1. Blinded Eyes
I was so pleased with Jim Le Blanc's drumming on Big White Lies that I got him to play on this record. The problem is that Jim has been on the road for over a year. So I just took the drums off of "Dream Away" and edited them into a new performance. Oakland beat group The Loved Ones' audience supplied the creepy intro applause from their farewell show in San Francisco.
This song was written on a Christmas visit to my grandmother's house. I locked myself in a bedroom and wrote. I reflected on how I felt lost, yet in awe in the company of such aged relatives I rarely saw.
2. Lose Yr Mind
This is the surreptitiously included video track from the Interactive Liner Notes of BWL, best listened to and watched in reverse! I had thought little of the song since I wrote the music, but Bennett kept reminding me I should finish it. The secret message here is that being obtuse and weird has its charm, and should somehow be nurtured and rewarded.
3. When You're Right
A new song, and indicative of the direction I've pursued lately. Musically, that is. Folly has always fascinated me. Jim Le Blanc again appears in absentia. Now that I've given it away, it will be hard not to recognize the opening drum fill from "Mindreader." I totally owe that guy money!
4. Tell Me Again
The Pop Gem Factory in their home away from home, the Ordophon. We brushed aside the sodypop cans and set up around the console, with the amps stuck outside. Bennett amazingly managed to read the entire Examiner sports section while playing his drums on this song. This was once referred to as "Obvious To Me," which the title wasn't. Who's on first? Tell me again.
5. One Side In Heaven
Tracked in the same session with "Tell Me Again." I'd always thought I would record this song with an orchestral arrangement. Steven Strauss had scored this for bandoneon, horns and harp, but the idea sadly got away. Salt Peter's virtuosity is prominently featured in his tenderfoot yet powerfully executed bass line.
6. Thru The Mirror
Summertime PGF soul song, written while sitting on Sandy's sofa. I'd recently met Wes, and we wrote the words together. A bit of a looking glass wonderland tale, Pete rounded out this tune with a great bridge. Bennett got inspired and grabbed the guitar from me and did his wah-wah thang. I take credit for reducing the drums to an echoey mush!
7. Going Back To See
"First thought, best thought," said Allen Ginsberg. So applies that sentiment to this song. I was in a hurry to get to a BBQ at Orbit's and the punishment for being late is too harsh to divulge. There was no time to play anything twice, so the guitar solo and singing had to be right the first time. This tune makes me think of a spinning wheel, or a human pretzel.
8. Calling Out To You
In the incredible midst of the sadcore movement in San Francisco, my friend and sometimes spiritual guide Wade Grubbs suggested I write something uplifting. I got on it immediately. Later that year found us screaming on the beach with a jug of wine, happy as clams. If you don't like 'em, you picky out. Finally got some use out of the larger dinner bell.
9. Go!
Comes a time in a musician's career when they discover odd meter. Sadly, this is usually a sign of impending prog-rock doom. I had originally written this in 4/4, but thought I could sneak out a beat in the chorus, thus making it 7/4. Would the musical experts count along? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery...
10. North Country Girl
I had a fleeting idea of writing a whole album of songs with titles of other well-known songs. Been done, that there. This title stuck because the lyric had been written using the "skywriting" technique favored by Peter Case. I just sang along words that made sense at the time, punching in where I mumbled nonsense. There must have been some albums laying around, since there are three discrete references to lyrics from Sgt. Pepper.
11. Four Fifty-One
I was crashing on Mom's couch when on vacation. I had to get up at an insane hour in order to have the car all day. Before I drove her to work, I sleepily rambled out this lyric about cat dreams and the history of the universe and the brief participation of a planet, even more so in our short lifetimes. High school science classes provided the temperature benchmarks. Beautiful and 25, 33, and 95. I think Mom got in late that day.
THE
SONG BELOW WAS OMITTED FROM THE RECORD:
Circles
Tracked in the same session with "Tell Me Again," the drums were recorded in a fashion unusual to me. One microphone, with a figure-8 pattern, was positioned below the snare, facing the beater side of the bass drum. The opposing side of the mic picked up the sound of the snares. Another mic was opened above and in front of the whole kit. I asked for Custer's battle plan, and I got it.
This version of “Circles” was released on Yellow Pills Vol. 4.
A re-make was tracked for Wood +
Wire.