Dave got the idea to cover this Jack Yellen/Milton Ager song for the Diver Down album after hearing it broadcast from a Kentucky radio station one day while listening to his Walkman.
Eddie used a Gibson hollow-body on this track, and Mike used a large acoustic bass, similar to those used by Mariachi bands. Alex played drums with brushes, a jazz standard.
With Eddie and Alex Van Halen’s father Jan on clarinet—missing fingers and some teeth—a 1930s style jazz tune that was approached in typical devil-may-care spirit that turns even the fluffed notes into winners. Perhaps an example that eccentricity, with the Roth-era Van Halen, was not actually that odd.
Dave: “I think it’s a great song. And there has been this thread winding its way through all of Van Halen’s music and all of our albums since beginning with ‘Ice Cream Man’. I played acoustic guitar and songs like this for quite a while before I ever joined Van Halen. It’s music. Why do I have to bang my head to every single song on every single album? I don’t think the audience has that much lack of creativity or imagination.”
Eddie: “It was Dave’s idea to do ‘Big Bad Bill’. He bought himself one of those Sanyo Walkman-type things with the FM-AM radio, and you can record off the radio if you like something you hear. He was up in his bedroom at his father’s house and he found that if he stood in a certain spot and pointed his antenna a certain way, he picked up this weird radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. He recorded ‘Big Bad Bill’ and played it to us, and we started laughing ourselves silly and going, ‘That is bad! Let’s do it!’ Dave suggested, ‘Hey, we can get your old man to play the clarinet.’ We said, ‘sure.’
“It’s so funny, because I couldn’t play the song for you right now. I had to read because there were so many chords, I just couldn’t remember it. So here’s my father to the left of me, sitting on a chair with a music stand in front of him, and I’m sitting next to him with sheet music in a stand. Mike was there, too, playing like an acoustic guitar bass – the kind they have in Mexican restaurants where they come up, play in front of your face, and aggravate you. We had a great time. It looked like an old ’30s or ’40s session. I used some thick Gibson hollowbody with f-holes. My father hadn’t played in a long time because he had lost his left-hand middle finger about ten years ago. He was nervous, and we told him, ‘Jan, just have a good time. We make mistakes! That’s what makes it real.’ I love what he did, but he was thinking back ten years ago when he was smokin’, playing jazz and stuff. He played exactly what we wanted.”
Dave: “I think when you hear Mr. Van Halen playing, you’ll have an idea it’s a shadow of where Eddie and Alex are now. There’s a sense of humor in there, a lot of technique and a whole lot of beer!”
Lyrics
Well, way down yonder in Louisville,
Lived a cat named Big Bad Bill,
I wants to tell ya,
Ah the cat was rough and tough and would strutt his stuff
Had the whole town scared to death,
When he walked by they all held their breath,
He’s a fighting man, sure enough
And then Bill got himself a wife,
Now he leads a different life…
Big Bad Bill is sweet William now,
Married life done changed him somehow,
He’s the man the town used to fear,
Now they all call him sweet pappa Willie dear,
Stronger than Samson I declare,
Til the brown skinned woman,
Bobbed his hair
Big Bad Bill dont fight any more,(No he dont)
Doing the dishes,mopping up that floor (Yes he is)
Well he used to go out drinking,
Looking for a fight,
Now he gotta see that woman,everynight,
Big Bad Bill is sweet william now
Ah Play it boys.
I likes that jazz.
Big Bad Bill dont fight any more,(No he dont)
Doing the dishes,mopping up that floor (Yes he is)
Well he used to go out drinking,
Looking for a fight,
Now he gotta see that woman,everynight,
Big Bad Bill is sweet william now (doing the dishes)
Big Bad Bill is sweet william now (mop up dat floor)
Big Bad Bill is sweet william now
Cha…….. Yeah!