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David Lee Roth was struck by the inspiration to write his Eddie Van Halen tribute song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill,” after strolling through a bar.
“I actually walked past the door of a local beverage establishment and smelled sawdust,” Roth said. Variety. “And like [Marcel] Proust with a lemon cookie [in the novel In Search of Lost Time], it triggered volumes of memory. “
The singer realized that his late bandmate did not have the kind of typical “show biz” memorial where, after the funeral, guests would go to a reception and share all kinds of stories about the deceased. If that ever were to happen, Roth said his story on Eddie would start with, “The smell of fresh sawdust on the floor…” And go from there. This is the beginning of the story, at least for me. Because it was everywhere we played – the smell of fresh sawdust on the floor.
The line “You know the smell of fresh sawdust when they first throw it on the ground” appears around the middle of the song. “I don’t usually write autobiographically,” he added, “but it was a specific effort to reproduce a time and place.
Roth released “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill” in late October, and included it a day later as part of his new Roth Project, a web comic that also features four new songs. The music would have been recorded years ago, during sessions with John 5 (guitar and bass), Gregg Bissonette (drums), Brett Tuggle (keyboards) and Luis Conte (percussion).
At the time of publication, the song has been played over 400,000 times on YouTube. “For someone in my position,” he said, “at this point in my career it’s a knockout blow to the park.” He also realizes it’s a drop in the bucket compared to his foundational work with Van Halen, but it’s quick to point out: “I won the Super Bowl seven times with the Four Horsemen – nothing’s going to help. fall that mountain. down.”
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