Spread Your Wings Bass Cover

I was in my second year of high school when I got an invitation from a couple of older fellows to "jam". That was the big word then - "jam" - even my mother knew what it meant.

These guys, a guitarist and drummer, were a number of years out of school and well into college and had a good reputation as solid players so I jumped at the chance. Opportunity was knocking and I had to answer.

By this time, I was already well immersed in the world of RUSH (courtesy of the "All The World's A Stage" album) and, at the risk of sounding immodest, was a pretty good player. You can ask my mom, she'll tell you.

Anyway, jam day came and we were...well jamming...I think some Ted Nugent and Van Halen stuff, maybe a bit of Sabbath. Things were going alright, though that material wasn't "really" my bag (the Sabbath was). Then, out of nowhere, the guitarist starts to play "Bastille Day" by RUSH, almost as a goof.

Well, to their astonishment, I jumped right in and went through the song start to finish. I could tell, I'd made them happy! I was in!

Well, they said, "...while we like RUSH, we'd never be able to find anyone to sing it. What we really want to play is some Queen." (I don't know who they were going to get to sing Queen) They then brought me to room and a record player and said they were "stepping out" and I was to learn this song while they were away.

They left and I choked. I could get a part or two committed to memory and when I got a bit further into the song - what I'd learned was gone and I just couldn't connect any of the dots. The notes just seemed to be all over the place and the pressure immense.

They returned. I'd failed. The guitarist even said, "but you played the RUSH. If you can play RUSH, this should be no problem." I hung my head.

Never got the call back but did finally get around to learning this song a few months back.

Can I be in the band now?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Spread
• Your
• Wings
• Bass
• Cover
• Queen
• News
• Of
• The
• World
• John
• Deacon
• Fender
• Geddy
• Lee
• Jazz

[floouk]

ah, well that all makes sense. Certainly not a snooze. Very interesting story actually. Astonishing naïveté from the other band members if they really expected you to pick up 'Spread Your Wings' in such a short space of time, especially if learning by ear.

I doubt even, if the mighty Mr Weinrib could have done that at such short notice. Oh and thanks to you, I can now play Limelight from beginning to end. The bass over the guitar solo always eluded me.

[TJH3113]

@floouk

I'm glad we cleared that up. I thought it was a pretty tall order myself. If I could have taken the song home with me, I'm sure it wouldn't have been a problem.

Thanks. I'm really glad the "LImelight" video was of some assistance to you. It's always nice to hear that.

[floouk]

by 'the band's loss' I assume of course you're talking about Freddie Mercury's sad demise. You do know however that John Deacon wrote this song.

[TJH3113]

@floouk

No, I think he was talking about the band I was "auditioning" for. See the story I wrote in the "description" section under the video if you're up for a snooze.

[constantine2112]

Great song. I love the ending. It was truly the bands loss.

[TJH3113]

@constantine2112

Thanks Constantine.

[TJH3113]

@egresso

Well I thank you.

[egresso]

Perfect. No coments. Great, great .Thanks for the lesson.

[TJH3113]

@JimmyJames714

Thanks. No, I never did.

[JimmyJames714]

Very cool. Wasn't a song I was familiar with, but nice bass line. Good story too. Ever run into either of them "further on up the road"?