The song is played in standard tuning. The verses are in
D major using the chord progression D-A-Bm-D-A-G-A.
The chorus modulates to G major with the progression
G-Bm-G-Bm-Am-D-A-G-A.
It was partly aimed at being in the Ramones' style and I
feel we succeeded in that without actually ripping them off
directly. The lyrics are tongue in cheek about a party being
held in heaven that lacks a singer because Elvis,
Lennon and Sinatra are all otherwise occupied, so
Joey is summoned before his time to fill the need.
I played a 1977 or '78 Musicman Stingray bass, recorded
straight
through. Our guitarist, Assi, used an early '80s Fender
Telecaster,
played through a Marshall 100W tube amp. No effects were
used on any instruments. Our drummer, Stefan, used a Pearl
drumkit. Singer Valli and backing vocalists Idunn, Kristin
and
Brynja used the studio's Shure microphones.
We did a scratch recording and bass and drums were used
directly
from that. The first take was used with no drum or bass
overdubs.
Three guitar overdubs were made, two rhythm and one lead.
The
first take of each was used. Most of the day went into
recording
vocals and handclaps.
Engineering, mixing and recording was done through
a Protools digital mixerboard by Georg Bjarnason of
"Hljodver Altydunnar" or "The People's Recording Studio"
in Iceland, in August 2001.
