Deuces Are Wild
Recording Artist: Aerosmith
Writers: Steven Tyler
Jim Vallance
Date Written: December 1988 - January 1989 / Vancouver Canada
Albums: Beavis and Butthead Experience (Geffen, 1993)
Big Ones (Geffen, 1994)
Young Lust (Geffen, 2001)
O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits (Columbia, 2002)
Gold: Aerosmith (January 11, 2005)
20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection (November 6, 2007)
Tough Love - Best of the Ballads (Geffen, May 24, 2011)
The Essential Aerosmith (September 2, 2011)
Spotify Streams: 12,582,025 - as of November 2024
Charts: #1 - Billboard Album Rock Tracks Chart / 1994 (26 weeks on the chart)
#25 - Billboard Album Rock Tracks Chart / 1994 (26 weeks on the chart)
Audio-1:
 
Steven Tyler: vocal, harmonica
Joe Perry: rhythm guitar, slide guitar
Joey Kramer: drums
Jim Vallance: slide guitar, acoustic guitar (programmed), drums (programmed), electric guitar, organ, Fender electric bass
 
Recorded at Distorto Studios, Vancouver (December 1988) and Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver (May 1989).
Audio-2:
 
Jim Vallance: guitar, slide guitar, keyboards, bass, programmed drums.

This is the "music minus vocals" demo I recorded and sent to Steven Tyler in December 1988 (see story below).

Comments:

Between Christmas and New Year 1988 I had a burst of creative inspiration. I recorded four tracks (music minus vocals) in my home studio, with Aerosmith in mind.

This was 10 years before MP3s were invented -- and email was still very primitive -- so I put the ideas on a cassette tape and I FedEx'd them to Steven Tyler in Boston.

It was winter in Massachusetts, with two feet of freshly fallen snow outside. Steven slid my tape into his Sony Walkman, put his headphones on, and went for a walk on the treadmill in his basement, singing along with my tape the whole time. By the end of his "walk" he'd sketched out a melody for "The Other Side " ... and the next day he worked on "Deuces Are Wild".

When the time came to select songs for Aerosmith's Pump album, "Deuces Are Wild" was a contender. Everyone loved the song ... everyone except Geffen A&R man John Kalodner!
Me and my wife with John Kalodner ... at Steven and Teresa Tyler's wedding, Tulsa Oklahoma, May 28, 1988 >
 
For 30-plus years John Kalodner was a giant force in the music industry ... revered, feared and mythologized by those on the receiving end of his artistic direction. John is the only person I know -- with the possible exception of Clive Davis -- who managed to elevate the position of A&R to "celebrity status".

During his time with Atlantic Records (1976-1980), Geffen Records (1980-1994), Sony/Columbia (1994-2003) and Sanctuary Records (2003-2005), Kalodner was closely associated with a staggering list of legendary careers including Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, AC/DC, Survivor, Genesis, Asia, Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, John Lennon, Cher, and Aerosmith.

In mid-1989, myself and Steven Tyler (in one camp) and John Kalodner (in the other camp) locked horns over "Deuces Are Wild". John liked the melody and the lyrics, but he insisted we find a different title ... something other than "Deuces Are Wild". Steven and I loved the title.  It sounded good.  It worked.  Like naughty school-boys we defied John Kalodner and stood our ground.

John Kalodner stood his ground, too ... and he pulled the song off the album! 

Ouch!!
 
Fast-forward a couple of years, to 1993, when Aerosmith were asked to contribute a song to the compilation album "Beavis and Butthead Experience". For reasons I've never fully understood (perhaps they were in the middle of a tour?) Aerosmith chose not to record a new studio track for "Deuces Are Wild". Instead, they simply added Steven's vocal and harmonica to the "Deuces Are Wild" demo I'd recorded in my home studio five years earlier ... plus some additional guitar and drums. Other than that, it's the demo I did with Steven back in 1988-89.
Lyrics:
Shut Up & Dance single
Ahhh, I love to look into your big brown eyes
They talk to me and seem to hypnotize
They say the things nobody dares to say
And I'm not about to let you fly away

My lover with no jet lag
We're stayin' up all night in my sleeping bag
You got a heart beatin' rhythm
From the subterranean
I really love you little girl
I don't need to explain

I love you 'cause your deuces are wild girl
Like a double shot of lovin' so fine
Been lovin' you since you was a child girl
'Cause you an' me is two of a kind

Ahhh, like deja vu I feel like I been here
Or somewhere else but you been always near
It's you that's in my dreams I'm beggin for
But I woke up when someone slammed the door

So hard I fell outta bed
Screamin' mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread
And the moral of the story I can testify
I get stoned on you girl
That's the best reason why

I love you 'cause your deuces are wild girl
Like a double shot of lovin' so fine
Been lovin' you since you was a child girl
'Cause you an' me is two of a kind

I love you 'cause your deuces are wild girl
Like a double shot of lovin' so fine
Been lovin' you since you was a child girl
'Cause you an' me is two of a kind