April 14, 1982. Van Halen releases another album which turned out to be their shortest release of all of their material. This album was recorded right behind the “Fair Warning” tour in 1981 and the band only intended to release a single to fill some space to rest. As they went into the studio they decided to record “Oh Pretty Woman” written by Roy Orbison and all of the sudden they had a hit on the radio. So much for rest. From January until March of 1982 Van Halen spent a mere twelve days in the studio to record twelve songs of which five were covers. The “Diver Down” record went on to sell over four million copies and as I write this Van Halen music sales are through the roof this week with one statistic quoting sales are up 6000% following the passing of Eddie Van Halen last week. As I finish that last sentence I can’t believe I am writing those words and I just finished wiping a tear away from my eye. I am listening to “Diver Down” and woke up singing “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” in my head this morning as the sun rose. I keep saying don’t be sad Eddie is gone, be glad he was here. We still have the music but damn I am going to miss Eddie Van Halen.
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The artwork of this album is a “diver down” flag. I am a certified scuba diver and know the feeling of being way underwater looking up at the surface. Whatever is happening in the depths of the water is not always apparent to those above the water. David Lee Roth in an interview once said the album cover was inspired by “there was something going on that is not apparent to your eyes.”
“Where have All the Good Times Gone” is a Kinks cover tune. In the early days in particular Van Halen would play the Kinks covers as party songs. Even though you know the song is a Kink’s cover there is no mistaking Van Halen is playing and a cover is never a cover if Eddie Van Halen is on guitar. This band can own a song when they play it. It is like David Lee Roth said once “If you are stealing hub caps off of cars and put them on your car pretty soon they start to look like they were always yours.” I thought that was an interesting analogy and very true in the case of a Van Halen cover. “Hang ‘Em High” sounds like a western movie title and the EVH riffs take on that imagery. “Cathedral” was something Eddie developed by playing riffs with his constant right hand adjusting the volume knob of his guitar as his left hand played the notes on the guitar fretboard. When you see Eddie playing this song in a video now you can see him using a double neck guitar which is what he recorded the song using. He also mentioned once about how hot the volume knob would get as he tweaked it constantly. In fact the knob would get so hot it might freeze up and sometimes did even in the studio. “Secrets” was recorded using lyrics developed from greeting cards Dave bought out in New Mexico. The guitar parts were also played on a Gibson double neck guitar and Eddie is quoted as saying that the solo on the record is the first one he recorded. That reminds me of another great guitar player Ronnie Wood most notably from the Rolling Stones who most say can rip a solo on the first take when recording. “Intruder” is a short piece that was written by David Lee Roth as a filler to cover the introduction of the MTV video for “Pretty Woman.” The video was longer than the song track and no one wanted to cut the video so Dave cranked this tune out in one hour in the studio. “Oh Pretty Woman” of course is a well known Roy Orbison cover but once Van Halen recorded the song I think they own the rock version. There are many stories of how hot the video was on MTV during this time and how the video was initially banned. That is a story for another day. The song was an absolute hit that was the fuse that lit the recording of this album “Diver Down.” “Big Bad Bill” was written in 1924 and of course is a cover. There is a long story about how this song made it to the record which I will get into on my companion podcast. One thing to note is Alex and Eddie’s father played clarinet on this track. I will tell you more about that during the podcast. “Dancing in the the Streets” is another hit track that is brilliantly covered by Van Halen. When you hear this track from Motown you wonder how a rock band can change a song to entertain a crowd of hard rock and metal fans. They did it. This song opens with a tapping guitar riff and layers of synthesizers from Eddie Van Halen. He spent considerable time getting this all brilliantly done and this song showed up at number 38 on the billboard Hot 100 back in 1982. “Little Guitars” is inspired by a show Eddie saw featuring a flamenco guy playing guitar. Eddie watched guy doing all the finger picking and decided to try a different path to get the same sound. He did it with a pick and using his left hand to do trills on the high E string as well as string pull offs. If you watch him play it close up you can see the finger action he is using as he slaps his middle finger on the low E instead of finger picking the whole thing. The song title comes from a miniature Gibson Les Paul he had custom built in Nashville to record the song. The same guitar was also later used on the next tour. “The Full Bug” is a funny title. I want to tell this one on the podcast but just know it is about PRFC shoes and how you corner a cockroach in a corner. “Happy Trails” is the old Dale Evans song that the band sang a cappella. It was one of several the band would do at times when having fun.
Before I go I want to give a shout out to the man who believed in this band and produced a long string of their albums. Ted Templeton. Ted was there in the beginning helping the band start-up when Eddie’s car had guitar strings holding the door shut. He was there when Eddie passed away last week and Ted helped guide this band to produce music worthy of the rock history books. Thanks Ted. You rock.
Until next time, I’ll see you, down the road.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again
Some trails are happy ones
Others are blue
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts
Here’s a happy one for you
Happy trails to you, until we meet again
Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then
Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather
Happy trails to you, ’till we meet again