Who did what on Safe As Milk? Leach’s Listings

Compiled by Jasper Leach.

Jasper acknowledges that this listing contains inacuracies. If you can help with any further info or corrections, please let us know.

All songs (unless noted differently):

  • Produced by Richard Perry and Robert Krasnow
  • Engineered by Hank Cicalo/Gary Marker
  • Arranged by Don Van Vliet
  • “Sure ‘Nuff” and “Grown So Ugly” arranged by Ry Cooder
  • Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA, April 1967
  • All words and music by Don Van Vliet and Herb Bermann

Note from Jasper:

This is probably one of the most inaccurate lists I’ve compliled. It has been reported by many band members that studio musicians were brought in by Ry Cooder, but only three are listed. I have no idea who plays harpsichord on “Autumn’s Child” and “Call On Me”; I guessed it was Richard Perry. I do know Perry arranged the horns on “I’m Glad”. It’s very confusing because so many unnamed players perform on this album.

1. Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar and slide guitar
  • Doug Moon: guitar (erased because he was ejected from the band)
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Recorded at Sunset Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Gary Marker states in the Grow Fins notes:

Cooder called me up and said, “You know what they’re doing? They’re going to RCA!” Now, RCA is what? A four-track studio? I said, “RCA? RCA is like the lamest place in town! What are they doing? I called up Krasnow for an explanation and he said, “Well, Richard Perry is really confused by all those tracks. We took the stuff that we did on 8-track and reduced it to four-track.” I said, “Are you kidding me? That beautiful state of the art stuff?”

2. Zig Zag Wanderer

  • Don Van Vliet: Vocals, bass marimba?
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar, chorus
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass, chorus
  • John French: drums, chorus
  • Milt Holland: log drum, tambourine

3. Call On Me

(credited to Don Van Vliet, actually written by Vic Mortensen)

  • Don Van Vliet: Vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Milt Holland or Taj Mahal: tambourine
  • Richard Perry?: harpsichord

4. Dropout Boogie

  • Don Van Vliet: bass marimba, vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Milt Holland: log drum

5. I’m Glad

(Don Van Vliet)

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Richard Perry: horn chart
  • Unknown: backup vocals

6. Electricity

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals, theremin direction
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar and slide guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Sam Hoffman: theremin

7. Yellow Brick Road

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals, bass marimba
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Taj Mahal: washboard
  • Richard Perry: reference tone

8. Abba Zaba

(Don Van Vliet)

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar, percussion
  • Ry Cooder: bass, percussion
  • John French: drums, percussion
  • Milt Holland: additional percussion

9. Plastic Factory

(Don Van Vliet, Herb Bermann & Jerry Handley)

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals, harmonica
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar, bass, chorus
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums, chorus

10. Where There’s Woman

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals, bass marimba
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: bass (according to John French in the Grow Fins booklet), chorus
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • John French: drums, chorus

11. Grown So Ugly

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Unknown: Vox organ

12. Autumn’s Child

  • Don Van Vliet: vocals
  • Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
  • Ry Cooder: guitar
  • Jerry Handley: bass
  • John French: drums
  • Russ Titelman: guitar
  • Richard Perry: harpsichord
  • Sam Hoffman: theremin

Help us out

If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.

4 Comments

  1. On Abba Zabba, Ry Cooder plays the bass solo. The rest of the track is Jerry Handley. See ‘Through the Eyes of Magic by John French

  2. Am I crazy to think I hear Frank Zappa’s voice in the chorus – “Go back 10 years ago,” etc – in “Autumn’s Child”?

    1. No you’re not crazy, I hear it too. Of course we may both be crazy. That is a possibility.

  3. Can you get even more specific? Which guitar bits did Cooder play? Was he the lead guitarist or the rhythm guitarist? Thanks for the bass solo info, patrick.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *