Well, dear readers, it has been raining this morning, which I always enjoy. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, when I woke up this morning I heard the little pitter patter of rain on the roof. Normally when I wake up I only hear the pitter patter of the squirrel on the roof. Did you know I have a squirrel on the roof? I do, and that squirrel has been up there for four years. A squirrel on the roof, sounds crazy, no? It is a lively squirrel and loves to tap dance the day and night away and it loves to chase imaginary foes all over the roof, here and there, hither and thither and sometimes even yon. The squirrel loves to knock the oranges off the orange tree. He thinks that is ever so much fun. Sometimes he even eats the orange. Did you know I had an orange tree? I’m thinking of planting a green tree and a blue tree so that my yard can be really colorful. In any case, sometimes we have a visiting cat and my squirrel on the roof does not like visiting cats and what havoc ensues. My squirrel goes after that cat with a vengence, with malice aforethought, with intent to cause harm. Oh, what a jolly time they have up there, until the squirrel actually catches the cat and then the cat yells like a banshee and goes back from whence it came.
Yesterday, amongst our plethora of posts, someone was asking about the hidden track on the album Lost In Boston IV, an old scratchy recording of a song entitled I Love Fish. Many people have asked about this song and from whence it came and I have remained mute on the subject to all but a few. Or was it few but an all? Several of the all made guesses – some thought it an undiscovered Cole Porter song. One of our dear readers yesterday thought it was our very own Mr. Jason Graae doing the singing. Late in the evening, dear reader Elan hazarded a theory of his own. I will now tell the story of I Love Fish and how it came to be a hidden track. Has anyone noticed that I have totally abandoned the squirrel on the roof story without really finishing it? I mean, I just sort of ended it with a cat going back from whence it came. That is not good storytelling in my book (Chapter 9 – What Is and Isn’t Good Storytelling). I just left that story hanging in mid-air like so much fish and then moved right on to the story of I Love Fish. Of course, there is no real ending to the squirrel on the roof story, other than to say it’s still up there doing it’s thing. It has never, for example, gone back to from whence it came. Apparently it came from whence and when it found my roof, decided it had had enough of whence and made my roof its new home. There, now we’ve had a sort of ending to the story of the squirrel on the roof. Unfortunately, I’ve now forgotten what the hell I was talking about. Oh, yes, the story of I Love Fish and how it came to be.
But first, we must all click on that Unseemly Button below because this section is becoming far too long and disjointed.
There. Now if I refer to anything in the first section I can say from whence it came. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too? So, there we were in New York, doing Lost In Boston IV. The musical director on that album was Mr. Brad Ellis. We’d had a very long day of recording and I was sitting in the control booth like so much fish, eating some melon, waiting until it was time to go over to Joe Allen. Brad was in the studio pounding away on the piano as is his wont. He waved at me to come in the studio. I wearily wandered in. He wanted me to hear a tune he’d written. He played it – it was lively. He then suggested I write a lyric to it. I said, “Get out of town”. But Mr. Brad Ellis is a persistent fellow and to shut him up I finally agreed to write a lyric right then and there. I got a pad and as he played the first three note phrase “I love fish” came to me immediately. As soon as I got the first verse done and had the form, the second and final verses came easily. Then I did the bridge and we were done. We sang it and it certainly was a fish song and a lively one at that. I waved Vinnie in and he heard it and liked it. So, I suggested we immediately record it. Thankfully, Guy Haines happened to wander in at just that moment, so I enlisted him to do the vocal. We recorded it, went to Joe Allen, and returned to Los Angeles the next day. After mixing the album, I heard I Love Fish, which was still lively. I decided to put it on as a hidden track – but first I thought we should make it sound like an old scratchy recording, which we did. As people discovered the track, there was much discussion and many queries as to what it was. At that time, no one guessed it was Guy Haines, no one guessed it was anything other than an old scratchy recording. Isn’t that funny? But now you know the truth, because the truth is out there. Elan actually knew the truth and posted it late last night. Actually that would have made a nice trivia question. Oh, well. At least now you know from whence it came. A postscript: I attended some little fundraiser thing about six months ago, and Brad Ellis unveiled a new song – it was the I Love Fish song with another lyric which was not nearly as good as the fish lyric. One simply cannot top a lyric about fish, and it is futile to try.
The busy Sunday was quite productive – we made many decisions, planned many plans and I believe all this preparation will pay off in the end. But why can’t we pay off in the beginning? Did it ever occur to any of us that off might just need the money now? We are a callow lot sometimes. I also ate two very large meals, which I was determined not to do and yet did. At the birthday breakfast (at The Cheesecake Factory), I had Eggs Benedict (but without the potatos), and we also had some Popcorn Shrimp for the table and we also had some Chocolate Blackout Cake with Whipped Cream for the table. The table had more to eat than we did, for heaven’s sake. I was quite full after that meal. But after all the meetings and the rehearsal at the Wechter’s house, we then had another birthday meal (Jerry Wechter’s), where we had salad, prime rib, potatos, asparagus, and cheesecake with strawberries on it. Thankfully, there was no bread so at least it was a low-fat meal. I couldn’t move after that and had to be wheeled to my automobile. I then traveled back to from whence I came and crawled into bed.
Don’t forget, the new radio show is up, a two hour extravaganza with special guest Billy Barnes. Tomorrow we’ll have more of the Meltz and Ernest Story: The Unvarnished Truth. And if you missed any of our weekend jottings or posts, do use the Unseemly Archive Button to catch up. Today’s topic of discussion: One of my favorite genres of film is Film Noir. I have really never understood my fascination with Film Noir, the dark side of the screen, but I do love it. In fact, I did a whole album of Film Noir music, called Sax and Violence. So, what are your favorite films noir? I’ll start: Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, the Robert Mitchum version of Farewell, My Lovely, Anthony Mann’s Raw Deal, The Big Heat, Gun Crazy, Phantom Lady, Woman in the Window, Laura, Out of the Past, The Big Clock, and the late noir, Chinatown. We’ll do other genres later in the week, but for now let’s stick to noir. Your turn.