"Uncle Salty"

There's a lot more going on on the Toys in the Attic album than just sex and drugs. "Uncle Salty" is ostensibly a song about the type of neglect and abuse that causes a girl to grow up wrong. Like most of the album, the lyrics are incredibly difficult to wring meaning out of, although they carry ominous overtones. The almost detached, inhuman tenor of Tyler's voice (somehow electronically altered, I suspect) is set to an almost cliche blues-rock rhythm, which you might recognize as Shania Twain's "Man I Feel Like A Woman" (thereby dulling the song's coolness factor just a bit.)

But what's really exceptionally strong about this song - a lot of Aerosmith songs in the long run, but this is a great example - is that it pins down its meaning and spirit in just a short hook, which incorporates Tyler's lyrics and delivery, and Joe Perry and Brad Whitford's soaring, empathic guitars. Particularly in the refrain that starts at 1:09 in this video:

When she cried at night, no-one came...
(a lonely guitar rings out, like sobs in the night)
When she cried at night -
(The guitar begins - slowly, then picking up pace - a brutal death march)
-- Went insane!
(Guitar, and Tyler, wail up a storm.)
Oooh... it's a sunny day outside my window...

As the crying riff that has already been present in the song rings out, it is now attached to that line as it's repeated over and over again, summing up the entire meaning of the song while still leaving the listener to ponder it. The whole thing comes together... in one. Fucking. Line.

Now don't you dare tell me this isn't a fucking brilliant band. This isn't even considered one of their best songs.