“Sinner’s Swing” is the third track on Fair Warning.
If there is a party-inflected track on Fair Warning, it would be “Sinner’s Swing”, though it’s noticeably darker than any similarly anthemic material from the earlier Van Halen output. Featuring overt profanity, Van Halen was going all out on this track, showing that they could rock as hard as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal of the time without losing their predilection for top musicianship. The song features one of Edward’s most blistering solos on the record, and David Lee Roth’s lyrics are more steadfast and urgent than those on the feel-good tunes of the first three albums.
In the April ’96 issue of Guitar World magazine, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins used this song as a summary of the entire Fair Warning album – dark and aggressive.
The working title for this song was “Get Out and Push”. (See the original lyric sheets below!) It’s believed the lyrics may have been inspired by Hunter Thompson’s book Hell’s Angels.
From Guitar World:
“That was spontaneous, first take,” Eddie says. That in-the-moment intensity is clear on the final product, as is some of the Fair Warning in-studio anxiety. An aggravated groove constantly shoves the song forward. Dave’s urgent vocals suggest a lothario on the prowl, and Ed’s frantic, slightly sloppy solo feels more like a panic attack, with rapid-fire tapping and hammer-ons barely constrained by six-high-tension wires.
David Lee Roth’s original hand-written lyrics from 1981:
