stephanie's looking forward mp3.com
- another in the strange things girls say series, this is something a girl named stephanie that I used to work with said in reference to her fears of childbirth. I ran with it. the song, not the baby. there was no baby.
history snack machine (sorry, no mp3 yet) - a song written at a muffler shop while waiting for installation. the candy machine in the lobby practically sang this song to me. The picture on the machine was obviously taken in the late 50's or early 60's, and it just kind of took me back to that time. other lines were actual situations that appeared in the room. I wrote the lyrics on the back of my check book record book, thus the first line.
anna karenininina (sorry, no mp3 yet) - this one was a product of my work environment. I don't know how many times I'd seen this book in the preparatory stages of printing. The song is more an homage to cartoons like magilla gorilla and casper the friendly ghost than to the book, though. It just seemed like a natural thing to stutter on the n's, given my cartoonish background.
summer's little helper (sorry, no mp3 yet) - another song to emanate from the work environs. one summer I had a summer hire helping me with my job, so rather than "mother's" little helper, she became "summer's" little helper. Although the song originated in the rolling stones tune, it took on a summer flavor, much like elvis costello's "the other side of summer," as my brother has pointed out. I didn't even realize it.
the thing you love (sorry, no mp3 yet) - a song that, if the lyrics were different, could qualify as a country-pop hit. That, and I hate country-pop. a song about how the things we love taken in excess can be harmful to us, and if we love them too much, we can kill them. References to the abominable dr. phibes and the horrible state of classic rock radio.
remember the enjoyment (sorry, no mp3 yet) - an early beatlesque nod to carol burnett, this is becoming my own closing number. I originally wrote it for craig kilborn, after he'd performed with merv griffin and said that he'd be singing on occasion.
the late late show (sorry, no mp3 yet) - another craig kilborn inspired tune. inspired? I wrote it as his theme song, for crying out loud! needless to say, I have yet to find a way to get mr. kilborn to hear the song. I did slip it onto a tape that I gave to janeane garofalo, sort of sneaky like.
she's so codependent (sorry, no mp3 yet) - inspired by a period of romantic instability my brother was undergoing a few years ago, this is somewhat of a tribute to some of the sounds bands like the beatles and the rolling stones were experimenting with around 1967. you could say this is my own personal dukes of stratosphear song.
veronica lake is missing (sorry, no mp3 yet) - I'm a huge veronica lake fan. in fact, I put together a veronica lake desktop theme for my computer, and everytime I hit a key, it's "yes, mr. smittercase," "not really, mr. smittercase," and "oh, mr. smittercase, that's my knee" (sullivan's travels, 1941.) I tried to capture the feel of the songs she "sang" in this gun for hire for the demo, but that sound is likely to change in the finished product.
I'm in love with a dead girl (sorry, no mp3 yet) - an idea my brother had for a classic joe meek song. it seems like all of the songs that meek produced, if they weren't about outer space, were about dead boyfriends and girlfriends. the idea was to fall in love with a girl that you find in the obituaries. unfortunately, I never fit in the line about clutching my school ring in her cold dead hand (that wouldn't have worked if she was already dead.) more spiritual than necrophiliacal.
book of cheats (demo) mp3.com
- this song grew out of the breaktime pasttime of doing crossword puzzles with dj mook and terry the rapper. because we work in a paperback manufacturing plant, crossword puzzle dictionaries are easy to come by. crossword puzzles, however, are not. it was one of these dictionaries that our friend doris lovingly dubbed "the book of cheats." my mind immediately began its feverish work, and the next day i had a demo cassette. this is that demo.
interactive cardboard mp3.com
- a few years ago, i had a cardboard standup of the addams family (movie version) standing in the foyer. At one point before they came into my possession, there were motion activated voice chips embedded within the cardboard, but alas, they spoke no more. having nothing to add to certain conversations, i began to relate to the silent christina ricci and the silent raul julia. no one seems to be able to understand this.
assman from outer space mp3.com
– with an impending recording session in washington, dc, looming, i needed to stir up a song and stir it up quick. the halloween month long movie marathon was in full swing, and frankenstein meets the space monster was on tap one night. nadir, the queen of outer space’s right hand man, was played by lou cutell, the same guy who played the ass man on seinfeld. thus, assman from outer space was born.
not john barrymore
– the film svengali inspired this little tune, with its theme of manipulating others to do your bidding, or trying not to, but doing so anyway. we all want that certain someone to be an extension of ourselves, and in order for that to occur, certain alterations have to be made. not john barrymore, drew barrymore.
