The last song on the original release of the album is
'Escape', an upbeat pop-rock song
Co-authors Mark Anthony and Kim Fowley sued Randy Bachman, from the band Bachman Turner Overdrive, because his song '
Down The Line', taken from the 1975 album '
Head On' sounded musically like '
Escape'. They settled out of court and he added their names to the publishing. Strangely, alongside Anthony and Fowley, the BTO song also credits Furnier, but Alice didn't write the music, only the lyrics
The song was originally written by a band called 'The Hollywood Stars', which featured Mark Anthony. Bob Ezrin produced the song for them, and when they split up, brought the song to Alice, who subsequently changed the lyrics
Alice Cooper - Vocals
Dick Wagner - Guitars
Steve (Deacon) Hunter - Guitars
Prakash John - Bass
Tony Levin - Bass
Whitey Glan - Drums
Johnny (Bee) Badanjek - Drums
Jozef Chirowski - Keyboards, Clavinet, Vocals, Fender Rhoads
Bob Ezrin - Keyboards, Fender Rhoads
NOTE: The video is taken from the 'Welcome To My Nightmare' DVD
11/11 Escape (Cooper, Fowley, Anthony)
"Paint on my cruel or happy face
I hide me behind it
It takes me inside another place
Where no-one can find it
Escape
I get out when I can
Escape
Anytime I can
Let`s all Escape
I'm crying in my beer
C'mon lets Escape
Just get me out of here
Don't get me wrong, don't get me right
I'm not like you are
When I get home from work at night
I'm blacker and bluer
So I escape
I get out when I can
Yeah I escape
Anytime I can
Let`s all escape
I'm crying in my beer
Escape
Just get me out of here
But where am I running to?
There's no place to go
Just put on my makeup and get me to the show
Yeah, Escape
Yeah
What are you waiting for?
My doctor said just come around
You'll be taken care of
And while he ran my problems down
I stole his mascara
That's how I escape
I get out when I can
I escape
Anyway I can
I escape
I'm crying in my beer
Lets Escape
Just get me out of here
Escape
Let`s get out while we can
Let`s escape
Anyway we can
C'mon let`s escape
Nobody wants us around here anyway
Escape
What are we waiting for
Escape
Escape
Escape
C'mon all of you let`s escape
Escape, Escape, Escape, Escape, Escape
(repeat to fade)"
When the album was re-issued on CD in 2002, it contained three additional bonus tracks. These were alternate versions of '
Devil's Food', '
Cold Ethyl' and '
The Awakening', all of which were taken from the television special 'The Nightmare'
The 'Welcome To My Nightmare' live shows were a tour de force of musical theatre. Costing US$600,000 to produce (an unheard of amount for a rock show at the time), the show was a grand visual spectacle with an elaborate stage set, pre-filmed projections, four dancers (including Cheryl Goddard, whom Alice would later marry), and elaborate costumes. Set in a graveyard/bedroom, a well-drilled band ran through the songs, whilst Alice encountered giant spiders, dancing skeletons, faceless silver demons and a 9-foot 'cyclops' (pre-dating the giant, walking Eddie that Iron Maiden first used on 'The Beast On The Road' tour in 1982)
The show was performed three times in the UK: Sept 11th and 12th, 1975 at the Wembley Empire Pool in London (both dates were recorded for the 'Welcome To My Nightmare' DVD) and then on Sept 14th, 1975 at the Liverpool Empire
The touring band for the live shows consisted of:
Dick Wagner - guitar
Steve Hunter - guitar
Prakash John - bass
Penti 'Whitey' Glan - drums
Jozef Chirowski - keyboards
Sheryl G. Goddard - dancer
Robin Blythe - dancer
Yuichi Sugiyami - dancer
Eugene Montoya - dancer
A sample setlist consisted of:
- Welcome To My Nightmare
- Years Ago
- No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Years Ago
- Billion Dollar Babies
- Years Ago
- I'm Eighteen
- Years Ago
- Instrumental Medley*
- Some Folks
- Cold Ethyl
- Only Women Bleed
- Devil's Food
- The Black Widow
- Steven
- Welcome To My Nightmare (reprise)
- The Awakening
- Escape
- School's Out
- Department of Youth
* Before "Some Folks", a short medley was performed as the dancers danced in their skeleton costumes. The medley consisted of 'Halo of Flies', 'The Black Widow, and 'Didn't We Meet', which would turn up on the next album