"Rats" was the "Lee song" on Rather Ripped. Recalling the intro of the double Karen piece, I'd say this one is more of a Lee song than most. It's in a unique tuning Lee devised, and an acoustic demo suggests that much of the riff structure was stripped away for the Sonic Youth version. In a role he hadn't taken since "My Friend Goo" (or that album's outtake "Lee #2"), Thurston handles the bass on "Rats", leaving Kim to spin buzzing noise guitar circles around Lee's chords. (Okay, I think he also played bass on "Bee-Bee's Song", but that wasn't an album cut!)
Sonic Youth debuted "Rats" on April 19th, 2006. They played a full set live on the radio in Paris, premiering much of the Rather Ripped material (except for Kim's songs). As discussed last week, "Shaking Hell" had an unexpected resurrection after 20 years. Early in the set, too, five songs deep - not the encore stunner it would later become. It was followed by "Rats", dedicated by Lee to his children Sage and Frey. Thurston's funky bass intro and Kim's piercing wall of noise bring Lee's skeleton to life, all driven by Steve's urgent beat. Together, they create a tense, frantic atmosphere that carries through the entire song.
Naturally, it was the "Lee song" for the Rather Ripped tour, joined as always by "Eric's Trip" or "Mote", and the occasional "Skip Tracer". "Rats" was played at two thirds of the 65 gigs, usually cut from abbreviated festival sets. It was also played on a number of radio shows. When Mark Ibold came on board in June 2006, he handled the bass on Kim's Rather Ripped tunes and added second bass to songs that Kim was still playing on. When Thurston played bass on those old Confusion songs (using Mark's instrument rather than Kim's), Mark took a break, but for "Rats" he was given a guitar in the same tuning as Lee and a quick lesson on the chord progression. If you can track down a soundboard from this tour, it's possible to pick out exactly what his contributions are.
"Rats" continued to get play early in 2007, but once they started with their Daydream Nation front-to-back gigs, "Hey Joni" became the most popular candidate for Lee song in a non-Daydream set list. They did two European tours in the summer of 2007, and "Rats" popped up exactly once per tour, before being permanently exterminated on October 5th in Austin, Texas. Well, almost..."Rats" made the cut when Lee had to whittle his every-fan's-dream set list down to six tunes for a solo acoustic performance in France on July 23rd, 2010. I don't know if he ever played it again after that! You can check out a live Sonic Youth version from June 24th, 2006 in Dallas on bandcamp.
Lee's acoustic demo was released on a 7" that came with the Sensational Fix book, a phenomenal monolith devoted to the band's art and ephemera, printed to accompany a travelling exhibit of the same name. The early take certainly has its own charm. Lee uses a harmonic figure during an extended intro, then drones open strings mixed with quick licks to carry the verses. Like the "Eric's Trip" demo, it has some early lyrics that did not make the final cut.
When the rats run riot
And the screen door slams
When the world goes quiet
It's a brotherhood of man
I know you got more
Than you ever did before
Shine down into your soul
Keep up permissions (her missions?)
You can on any road
When they let the rats out
City shadows mark the route
When they let the rats out
When the rats run riot
And the screen door slams
When the world goes quiet
It's a brotherhood of man
When the breeze says try it
When the rats run riot
Shine down into your soul
From any road
When you see me go
Let the ??? out
Let the rats out (Let the rats out)
Let the rats out (Let the rats out)
Let the rats out (Let the rats out)
Lee has three guitars on the album. One is mixed left, one is mixed right, and one is an acoustic that is also mixed left. The right guitar stays in the mix for the whole song, the left one drops out during the verses, and the acoustic only appears during the pre-chorus and chorus. He's using a new tuning, D#A#D#BC#F#. The B and F# are tuned down and the C# is tuned up. Aside from "Rats", he only used it on "Jams Run Free". Kim is playing her Eterna in DADABB with a capo at the 1st fret, to put herself in D# like Lee. She plays waves of improvised noise with a metal slide, encouraged by her multiple effects turning her notes into an insect-like hum. I have not put any effort into transcribing her part literally, just go ahead and make a racket. Thurston's bassline gets very high, especially during the "Disappearer" parts. It's a choice, for sure. Let me know if you have any corrections or comments!