massacre-ade
– back around the time of the heaven’s gate suicides, given the fact that they drank the jonestown kool-aid, i came up with the recipe for this here number. i can remember seeing the faces of those who tried to catch the comet ride and thinking how misunderstood and lonely they all must have been, cast aside, swept aside by the passing parade.
song i didn’t want to write mp3.com
– melodies were just filling my head at the time this was written, faster than i could come up with words to go along with them. so, i decided to write about writing, which was pretty much the only life experience i had at the time. not sad, happy!!!
marla matthews mp3.com
– everyone’s reaction to this song is “are you a stalker?” although the song does take me back to a certain stalking episode of jessica novak, starring angel of death helen shaver, the tune was really a part of a promotional campaign that i was planning to spring on a local tv station had i gotten the cameraman job i interviewed for. as things turned out, the job that i stayed with made it possible for me to be doing what i’m doing now, telling you about what i could have been doing and bringing you the song from what i could have been doing.
sleighride with 25 guys
- the thunderous sound of mitch miller and the gang inspired this tale of a girl's confusion and torment when confronted with the love of 25 guys who find it perfectly normal to share her. bizarre!
angel may suffocate mp3.com
– at a former job in retail, angels visited me one day; angels with bubble paper wrapped around their heads (it was christmas, and tree topper angels were packed with bubble paper around their heads.) i had been smitten with someone, but i knew i was wrong for her. she became the angel, and i became the bubble paper. i didn't want to smother her. does it make any more sense than a cardboard cutout of christina ricci? as far as the recording goes, i decided to play "rutles" and recorded it as a rutles version of "ticket to ride."
vibrating like money – something another girl i had been smitten with said once that makes even less sense than anything i’ve told you thus far. if you can vibrate at the same frequency as money, it will come to you. this sounds like a big money making infomercial from the future.
mr. partridge must think i’m an idiot mp3.com
– chicago, circa 1989 – i had the rare privilege of placing a tape of my songs in the pocket of one andy partridge of xtc. i felt like an idiot, i told him that i was an idiot, so now i am the idiot from chicago in andy’s memory. he’s probably long forgotten it by now, but i’m in his subconscious, and that’s what counts.
decorative blows – a song about bruises, really, be they physical or emotional. you can’t see the emotional ones, at least with the eyes, which leads me to believe that these are the ones that the song is about. blind people have their own sense of décor, and it must be based on emotion more than senses.
from a technical standpoint, this song has a tasty recipe, easy to make. blend voices, who, martin newell, and beatles in large bowl. mix at medium speed for 3 1/2 minutes. ready to serve.
too shy to talk to camoflage pants mp3.com
– something my niece said once, and i immediately took it out of context for a song idea. mall stalking is where the phrase’s origins lie (you see, the kids give nicknames to their potential victims, and one of these victims was known as "camoflage pants), and somehow that was transmogrified into a tale of talking legs, lost in a world they didn’t create.
heaven and cheese on rye mp3.com
- a song that was devised, written, recorded and uploaded to the web within a 24 hour period. earlier the day the song was recorded, tommy owens of the random effect was concerned about the direction that dj mook was taking with the titles of his songs. with heaven this and heaven that, tommy wondered if mook was a jesus jerk. then he asked when he was going to record "heaven with cheese," which, a moment later had become "heaven and cheese on rye." i immediately began scribbling down ideas, and that night began to lay down the tracks. the next day it was mixed and on the web. kind of a john lennon "instant karma" affair (written one day, on the air the next), which inspires me to record a "karma" version of the song.
edwardsville - an impromptu recording experiment with dj mook turns into a tribute to the "more than just a little confused" town of edwardsville, pa. we were laying down some tracks as a software demo for mook when I forgot that I was doing my laundry. when I came back upstairs after throwing the clothes in the dryer, I told mook that the first line would be "I forgot about the laundry." I asked him what the second line would be, and he immediately replied "in edwardsville!" we continued to write words as we recorded, my words bouncing off of his and vice versa.
the illegible bachelor – as if you couldn’t guess already, i’m not the easiest person in the world to understand. neither is my signature. “eligible” quickly and easily becomes “illegible,” and a song idea is hashed out. strange thing is that martin newell, one of my idols, had the same idea for a story. thank god it wasn’t a song!
