| Covers | Originals |
|---|---|
| She Thinks She's Edith Head All Day and All of the Night Superstition |
I Need Your Help, Andrew Loomis |
Outtakes
"She Thinks She's Edith Head"
Originally by They Might Be Giants, from Long Tall Weekend
Recorded at the Rabbit Hole, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, 24 January 2025
Produced by Ann Morrison and The Groovy Times
Engineered, mixed, mastered by Terry Gunsell, assisted by Ellen Katzen and Gilly Ossen
The Groovy Times
Laurel Wood – backing vocals, handclaps
Betty Wood – lead guitar, backing vocals, handclaps
Harley McLaren – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, handclaps
Sunny Coral – tambourine, backing vocals, handclaps
Cherry Kane – bass, backing vocals, handclaps
Stephen Big – drums, lead vocals, handclaps
Commentary
Stephen: We mostly recorded this to amuse a friend in Sunnyvale.
Sunny: waves We love ya, Acey! 😘
Harley: Two chords and bash it all out in one take? That's my idea of fun!
Laurel: Stephen already tried to cover this once, before he started the band. I let him do lead vocals because he knew the lyrics.
Ann: I feel like bashing through a tribute to one of the greatest costume designers with garage rock abandon sums up the Groovy Times perfectly, dahling.
Sunny: giggles We love lookin' sharp, but we love mess too!
Cherry: Nobody told me we had Marie Kondo in the band here!
Laurel: Gurley Brown, not Girly Brown, Stephen!
Stephen: Hey, I messed up even worse on the second verse!
Betty: What's more rock'n'roll than lookin' your best while you're trashing about on stage?
Harley: Clothes were made to sweat in and not stink afterwards!
Lyrics
Back in high school I knew a girl
Not too simple and not too kind
We both grew up but I heard she changed
From a new wave fan to another kind
She thinks she's Edith Head
But you might know that she's not
The accent in her speech
She didn't have growing up
She thinks she's Edith Head
Or Helen Girly Brown(?)
Or some other cultural figure
We don't know a lot about
It's been years since I moved away
But at christmas I came home
I saw her walk on by(?)
In the reflection of a store(?)
She was talkin' to herself
Not too simple and not too kind
I walked on by, it was complicated
But it stuck in my mind
"I Need Your Help, Andrew Loomis"
Recorded at the Rabbit Hole, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, 28–31 March 2025
Produced by Ann Morrison and The Groovy Times
Engineered, mixed, mastered by Terry Gunsell, assisted by Ellen Katzen and Gilly Ossen
The Groovy Times
Laurel Wood – harmonica, backing vocals
Betty Wood – lead guitar, backing vocals
Harley McLaren – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Sunny Coral – piano, backing vocals
Cherry Kane – bass, backing vocals
Stephen Big – drums, tambourine, lead vocals
Commentary
Sunny: Golly, this song's pretty personal! Ask Stephen about it!
Stephen: I think it's self-explanatory. Everyone who's ever learned to draw or wanted to draw must've felt this at some point.
Harley: I know you did, Stephen!
Betty: I loved being able to do those wah-wah Joe Satriani licks. Or, at least, I used the wah lead setting from the Satriani collection on Amplitube.
Stephen: The idea indirectly came from Ray Stephens. He had a song called "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". Talking with a friend, I joked I'd call a song "I Need Your Help, Andrew Loomis".
Harley: Got that minor 7th-major 7th circle riff going, and it all fell together.
Laurel: I wanted my backing vocals to sound like an encouraging spirit. It makes the song feel like a warm hug.
Cherry: Especially since we go into a 12-bar blues for Betty's solo.
Betty: Thanks for that, gals.
Stephen: I promise our listeners this is the only time we'll get autobiographical. Everything in that song did happen. I did start with Betty Edwards before moving on to Andrew Loomis and Cecile Hardy. I've probably read too many books about drawing to remember.
Terry: I did two masters of this song. I tried to master manually with Ozone for once, but I didn't quite like the result. I ended up putting a stock "Alternative Rock" setting on it instead.
Ann: Dahling Stephen, haha, he just couldn't end a line with "I wish I drew as good as she" for a rhyme. He's such a grammarian.
Betty: Sis, next time you gotta do a harmonica solo!
Lyrics
I need your help, Andrew Loomis
My drawings still don't look too good
I wanna learn how to do this
You gotta show me how I should
It's been a year since I bought my tablet
I got it used off OLX
Even making it a daily habit
Why are humans so complex?
I started off with Betty Edwards
She was a great big help to me
I've also read Cecile Hardy
I wish I drew as good as she does
I need your help, Andrew Loomis
I'm trying to get the feeling right
It might just help if I was more Buddhist
I gotta learn to use my sight
"All Day and All of the Night"
Originally by The Kinks, from the single
Recorded at the Rabbit Hole, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, 25–26 May 2025
Produced by Ann "One Take" Morrison and The Groovy Times
Engineered, mixed, mastered by Terry "Take One" Gunsell, assisted by Ellen Katzen and Gilly Ossen
The Groovy Times
Laurel Wood – tambourine, backing vocals
Betty Wood – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Harley McLaren – sped-up lead guitar, backing vocals
Sunny Coral – inaudible Wurlitzer, backing vocals
Cherry Kane – bass, backing vocals
Stephen Big – drums, varisped lead vocals
Commentary
Stephen: Van Halen recorded two kickass Kinks covers. "You Really Got Me" for Van Halen I, "Where Have All the Good Times Gone!" for Diver Down. I always wished they played this one too, it's the Kinks' best song.
