The Official Van Halen, "She's The Woman" review thread.

[rocking ron]

Look at all the people here tonite : BLOOD & FIRE

[rocking ron]

Soldier,

I believe it is "Casablanca juke joint" and for the record it is "Swap Meet Salad" not "Sally" on Tattoo. So I'm told...

That is all.

Icon.

IT's : SWAP MEET SALLY...

[rocking ron]

Diamond Dave blues speaks Dance The Night Away durin' the low part of The Trouble With Never. What song does he mention Land'd Edge?

Lands edge ...........during..................BIG RIVER

big river
lands edge
where the east begins
where the debris meets the sea
when the tide comes in

[golitely]

Heard this one on the radio this afternoon..the next single? Has Tattoo already peaked?

[python3]

Song sounds phenomenal on my home theater system. Still can't listen to it without picturing WARF at Wha.

[redfire]

This song ain't dirty, its really just the way we sing it...

Some Casablanca gin joint....

I want to be your knight in shining pickup truck...

Those are some of the funniest lines I can remember Dave singing. I don't think I could be any happier... unless the Round Rocker was abducted by aliens...

[Zing!]

Now that I have a little bit of perspective after listening to this tune a hundred times, my thoughts on it have evolved a bit. Still a killer song, musically. Ed, Al, and Wolf nail it to the floor and play the tune beautifully tight. A total Van Halen song though and through, it's easy to imagine this fitting in on the first two records with its aggressive, in-your-face Eddie riff and its overly simple, singalong chorus. The downside is, with a little perspective, I can't get past Dave's vocals in parts. During certain lines he sounds perfect, others he's reaching too much for what his voice is capable of pulling off these days (the 'thunder thong' line is a perfect example). This is also the song that I really miss Ted Templeman the most. Ted was a master at reeling Dave in and capturing the perfect attitude without overdoing it. I hate the way this song goes the 'Skyscraper' route and has Dave singing over himself with various yelps and woos and ows and yeah-yeahs. Not necessary.

They should have kept this track bare bones - especially since the demo version didn't really have much screaming anyhow - and Dave obviously can't belt out a train whistle scream like he used to. In hindsight, I would have just had Dave sing it without any embellishments, go for pure, raunchy attitude - without cutting and pasting all the extra Davisms (unless you were going to cut and paste a proper scream like on 'As Is'). Just my two cents. Anyone else feel this way too? Or am I being a whiny beeyatch? Still a great song - still listen to it regularly - but still miss Ted every time, too...

[DLR Bridge]

I just noticed an interesting lyrical similarity between this song and Wawazatt!!

STW- Yeah dreams come true, but it remains to be seen. By the time mine usually do, I'm no longer me.

W!!- By the time your dreams come true, you've turned into someone else.

[Yount]

So are Van Halen gonna do a video for STW?

[KSTONER]

I've been wondering that too. I'm hoping Dave brings a lil' No Holds BBQ vibe to it. Thunder thongs and knights in shining pick-up trucks....this SCREAMS for a Dave-Directed video.

[KSTONER]

Actually....I think it's already been done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXJasUEDE9U

[steve]

Anyone else see the whole song as a metaphor for VH (just like Can't Get this Stuff No More where DLR describes VH in the terms of a "date with a supermodel").
Here the "Woman" stands vaguely for destiny, fate is the pimp (bluntly stated), and the "suburban garage-a-trois" are Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang (as in suburban garage rock trio).
The thunder thong around Dave's neck are his ties to the Van Halen legacy that he cannot escape.
I think it's pretty clear.
But while the lyrics are clever and poignant, most importantly, they are damn fun. Frankly, it's difficult to develop lyrics to a song that have a fun, organic vernacular reflecting the music and at the same time be thoughtful.
Kudos to DLR on this one.
Oh...and the music is kickass, I think it goes without saying that this should have been the leadoff single - it's brief, fun, deceptively smart, has a GREAT effing groove with a a big clear guitar tone, and just plain rocks.

[sadaist]

Anyone else see the whole song as a metaphor for VH (just like Can't Get this Stuff No More where DLR describes VH in the terms of a "date with a supermodel").
Here the "Woman" stands vaguely for destiny, fate is the pimp (bluntly stated), and the "suburban garage-a-trois" are Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang (as in suburban garage rock trio).
The thunder thong around Dave's neck are his ties to the Van Halen legacy that he cannot escape.
I think it's pretty clear.
But while the lyrics are clever and poignant, most importantly, they are damn fun. Frankly, it's difficult to develop lyrics to a song that have a fun, organic vernacular reflecting the music and at the same time be thoughtful.
Kudos to DLR on this one.
Oh...and the music is kickass, I think it goes without saying that this should have been the leadoff single - it's brief, fun, deceptively smart, has a GREAT effing groove with a a big clear guitar tone, and just plain rocks.

Good thoughts there. I really love the song except that I just think the chorus is a bit monotonous & plain. Plain? Not sure if that's what I mean.

[steve]

Or rather, the thunder thong around DLR's neck IS his tie to the VH legacy, or for that matter EVH and AVH.

Elvis of the rotharmy.com message boards, however, has some unfortunate images in his head or very large undergarments.

[steve]

Good thoughts there. I really love the song except that I just think the chorus is a bit monotonous & plain. Plain? Not sure if that's what I mean.

A little - maybe at the end he coulda' changed up the chorus a little on the outro. Splitting hairs though on this song (as opposed to Tattoo, where the repetitiveness of the chorus is a distraction)