I came across this 12″ Single in someone’s collection I was buying and I knew I had to have it. I am rocker at heart, but this hip hop version of a classic Aerosmith song is quite groundbreaking and I knew I needed it in my collection. Mainly, because it adds to my Aerosmith collection as I don’t really have a Run DMC collection (until now I guess).
“Walk This Way” was released back in 1975 (and re-released in 1976) and reached #10 on the Billboard charts. The song is off the band’s album “Toys in the Attic” (great album by the way, but that is for another day) and it is that producer Rick Rubin pulled out and played for Run DMC while they were recording their album “Raising Hell” back in 1986. The band had sampled the song before, but didn’t know the song. Rick suggested the band cover the song, but the band was not too keen on the idea except for Jam Master Jay.
The band recorded the song and even were able to get Steven Tyler to sing and Joe Perry to actually play on the track. I said earlier it was a groundbreaking song and that was because it was really the first big hip hop & rock collaboration that crossed-over into the hip hop world and to the rock & pop world. The song helped take hip hop and rap mainstream.
The song also helped revitalized a very stalled career. Aerosmith’s last album flopped, ‘Done With Mirrors’ (which I thought was awesome) and the band was now sober and needed a break. This gave them that break and brought the band back into the limelight and they would go on to release numerous chart topping albums afterwards.
The music video for the song was played constantly on MTV and featured both Run DMC as well as Joe Perry and Steven Tyler (the rest of the band was not in the video although there were some people posing as their band). The video had the bands in separate studio spaces competing back and forth on who could out do the other for being louder. Eventually, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry break through the wall and Steven screams out “Walk This Way”. With the video, the song actually propelled to #4 on the Billboard charts actually performing better than the original did back in the 70’s.
The B-Side is listed as an instrumental version of the song, but it truly isn’t just an instrumental unless of course you consider Steven’s Tyler’s vocals as an instrument. Steven’s voice is all you hear on the song and it is only once near the beginning when he sings “Walk this Way” several times. The rest is just the Run DMC mix with Joe Perry’s badass guitars.
Give the song a listen or buy it if you would like. Click on the buttons below to help out. I hope you enjoyed this “walk” down memory lane. Thanks.
“Walk This Way”
Now there’s a backseat/lover
That’s always under/cover
And I talk til my daddy say
Said you ain’t seen/nuthin
Til you’re down on her/muffin
And there’s sure to be a change in ways
Now there’s a cheer/leader
That’s a real big/pleaser
As far as I can remi/nisce
But the best thing/love it
Was her sister and her/cousin
And it started with a little kiss, like this
She starts/swingin
With the boys in/tune
And her feet just fly up in the air
Singin hey diddle diddle with a kitty in the middle
And they swingin like it just don’t care
So I took a big/chance
At the high school/dance
With a lady who was ready to play
It wasn’t me she was/foolin
Cause she knew what was she was/doin
when she told me how to walk this way
[Chorus: Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith]
She told me to
Walk this way!
Talk this way!
[repeat 2X]
[repeat all 2X]
Well just gimme a kiss/some head!
Oooh, a-like this!
[Run-D.M.C.]
School girl/sleazy
With a/classy kind of sassy
Little skirt hangin way up her knee
It was three young ladies
In the school gym/locker
And they find they were lookin D
I was high school/loser
Never made it with a/lady
Til a boy told me somethin I missed
That my next door/neighbor
had a daughter/had a favor
And I gave the girl just a little kiss, like this
[Aerosmith]
She starts swingin with the boys in the school
with her feet flyin up in the air
Singing hey diddle diddle with a kitty in the middle
I was swingin like I didn’t care
So I took a big chance at the high school dance
With a miss who was ready to play
Wasn’t me she was foolin cause she knew what she was doin
when she told me how to walk this way
[Chorus]
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
Love this track, one of the first singles I ever bought. First time I’d even heard of Aerosmith.
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At first I hated this song because I loved Aerosmith and thought they are ruining the song…which they were, but I appreciate the importance of that song now and how it did help mainstream rap…and completely revamped Aerosmith’s career.
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It’s a great tune in both formats but I lean toward the Toys in the Attic cut. In the band’s (excessively neutered but still amazing) auto-bio-thing Walk This Way they point out that a) the guys in Run DMC thought the band were called Toys in the Attic and the album was Aerosmith. There’s also the amusing story that during recording a delivery was made to the studio in a brown paper bag and the guys in Run DMC huddled over it, Tyler and Perry (I don’t think they were sober yet) assumed it was drugs, sauntered over and were disappointed to find it was actually a McDonalds order.
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Nice adds to the story Tony! Thanks. I knew Run DMC didn’t know who they were, but hadn’t heard about the whole name thing. And the paper bag story doesn’t surprise me in the least.
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One of the real milestone records in music history. I’ve always loved it. The Toys version has more urgency and some clever studio tricks but this raw rap version is immortal
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