This song started with a chord progression created by Ed a long time ago. A demo track was recorded at 5AM by Ed with the help of Don. Ed gave that track to Alan in order to get some lyrics written. Alan pulled in Veg to help with the melody and lyrics. All of this was pulled together at Bobby's house in Bishop where it was decided to record it at 5AM.
During one of our 5AM sessions we recorded the backing track with Veg on rhythm guitar, Bobby on drums, and Ed on bass. Alan sang a guide vocal during that session and went back later to dub in the main vocal. Veg recorded a couple of solos and we got the bright idea to play them together, backwards : )
Ed liked the story of R2R so much that I decided it would make a great kickoff tune to the CD. He wanted to give it a past to present feel so Les and Ed created the AM radio that was playing Ricket, School Bored, and Electra Glide songs. The ending is an homage to The Ricket's version of Gloria where we would sing snippets of different songs while jamming to the main 3 chord change. In his case, the song snippets are from the rest of the CD.
The Rickets got together towards the end of the mixing sessions and added in the harmonies and song snippets. Les and Ed mixed the final version.