Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer took some time out of his latest tour to discuss some of our favorite tunes off his first solo album, The Way Life Goes, and some Cinderella classics, though he had to admit his memory was a bit fuzzy on some of the older tunes …
“COLD DAY IN HELL/THICK AND THIN,” solo (THE WAY LIFE GOES, 2012): One of the things I personally found interesting on Tom Keifer’s new solo album was the placement of two songs back-to-back. One, “Cold Day in Hell,” a personal favorite of mine, finds the singer telling off a woman that’s done him wrong when she comes back around. The next, “Thick and Thin,” is one of the most sincere love songs on the album, and probably of Keifer’s career. I assumed they were not about the same person, but I had to ask the question.
TOM KEIFER: Well, ain’t that the way life goes? (Laughs.) I write from that place that people I admire did. I grew up on the lyrics of Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart and great writers that were inspired by American roots music, blues and country. It’s always about real stuff for me. There’s the falling in love and the falling out of love, which we’ve all experienced. “Cold Day in Hell,” I wouldn’t say that’s about anybody in particular. Sometimes songs are about cumulative emotions. It’s a real-life thing we’ve all experienced. “Thick and Thin,” I wrote for Savannah (Snow), my wife. She was going through a difficult time in her life. It was the first time she’d been burned by the music industry, and I’ll just leave it at that without going into more detail. It can be very cold-hearted. I’ve been through it, a lot of people in the music business have. I just sat down at the piano and wrote that song to let her know that I was behind her and I was there for her through thick and thin.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Tom Keifer, in an exclusive SER Sitdown, talks with Fred Phillips about the glory days in Cinderella, and his long road back from a potentially career-ending throat issue.]
“DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT (TIL IT’S GONE),” with CINDERELLA (LONG COLD WINTER, 1988): In the 1980s, it was almost a must for a hard rock band to have a radio-friendly ballad on its record. The hard rockers got the core audience of teenage guys, while the softer numbers sold records to the female portion of the crowd. Most of those songs from their contemporaries were disposable, but Cinderella broke the mold by actually writing really good ballads. “Don’t Know What You Got (Til It’s Gone)” is one of the few 1980s rock ballads that I still listen to and enjoy every single time I hear it. It brings back good memories of a close friend in high school and seeing the band at the height of it popularity with Keifer descending from the ceiling behind a white baby grand as they played it.
TOM KEIFER: It probably is our most well-known song. It’s a song to me that, over the years, has always really held up. I actually did an acoustic version of that just a few years ago for a VH1 Unplugged record (VH1 Classic’s Metal Mania Stripped). It’s a song about something that most people have felt many times in their life. It’s one of my favorite songs to perform live. I never get tired of playing that song.
“SOLID GROUND,” solo (THE WAY LIFE GOES, 2013): The second single released from Keifer’s new solo album will likely have Cinderella fans jumping for joy. The song is a driving blues rocker that will certainly recall some of the band’s best work. Keifer uses his trademark raspy screech more in the tune than just about anywhere on the record. It’s a rocking way to get things started.
TOM KEIFER: That’s a song I wrote with Savannah. Songs come together in different ways and some happen pretty quickly. To me, lyrically, it’s about how life keeps changing and moving. It’s a journey, not a destination. I kind of think we’re all looking for that thing that makes us feel whole, that we’ve arrived and now life’s going to be a breeze. We keep waiting for that thing to happen, but that’s not the way life works. Style-wise it represents the more hard-driving edge of the record. That’s certainly on the high energy end of the spectrum.
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: The underrated ‘Long Cold Winter’ saw new influences making their way into Cinderella’s sound, and Tom Keifer and Co. started to find their own voice.]
“MOOD ELEVATOR,” solo (THE WAY LIFE GOES, 2013): Given his choice of tunes to talk about from the solo record, Keifer chose this ripping Aerosmith-influenced hard rocker. It’s one of the most energetic songs to be found on The Way Life Goes, and though it was written in fun, Keifer said it does offer some real food for thought.
TOM KEIFER: That’s a song that Savannah and I wrote, too. The subject of that song is something I think a lot of people these days can relate to – depression, anti-depressants. It has a tongue-in-cheek vibe about how we’re overprescribed. I can’t tell you how many times doctors have tried to convince me there’s a magic pill that will make my life sunshine and roses. I’ve been through some tough stuff, so has Savannah, so have a lot of people in the world. Particularly in the ’90s, when things came crashing down. I still want to get a shirt that says, “I survived the ‘90s.” (Laughs.) We all experience good times and bad times, happiness and depression. There are probably better, more organic ways to deal with it than to overmedicate.
“SOMEBODY SAVE ME,” with Cinderella (NIGHT SONGS, 1986): Though Cinderella’s debut Night Songs was a little more of a straight-forward 1980s hard rock album than what came later, it still had some great songs. This one has always been a favorite of mine with that huge, driving riff and Keifer wailing away as only he could.
TOM KEIFER: That’s just a cry for help. (Laughs.) It was so long ago that I don’t even remember writing it or what I was thinking. I was probably just having one of those days.
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