Harley: Damn right! The Kinks were best when they bashed out a few power chord riffs and put lyrics on top. Before Ray Davies went nuts with all that rural crap.
Cherry: I played with a pick. Normally I play with fingers, but I'm pretty sure Michael Anthony plays with a pick.
Ann: I was very happy to follow the dahlings' idea that everything be as one-take as possible.
Terry: Technically we did two takes. The first take broke down because Stephen messed up on drums into the bridge. We started from scratch.
Sunny: I played Wurlitzer! Tee-hee!
Terry: I couldn't quite get the phased Wurlitzer sound from "And the Cradle Will Rock...", so I hid it in the mix.
Cherry: Normally we have Betty on lead guitar and Harley on rhythm. On this song, you can hear why.
Harley: Why kill myself learning to shred when we can record slower and speed it up? Hell yeah!
Laurel: It was really funny when Stephen forgot Harley did the solo and yelled "TELL 'EM WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT BETTY!".
Betty: We did that quick quiet-down bridge after the solo because Van Halen did that on "You Really Got Me".
Sunny: Gosh, if we went whole hog with that, Betty would have to play "Eruption" first!
Betty: Yeah, not happening, Sunny.
Terry: We used Cockos Reaper to varispeed the vocals. Our honest attempt to imitate Diamond Dave's voice and Michael Anthony's harmonies.
Cherry: I know all Van Halen albums credit Eddie van Halen and Michael Anthony with backing vocals, but I can pick out Michael's voice, not Eddie's.
Stephen: You heard the Kinks single lately? The backing vocals sound pretty off-key before the chorus!
Betty: We sound more like Wyld Stallyns than Van Halen.
Lyrics
I'm not content to be with you in the daytime
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
I believe that you and me'll last forever
Oh yeah, all day and night I'm yours, leave me never
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
"Superstition"
Originally by Stevie Wonder, from Talking Book
Recorded at the Rabbit Hole, East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, 30–31 May 2025
Produced by Ann Morrison and The Groovy Times
Engineered, mixed, mastered by Terry Gunsell, assisted by Ellen Katzen and Gilly Ossen
The Groovy Times
Laurel Wood – lead vocals, harmonica
Betty Wood – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
Harley McLaren – rhythm guitar, sped-up guitar solo, backing vocals
Sunny Coral – organ, backing vocals
Cherry Kane – bass, backing vocals
Stephen Big – drums, percussion, tambourine, backing vocals
Commentary
Stephen: I took two cracks at "Superstition" last year. None of 'em worked out. And I decided, fuck it, I need to do this right, with the band.
Ann: Of course, I was very excited by the suggestion. "Superstition" is a great Stevie Wonder song, and it was a huge #1 hit back in the day. I love hits, dahling.
Stephen: Red Hot Chili Peppers did a kickass cover of "Higher Ground" on Mother's Milk. I thought, what would "Superstition" sound like as funk metal too?
Harley: We groove like a motherfucker on this one. Fuck yeah! It comes at you like a freight train.
Ann: I told 'em in rehearsal: dahlings, relax, lock in, and swing it. I won't allow you to not swing. Make me strut to this.
Stephen: The arrangement's half Stevie's version and Beck Bogert and Appice's version. Stevie has the funk, Jeff Beck has the headbanging.
Betty: Don't forget Stevie Ray Vaughan's version. Anything's better with a SRV solo.
Sunny: The meeting of the Stevies!
Laurel: The lyrics are half and half too. First and third verse are Stevie's. Second verse was Beck Bogert and Appice. I never heard it anywhere else.
Terry: We got the basic take down, and then it was overdub-o-rama. Betty and Harley overdubbed so many guitar tracks on this. Most of 'em are felt, not heard. But it helped give the song that relentless forward drive.
Harley: I mean, you hear Red Hot Chili Peppers tearing through "Higher Ground" and think, oh yeah, this sounds easy. And then you hit the "Superstition" riff and realise it's not.
Ann: I absolutely love how you have the band playing their butts off and Laurel has such a smooth, jazzy voice on top. Dahling, that's why you're so important!
Laurel: When we do overdubs, I like to pick up whatever's around the studio and add something. I know I'm the singer, but I don't wanna be just a chanteuse, right? I thought, hmm, could we have something that'd evoke the horn section Stevie had? And I said, oh, I'll try harmonica!
Betty: Good on ya, sis. I'd feel intimidated knowing Stevie Wonder is a harmonica god.
Cherry: I don't know if it was the wireless system on the fritz or my pickups or whatever, but my bass ended up having this farty, fuzzy sound. Terry had to roll with it.
Terry: For the master, I literally just loaded Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" into Ozone and let the mix assistant do its thing.
Stephen: I have my frustrations with Michael Beinhorn's production of Mother's Milk. Fucker buried Flea's bass on "Nobody Weird Like Me", that's unforgivable. But I gotta admit, the album sounds great. It's got atmosphere. It sounds big, it rocks, it rolls, it funks, it's sexy. And it has their greatest album cover ever.
Sunny: Guys, what's wrong with shoes on tabletops?
Lyrics
Very superstitious, writing's on the wall
Very superstitious, ladder's 'bout to fall
13-month old baby, broke the looking glass
7 years of bad luck, the good things in your past
When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
Very superstitious, shoes on tabletops
Very superstitious, wind we all get stuck(?)
Walkin' over broomsticks, lyin' on the floor
Don't open your umbrella, 'til you're out the door
When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
Very superstitious, wash your face and hands
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can
Keep me in a daydream, keep me going strong
You don't wanna save me, sad is my song
When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way
Very superstitious, nothing more to say
(Written by Stevie Wonder)