Chords for Earl Slick on Being a Sideman with Bowie, Lennon, and More | Reverb Interview

_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
[Em] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [A] _ First of all, people kept telling me years ago, you got to do a book.
As soon as you say you [F] should, then that's it.
It's out of my mind.
Fuck you.
I ain't even going to think [A] about it.
But when I decided that it [Bb] was time, it was basically [E] to show just what it was.
[E] Not that like, how important [Bb] we are, how cool we are, [A]
how if it wasn't for me, David Bowie
wouldn't be a star.
Well, [G] _
that guy probably never works anyway.
But it was to just show what it is that we do.
Director that had done David [E] Bowie's five years movie, and [Bb] also the last five years,
which was filmed after David passed away, Francis [Eb] Whateley.
So we started to talk, and I started getting ideas, and he got ideas.
And then we went [G] and approached the [Gb] people that we thought would be the right [A] people
for the movie.
The [B] premise of the movie is what [Em] it's really like to be the side man.
You're standing next to this famous motherfucker, right?
[E] We're there to back up the big guy.
You [E] know, stay out of his way when [Am] you need to.
[Dbm] But if he needs [E] you up front, he'll back off, you go up front.
[Gb] So it's, you know, you need to read what he needs.
You're there to do what this man [E] needs.
Period.
That's what you get paid for, that's your job.
You are working for them.
[Ebm] They are your employer, they're your [E] boss, they're paying your paycheck.
_ But if it's only that, [B] there's going to be a little bit of a [Ab] wall.
Now, [E] while you're working with them, [Ab] that wall needs to be [A] broken down.
That way [B] you can work together, you know, [E] so you don't feel like you're, you [Ab] know, I
[A] don't jump, _ sorry, when [B] you snap your finger, [E] you know.
And if that's the case, [Ab] I'm not working with the right guy and [A] I'll be gone.
But [G] the people I was fortunate enough to [C] work with didn't do that.
[Em] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [A] _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _
_ [Em] _ _ [A] The way the [Gbm] public sees it could very well be that we are [B] there and we have [Em] everything
laid [A] out of what [Gbm] he wants to the T.
[Bb] That was never the case.
What he did and what David was smart about and what Lennon was smart about, [A] of everybody
I worked with, they picked the [E] guys that already did what they liked for certain jobs.
That's why I'm not uncertain David Bowie records and Adrian Ballou is.
I can't do that and he [D] can't do this.
See that's the other [Am] thing too, they go, wow, didn't you feel [Ebm] bad that David didn't call
[Gb] you a black star?
I go, I wouldn't have even known what the hell [A] to do on that record.
Those guys were great.
[Gb] That band on there was the perfect band for [Gm] that.
None of us couldn't have done [G] that.
David had a vision and he always knew who the right guys for the right job were and
that's a good boss.
So you take the guy best suited for the job.
That's a real side man.
Now you get to a session guy, that's different.
He's walking in and he's either got a chart [Em] and he's got some kind of a stiff shirt ass
record producer [G] and artists there that want note [Gm] for note.
But that's his [G] job.
You got to have [Gm] guys that do that.
I can't do that.
I don't know how.
I'm stubborn.
I can only really do what I do and if I'm asked to do [G] something that's really not [A] coming
naturally to me, [Gbm] you're going to hear it.
[Em] And I'm not doing any service to the artist by [C] faking it than I am to myself by being [Gb] a phony.
So I won't take your money, I'll go home.
[G] Knowing who [Em] you are, _ [G] what your strengths [Bb] are, forget the [G] weaknesses because they're not weaknesses.
All they are are things that you just don't know how to do.
You [Em] know, I can't build a computer.
That means I'm not a weak [B] computer builder.
It means I just don't build computers.
What I can do is [Bb] this and I can do this a certain way and my goal when I do this is
to get into your gut and your soul and your head.
I want to make you laugh, cry.
I want to make you jump up and down.
I want to hit your emotional buttons and it's the emotional part of the music.
It's not the mechanics.
Fuck the mechanics.
I don't even know what the hell chords I'm playing, you know.
I'm a bit of a sloppy player but [G] one thing I got is I got feel.
So why would I want to waste my time doing something I really suck at and I'm not [Bb] naturally
good at it any more [G] than I would be at, you know, _ playing in the NBA.
[Bb] Why waste your time?
You go after where you're [G] strong and anybody that hires you as a side [Gm] guy has the [D] instinct
to know that you're strong in those areas.
That's the guy you want to work with [G] and that's probably the guy that's going to hire you. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [G] _