Fact #134025
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Bernard Purdie (session drummer) : They asked me to play like I was a 14 year old. I was upset. Here I am the number one drummer in New York and around the country, and they want me to sound like a 14 year old.
So I tried to mess up the song. That song has haunted me for 45 years. That song is 'Hang On Sloopy.' They wanted me to sound like a beginner. They wanted it to be a trash band, a garage band. It was embarrassing. What made it even worse was the producer and a couple of the guys in the band had been smokin' and drinkin'. It made me very, very upset. So I tried putting fills in every place but where I was supposed to.
Once I've told the story around, then people listen to the song differently and say, 'Oh yeah, you would never normally put a fill here.' But I was trying to mess it up. And when we finished, they were like, 'That's it! That's perfect!' I said to myself then that as long as I live, if you don't like something or don't want to do it with somebody, then don't take the job.
(Source : http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3901)
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So I tried to mess up the song. That song has haunted me for 45 years. That song is 'Hang On Sloopy.' They wanted me to sound like a beginner. They wanted it to be a trash band, a garage band. It was embarrassing. What made it even worse was the producer and a couple of the guys in the band had been smokin' and drinkin'. It made me very, very upset. So I tried putting fills in every place but where I was supposed to.
Once I've told the story around, then people listen to the song differently and say, 'Oh yeah, you would never normally put a fill here.' But I was trying to mess it up. And when we finished, they were like, 'That's it! That's perfect!' I said to myself then that as long as I live, if you don't like something or don't want to do it with somebody, then don't take the job.
(Source : http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3901)