The electric and acoustic takes of the tune were recorded during a series of 2007 sessions with John Lowery, aka current Motley Crue touring guitarist John 5, which have yet to be fully released.
“It’s called ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar & Grill’, and it was designed as a jukebox musical after seeing what the South Park fellows did,” Roth told Rolling Stone in 2013. “’Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar & Grill’ is the opening theme song, and it’s about an Indiana kid who goes to sleep – think The Wizard Of Oz – and the characters in his life, the butcher, the baker and the newspaper guy, pop out of posters and sing him a song called ‘Giddyup.’ And he finds his way to all the good things in life, having discovered rock in the Sixties, and there’s a song titled ‘Alligator Pants’ – yes, I own a pair, I wore them for the last two tours. And things go horribly left-of-center wrong, of course, when you sell your soul to the devil, and one of the tunes is called ‘The Shit That Killed Elvis.’ So yeah, it’s pretty stellar material.”
The track’s arrival comes on the heels of recent release of another song from the project, “Manda Bala.”
Roth first worked with John 5 on his 1998 release, “DLR Band”, before the rocker went on to join Marilyn Manson’s band; he co-wrote one of three original tracks on Roth’s 2003 covers project, “Diamond Dave”, and joined Rob Zombie in 2005 before starting his current stint with Motley Crue earlier this year.
Pick up your copy of 1978’s “Van Halen” here.
See also:
David Lee Roth shares unreleased song Manda Bala
Sammy Hagar recaps night two of Cabo Birthday Bash series
Van Halen stream remastered HD video for Right Now
Van Halen share Crossing Over from The Collection II box set
Search Van Halen at hennemusic
