I’ve been considering getting myself a Bass Guitar. While it’s true that I haven’t fully learned how to play a regular guitar yet (and kudos to the videogame Rocksmith for teaching me what I do know), I’ve found myself mesmerized by some great bass lines lately.
Take the song “Wherever I Lay My Hat”. Originally written by Marvin Gaye in the 1960s, it seems like an average 80s cover that you would have probably found tied to a soundtrack like Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire. It sounds a little like “Drive” by The Cars to me. Add the bass wizardry of Pino Palladino (who I referenced in Nine Inch Nails’ Live version of Sanctified), and the song is almost magical. I have to go back to my Black Messiah album by D’Angelo and the Vanguard, which Palladino also worked on.
I listen to this song more for the bass line than the vocals, which aren’t bad, either.
Enjoy.
Lyrics:
By the look in your eye
I can tell you’re gonna cry
Is it over me?
If it is, save your tears
For I’m not worth it
You see?
For I’m the type of boy
Who is always on the roam
Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home
I’m telling you that’s my home
You had romance
Did you break it by chance
Over me?
If it’s so, I’d like for you to know
That I’m not worth it
You see
For I’m the type of boy
Who is always on the roam, mmm
Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home
Mmm, that’s my home
Oh, you keep telling me
You keep telling me, I’m your man
What do I have to do
To make you understand?
For I’m the type of guy
Who gives girl the eye, everybody knows
But I love them and I leave them
Break their hearts and deceive them everywhere I go
Don’t you know that I’m the type of man
Who is always on the roam
Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home
Wherever I lay my hat
Oh oh, that’s my home
Yea, that’s my home
And I like it that wayY
ou know, I can’t make it all alone
Sometimes that’s the way, that’s the way
I’m not sad, I’m not sad, I don’t love you
Just got to do, do, do
That’s what I want to do
