There’s just a certain magic when it comes to the first 2 Soulfly albums. Both albums pick up where Sepultura’s Roots left off and I think what I like most about those two record records is the experimentation. One thing about Max Cavalera is that he usually manages to get some pretty good guests on his records and for today’s Guest Vocals, we are taking a look at “Son Song” off of Primitive. Let’s take a look……
So as I said, Max is very good about getting some great and interesting guests and for “Son Song,” the guest vocalist is Sean Ono Lennon. Yes, you read that right Sean Ono Lennon. Who is that? Well he is the son of John and Yoko Lennon. I remember when I was at junior college and I had to do something on music and I remember my instructor saying “oh wow Sean Lennon sang on that?” Now the song itself is about two sons paying tribute to their deceased fathers both of which who had died at the age of 40. It opens with Sean counting to four before it goes right into the music where he sings the opening lyrics. It’s then followed by Max’s vocals at the “Dust Myself Off” lyrics. I do have to say it is an odd pairing with these two but it works really really well. Sean’s vocals remind me a lot of someone like Layne Staley from Alice In Chains and they give this song, a sort of grunge flavor.
This all started when Max and Sean first met in 1999 at the Big Day Out festival in Australia. And while making plans for Primitive, it was actually his wife, Gloria that suggested the two write and record a song together. According to Max “She thought it would be cool if we sang together; that both voices would be amazing. I called Sean, and he was into it. We spent four days on that song; he came to my house, we scribbled around a little bit with the acoustic guitar, then we wrote the lyrics. We took more time on that song, and took it to the studio, and saw the whole thing really come to life, from scratch.” Max has also been quoted as saying that fans wouldn’t expect this kind of collaboration however it is not completely out of character to do this kind of experimentation.
At the end of the song, if you listen closely, you can hear him say how his fingers hurt from playing such heavy guitar gauge strings after that it’s followed by a berimbau which is also heard on the album’s opening song “Back To The Primitive.” I remember when I first bought this album and this was one of my favorite songs and it still is to this day. I also remember hearing this on the soundtrack to the slasher film Valentine too. It’s definitely one of the more unique songs on this album and I definitely would give this a listen if it’s been a while.
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