Tell-Tale Hearts take on New Colony Six!

(Ray Brandes offers a recursive look at his band’s cover of “At the River’s Edge.”)

Walking in the rain
Heart full of pain
Black clouds overhead
How I wish I was dead
At the river’s edge
Walking on the bridge
Stars shine bright
Oh, this pain ends tonight
— “At the River’s Edge,” The New Colony Six

From as early as 1983, when the Tell-Tale Hearts began performing in San Diego, The New Colony Six’s frantic rocker “At the River’s Edge” was a staple of their live set. The song, originally released as a single on Chicago’s Centaur Records in 1966, is an American garage-punk classic, a Bo Diddlified masterpiece replete with all of the elements of any good rave-up: reckless harp, furious maraca shaking and lightning-fast guitar. Recalling Them’s “Mystic Eyes,” the song details the agonizing thoughts of a teen on the brink of suicide.

The New Colony Six perform “At the River’s Edge.” Listen now!

The New Colony Six was founded in Chicago in 1965 by Ray Graffia (vocals); Jerry VanKollenburg (guitar); Wally Kemp (bass); Craig Kemp (organ); Pat McBride (vocals and harmonica); and drummer Jim “Chic James” Chitkowski. Competition between the city’s bands (which included Shadows of Knight, Saturday’s Children, Cryin’ Shames, and the Little Boys Blue) was fierce. According to singer Ray Graffia, “Band relationships in the ‘60s were fairly cut-throat, to be honest. We didn’t wish each other bodily harm, but we all vied to be the No. One group in Chicago, from record sales to stage performances. When booked at the same venues, we were civil but not cuddly.”

The New Colony Six, so named as a response to the British invasion, became known for their hell-raising stage show and bright-red colonial costumes. Their first record, a moody ballad called “I Confess,” was released at Christmastime 1965 and shot to No. One locally, behind Lou Christie’s “Lightning Strikes.” Their next single, “At the River’s Edge”/”I Lie Awake” reflected a growing conflict within the band regarding their sound. According to bassist Walter Kemp, “We were having an “identity crisis” deciding what kind of group we wanted to be: “wimp rock” or “hard rock”. (Chicago radio station) WLS ran an on-air voting, pitting “I Lie Awake” against “At the River’s Edge.” “I Lie Awake” won with the listeners, and Walter says, “The softer side of the NC6 continued to be our signature.”

“At the River’s Edge” was inspired while practicing “Some People Think I’m a Playboy,” which would later appear on the band’s first album, Breakthrough. The two songs have the same chord structure but markedly different rhythms. Walter continues: “It was written while practicing at Chic’s house one evening. ‘I Confess’ was on the charts, and we needed a follow-up. ‘Some People Think I’m a Playboy’ was a contender for that spot. I suddenly got the brain spasm about the song, went up to Chic’s living room and wrote the lyrics and rhythm concept. I believe at some point, Ray came up and encouraged me with some of his inputs on the lyrics and concept, too.”

The song came together quickly. “When I went back into the basement and introduced the song concept,” says Walter, “Pat jumped right in with that great harmonica riff that you hear throughout the song. Chic hit the drums and Jerry looked forward to a big-time solo. That’s probably why it has the driving bass line scales that never stop throughout the entire song — my chance to show off. I was playing a Fender Jazz bass at that time, and all that walking up and down that long, long neck was a major challenge.”

Keyboardist Craig Kemp recalls how the song took shape. “I remember the rehearsal at which we started this song and felt it would be one of our better driving songs to perform. We started getting down with it and at some point someone, I think it was Ray, pointed at me, and the solo started to emerge.”

Not to be outdone, guitarist Jerry VanKollenburg stated his intention during the record of the song to achieve the fastest guitar solo of all time. “It required a lot of takes during the recording session to get through that portion of the song at the speed Jerry wanted to play his solo,” says Walter, “and he nearly kept it up for the entire riff.”

An interesting bit of lore about the song concerns a phrase uttered during the last verse of the song, when Graffia sings “Hope this pain ends tonight.” Harmonica player Pat McBride can be heard shouting, “Don’t be so sure!” Walter Kemp explains, “Someone was concerned that the song might be too ‘edgy’ and risk getting any airplay by having lyrics that kinda/sorta talked about suicide.”

In 1994, Bomp! Records released the Tell-Tale Hearts’ anthology, High Tide: Big Noses and Pizza Faces, which included a then-unreleased live version of “At the River’s Edge.” What do the New Colony Six think of the performance? “It kicks derriere,” says Graffia. It reminds me of doing the tune live 40+ years ago when we wrote and recorded it.”

The Tell-Tale Hearts perform “At the River’s Edge.” Listen now!

“I have to admit that they did seem to get the essence of the song,” says Craig Kemp. “The overall rendition was very good.” To this day, “At the River’s Edge” remains one of Craig’s favorite New Colony Six songs. “This was one of Wally’s best creations that was recorded as far as I am concerned. This song has all the elements for a great record and live performance. It is hard driving, has a great beat and vocals with an interesting story to be told.”

— Ray Brandes

Also by Ray Brandes:

Leave a Comment