"For months and months, I was the only one who ever heard the song. I kept it in my back pocket": The true story of the Aerosmith classic built from a riff its writer almost didn't share

Steven Tyler in his 1956 Mercedes Benz 220S at Jamaica Pond, Boston MA October 9, 1975.

It’s probably crucial to Aerosmith’s popularity that they had to work for their success, carefully stitching together the threads of their previous experiences to become what guitarist Joe Perry likes to think of as “the ultimate party band”.

Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton brought to Aerosmith the freewheeling blues improvisation that had been so much a part of their old Jam Band, while vocalist Steven Tyler had an instinctive understanding of tight R&B dynamics. It would be an explosive combination, but things didn’t happen overnight; or even when Columbia Records supremo Clive Davis signed the band to a £125,000 deal after seeing them play the legendary New York venue Max’s Kansas City.