie and richard gere

[moloch49]

Link Wray worked clubs in Southern Maryland and D.C. then (he lived in Accokeek, in Prince Georges County), and if you want ominous - trying living in

the D.C. area. Despite being the Nation's Capitol - it's a rough, dangerous place, and probably influenced the music. to a degree.

[karateslaginnek]

rock`n roll first class!

Cadillacs,stiletto`s,greasers,­leather jackets America! and... bumbumbumbum mister sandman;-)

[Baddoggone]

Link Wray's is one of the best, love his music

[weatherboxlisp]

You can definitely hear the influence of Link Wray in the Wipers, mostly the rhythm section. If you like Link Wray you should have a look at the Wipers' song Alien Boy, and all their other material of course.

[doomertheultimate]

This song played in the the first part in the movie Desperado Where Banderas shoots up the bar. EPIC!

[jamreaper]

@doomertheultimate epic is an understatement :D

[jamreaper]

@doomertheultimate dude EPIC! is an understatement

and there isnt another song better suited

[clarkewi]

A pure monster. Beyond great!

[sharplesal]

first heard the tune in john waters' 'mondo trasho'...it's a flawless piece

[SpeedTriple59]

Man what a track,goose bumps every time i hear this kooool track.awesome!!

[poeticfeet]

robert rodriquez.... however it has been played in tarantino's movies.

[dmljm]

Great song and i remember hearing it in a Quinton Tarintino Movie and its also in the Movie called 'Breathless' Thanx for the Share 'Link'

Danny

[redfoxtattoo]

not quentin movie. it was in desperado. he didnt do that

[Joak9191]

the film is "From dusk till dawn 2"

[chainlinkray]

Craig,i can see where the drums sound like "Wipe Out". Never gave it a thought until your comment.