As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
Studio album by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays
Released	May 1981
Recorded	September 1980
Genre	Fusion, Jazz
Length	43:34
Label	ECM
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Pat Metheny chronology
80/81 (1980) As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981) Offramp (1982)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	[1]
Allmusic	[2]

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is a collaborative album by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays, released in 1981. The title makes reference to Wichita, Kansas and Wichita Falls, Texas. The title tune clocks in at just under 21 minutes.

It is one of the only albums where Metheny not only acts as both the lead and accompanying guitarist but also the bassist, as each track uses fair amounts of overdubbing. The track "September Fifteenth" is in reference to September 15, 1980, the day the American jazz pianist Bill Evans died. Metheny and Mays cite Evans as a main influence.

Track listing

All music composed by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays.

Side I
No.	Title	Length
1.	"As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls"	20:44

Side II
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ozark"	4:03
2.	"September Fifteenth" (dedicated to Bill Evans)	7:45
3.	"It's for You"	8:20
4.	"Estupenda Graça"	2:40

Personnel

• Lyle Mays - piano, synthesizer, organ, autoharp
• Pat Metheny - electric and acoustic six and twelve string guitars, bass
• Nana Vasconcelos - barimbau, percussion, drums, vocals

Charts

Album - Billboard

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Jazz Albums	1
1981	Pop Albums	50

Trivia

• The slight deviation of the name of the album is heard repeatedly as a line from the movie The Ice Harvest. The line in the movie is, "As Wichita Falls, So Falls Wichita Falls," rather than, "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls."

• In the anti-nuclear movie "Dark Circle", during the discussion of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant nuclear reactors' earthquake supports for the cooling system having been installed backwards, part of the song "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls" plays. The song is also mentioned in the movie's ending credits.

• The spoken words "38, 42, 55, 3" in the title track occur at 14:38, 14:42, 14:55, and 15:03 into the recording. An excerpt from this track was chosen in 1988 as a sound effect to a Fragrance TV-commercial (Fahrenheit by Christian Dior), which made it more recognizable to the audience as the Fahrenheit music track.

• The songs "September 15th" and "It's for You" were featured in the Kevin Reynolds film Fandango.

• "It's for You" was featured in WWOR-TV's "Community Calendar" commercial during the 1980s and 1990s.

• According to Pat Metheny, the titles of the album and title track came from jazz musician Steve Swallow.

• Akiko Yano, a Japanese jazz vocalist and pianist, covered "It's for You" with Pat Metheny in her album Welcome Back (1989).

References

1. ^ Shewey, Don (2011 [last update]). "Pat Metheny: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20090301050324/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/patmetheny/albums/album/104763/review/5943332/as_falls_wichita_so_falls_wichita_falls. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
2. ^ Cook, Stephen (2011 [last update]). "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls - Lyle Mays | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/as-falls-wichita-so-falls-wichita-falls-r164598. Retrieved 18 July 2011.