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September 2006 |
SCOTT TURNER'S SONG PUBLISHER'S PERSPECTIVE
“Scotty, what you doin’?” “Nothin’, Phil.” “You got ‘The Animal’ with you?” Spector asked excitedly. “Sure do.” “Can you get down to Gold Star right away?” “I’m on my way.” Scotty made it to the legendary Gold Star Studio in quick time and didn’t walk out until 9AM that morning. “It took us too long,” Scotty tells the story. “I was puttin’ down rhythm guitar with ‘The Animal’ and Sony Bono was having a tough time getting the tambourine part right. And Phil was on a roll, you know how that goes. Anyway, it took us all night but when I walked out of the studio and the sun made me shield my tired eyes, I knew I’d just played on one of the greatest rock and roll records of all time.” The song was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and the band was “The Righteous Brothers.” It wasn’t the first time or the last time “The Animal” would be making recording history. The custom made, 12-string guitar was there when Harry Nilsson recorded his first demo in a Nashville, Tenn., studio. It was featured on Waylon Jennings’ first hit for A&M Records, “Just To Satisfy You,” and it was especially prominent in Jerry Wallace’s number one hit from the late 1950’s, “Primrose Lane.” Scotty used the full, mid-range presence of “The Animal” on most of the songs he wrote with Audie Murphy, including their number one country song, “Shutters and Boards.” Not everybody knows that Murphy, the movie star and America’s most decorated combat veteran from World War II, was also an established and successful songwriter. Scotty recalls, “Audie always said ‘The Animal’ was his ‘favorite writin’ guitar.’”
This unique tone was most clearly heard when “The Animal” stepped out in front of the “wall of sound” on the intro, four-note guitar lick that starts out the song, “Then He Kissed Me,” by the Crystals in 1963. The lick is simple. The first note is an open D. The second note is an F#, played on the fourth fret of the D strings. The third note is open on the G strings and the fourth note is the same as the second. Simple as that lick is, it changed everything. “The Animal” made that lick so full and supercharged that the notes sounded ominous and inviting at the same time. It was the best four notes of the sexual revolution. Spector and Turner had that guitar saying, “Come and get me before I come and get you.” Spector would look back years later and declare that song to be his best one ever. Too bad “The Animal” can’t tell us what really went down in the studio on that recording. Or how it felt to make cameo appearances in such M.G.M. classic movies as “Hootenanny Hoot,” one of the first Bikini films ever shot.
Turner writes about the birth of “The Animal", “I really can’t remember if it was 1958 or 1959 that I asked a retired cabinet maker in California to build me a 12-string version of a guitar that I had seen a tenor, four-string version that he had made for Wayne Shanklin, an accomplished songwriter in Hollywood. I do know that it took over five months to build it as he had to let the wood ‘age’ before he started to work on it. I did have to ‘borrow’ it before the final sunburst finish was applied because I was asked by the director of a film titled ‘Hootenanny Hoot’ to use it in a scene in the movie. Upon completion, I started to use it on many sixties recording sessions because of its unique sound.” The guitar itself is 37 inches long; 13 1/2 inches wide; 3 _ inches deep; with a sound hole diameter of 3 _ inches. It has 19 frets with seven, round, mother of pearl, circular inlays. The nineteenth fret has six, screw-top pickups as “The Animal” is an electric instrument. Its inside label reads, “Lyric Harp Guitar, Made By, F. B. Behee, 7612 Marshall, South San Gabriel, California. There is no date of manufacture nor any serial number. You don’t really play “The Animal.” It plays you. The first time I picked it up to really play it I was with my manager, Greg Patrick. It was a magical moment as Mr. Patrick is my witness. Before I knew what had happened, I had played and sung “House of the Rising Sun” and “Here Comes the Sun” better than either of us had ever heard them done. Author’s note: I’m a songwriter, not a gifted singer or guitar wizard. Editor's Note: The lyric harp guitar is for sale. Check out photos posted at http://www.sergeentertainmentgroup.com/guitarsforsale. Serious inquiries only may contact Sandy Serge at SergeEnt@aol.com. |
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