"RATS"
LAYOUT
A - B - C - A - B - C - A (SOLO) - A (VERSE) - B - C
KIM
DADABB (capo 1)
CENTER
THURSTON
bass
CENTER
LEE
D#A#D#BC#F#
LEFT/RIGHT
A SECTION 00:00-00:41
Thurston:
G----------11------------------------------
D-------13----13---------13----------------
A----------------------------11-11-11-11---
E---11----------0-11--11-------------------
Lee comes in with a big open chord from both left and right guitars:
F#---0---
C#---0--- sustain w/ string skronk
B----0---
D#-------
A#-------
D#-------
When he starts singing, the left guitar drops out, and the right guitar plays the
bottom D#A#D# strings open, with occasional harmonics @ the 12th fret of the C#
string in particular.
During live versions, he would basically play open strings and toss in a lick:
F#--------------------------------
C#-------------------------------- w/ optional harmonics
B---------------------------------
D#-------0--0------0----2---------
A#-----0---------0--------3~~-0---
D#---0-----0---0-----0--------0---
Kim makes aggressive, trebley, fuzzy, buzzy noise with a metal slide through the entire
song. It's possible she has a particular approach for each section that I could try to
articulate, but I don't think so. She might play more open strings during the verse
since she's in D# with Lee, and then higher sliding during the pre-chorus and chorus.
B SECTION 00:41-01:09
Thurston:
G------------------------------------20-------------20------
D---------------------------------20----20-------20----20---
A---11---13-14-16--14--13-14---18----------18-18------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------
Lee goes between these two chord shapes, listen for the rhythm:
F#---5----4---
C#---5----4---
B----5----4---
D#---5----0---
A#---5----0---
D#---5----0---
In this section, his right guitar is much quieter, and may just be playing
the lower notes in the chord shapes. This is also where the acoustic guitar
enters in the left speaker.
Kim continues making improvised noise with her slide and heavy effects.
C SECTION 01:09-01:22
Thurston plays these shapes, listen for the rhythm and changes:
G---18----20----
D---------------
A---16----18----
E---------------
Lee's guitars are all slightly different at this point:
F#---3----5----
C#---3----5---- this is the electric / he uses his thumb on the bottom
B--------------
D#---3----5----
A#---3----5----
D#---3----5----
F#---0----0----
C#---0----0---- this is the acoustic / listen for rhythm + picking
B--------------
D#---3----5----
A#---3----5----
D#---3----5----
This is the right guitar lead lick:
F#-------0--------------0-------------- ---------
C#---12-----12-12-12\14---14-14-14/12-- ---14/---
B-------------------------------------- play x 4 ---------
D#------------------------------------- ---------
A#------------------------------------- ---------
D#------------------------------------- ---------
Kim continues making improvised noise with her slide and heavy effects.
A SECTION 01:23-01:43
Lee's left guitar drops out, and the right adds more harmonic flourishes during this verse:
1:36
F#-----------*7*----------*4*-*5*--*7*---
C#---------------------------------------
B---------------*7*----------------------
D#---0---------------0-------------------
A#---0---------------0-------------------
D#---0---------------0-------------------
B SECTION 01:43-02:10
C SECTION 02:11-02:24
A SECTION (SOLO) 02:24-02:48
Lee's left guitar plays a lead part after banging the open low strings:
2:29
F#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C#-------12--12-12-12--12--12-12\14-12---10/9-9--9/7-9-10-9-7----------------------------------------
B--------------------------------------------------------------9-9/10-/11-11--11b-13--14-14-14-16/---
D#---0-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A#---0--------------------------------------------------------- ALL NOTES w. SLIGHT VIBRATO ---------
D#---0-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the end of that rise, he starts in again on the B string before just skronking out and picking
a quick scratchy flurry, then resolving to the open strings and the main lick:
F#--------------
C#--------------
B---------------
D#---0----2-----
A#---0------3~~-
D#---0----------
During this section, his right guitar just hits aggressive harmonics and open strings,
letting them ring out, into the next verse.
A SECTION (VERSE) 02:48-03:16
B SECTION 03:16-03:43
Lee's right guitar plays a different figure:
F#----------------------
C#----------------------
B-----------------------
D#---5-----5\8b--0------ w/ distortion + reverb
A#---5-----5\8b--0------
D#---5-----5\8b--0------
C SECTION 03:43-04:25
End on low D#A#D#.
text + tab by Chris Lawrence
w/ historic thanx to FDSwayze
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