Sunday Sounds: August 30, 2020, “What It Takes”
Samantha Colleran, August 2020
In the past few months, I’ve written about a decent number of artists. I was listening to Aerosmith with my parents maybe a week before I left for school, and my dad told me he was surprised that I had never written a post about Aerosmith, a band that I’ve been a fan of for a really long time (seriously, in third grade I was obsessed with Aerosmith). So Dad, this one’s for you.
“What It Takes” is one of the first Aerosmith songs I vividly remember listening to when I was younger, a song that wasn’t “Dream On” or “Walk This Way”. I can see the album cover of Pump so clearly, I downloaded this rock ballad on my old iPod Touch (the one without the camera, yes it was that old) with an iTunes gift card I had. Before having it on my iPod, I heard the live version first on the live album A Little South Of Sanity, and I fell in love with that version before the studio version. Anyway, the actual song is written by band members Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, and songwriter Desmond Child who has written for a number of other artists. The third single from Pump, it was put on the album in order to become a bit more commercial so younger people would listen to rock at a time where love ballads and 80s pop were dominating the charts.
The lyrics are powerful and heart wrenching, Steven Tyler singing about finding it hard to forget about a girl he loved dearly. The introduction is so unforgettable, “There goes my old girlfriend/ There’s another diamond ring”, and it sets you up for an emotionally powerful song. The lyrics also contain references to other songs; in the second verse, Steven Tyler spells out “F-I-N-E, fine” which is a reference to an earlier track on Pump called “F.I.N.E.”, he also says “my heart’s been doin’ time”, a reference to the Permanent Vacation track “Heart’s Doin’ Time”. The guitar solo is also so sick, Steven Tyler introducing it with that whine of “Aw, guitar!” is always such a fun part to sing along to.
This is one of my absolute favorite Aerosmith songs, and I hope you all enjoy it just as much as I do! You can listen to the track below, and as always leave your thoughts in the comment section.