BACKGROUND:
'Maceo' was recorded during a session just prior the the recording of Nothing's
Shocking, but the band decided not to include it on the album. They forgot
about it and it wasn't until the Kettle Whistle album that they decided
to dust it off and release it. Maceo Parker, famous James Brown horn player, accepted
an invitation to overdub a horn track over the existing demo.
That demo version has long been available to fans via bootleg CDs (most commonly
Paraphernalia) under the name "Macio." Strangely, on the initial press
release Warner Bros, too, referred to it as "Macio."
When Steve was preparing the tracks for KW, he couldn't remember which
studio the band recorded it at. So they were worried they might have to use an
old cassette tape instead of the original master tape. But luckily, the master
was found before it came to that.
WRITTEN:
By Jane's in early/mid 1987.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
taken from a press release for Kettle Whistle...
"Macio" is the third new track. "'Macio' is a really cool track that was named after Perry's cat, but also after (one-time James Brown horn player) Maceo Parker," who Perkins said is on the band's wish list to play a little horn over the already-existing recording. "It's a silly song," said Perkins, "and was recorded at Lillian Way studios as a demo. WB paid for a session for us to record all of the songs Jane's Addiction had ever written so they could decide which ones they liked. 'Macio' was never really entertained as a record, and we didn't do it live that much, so eventually we forgot about it until now."
LIVE:
Played extremely seldomly around the middle of 1987. Only two bootleg versions
are known to exist: one from 7/8/87 which the band stopped playing midway because
Dave was out of tune, and the second version is below.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
* Originally recorded in September '87. Horn overdubed by Maceo Parker on September 12, 1997. I think Perry put in some new backing vocals too.
* Maceo Parker has a biography-type video called My First Name Is Maceo that came out in '97. Coincidence?
* Trevor says, "steve perkins said the inspiration for the drumming on 'maceo'
was from steve gadds perfomance on paul simon's song '50 ways to leave your lover'.
steve then went on to explain that they were the same beat except perkins put
a new orleans shuffle over the top."
* Trevor also shares some info he got from talking with Stephen in June, 99...
"so they really wanted maceo parker to play on maceo they find out he is really fuckin expensive but they hire him anyway so maceo parker gets in the studio and he is listening to the tune and perrys singing "my cats name is maceo" so maceo is like..... "wait a minute man i aint your CAT" like you know buddy slang
maceo..... "i aint your cat man dont be callin me your cat, i dont know you guys i'm just playing as a session musician man,,,, I AINT YOUR CAT" maceo parker is gettin all pissy cuz he thinks perry wrote a song like they were buds or something so perry is like...... "no no my cats name is maceo really my cat not you my cat"
maceo is like... "yeah right listen man dont be saying i'm your cat cuz i'm not"
after they settled down and explained it maceo parker says "you know what since this song is named after me.. i'm gonna charge you extra"
LYRICS:
My cat's name is Maceo,
He's a little man in a cat's body
He yawns just like I do,
He's convinced I won't eat him
I think he thinks I'm his dad,
Because I saved him from the pound
Well we went down, down to the pound
And that's where we saw Maceo
Cat catcher said to me, "Pick one out,"
Maceo said "Let me out"
He sleeps right where I do
And we wrestle in the morning!
He come to you if you don't bother him
He just likes to do his own thing
My cat's name is Maceo,
He's a little man in a cat's body