DAN LONDON

Wherever jealousy, the space program, and a stubborn self worth intersect, you will find him.

A guy loves a girl that he shouldn’t or doesn’t love him back or loves him back but has another boyfriend, or loves him back but can’t take it. You choose.

Rockets launch. Guns are loaded and cocked. Floodlights drench the sky in white. Our man hums to himself kicking pebbles on the ground. He hears Nico singing -

He says to the woman in his head -

Our man walks home. The power has gone out. He enters the house blind and searching. He finds what he was looking for and swears. He still smells her perfume. Hearing a sound in the darkness he clicks the thing on. Startled, he turns, shining the light in her face.

Guitars harmonize. Moons form, crumble, and form again. “Is that a flashlight in your pocket?” she asks him. Our man opens his mouth to answer as she continues. “Or are you just …” , well you know what she says.

It’s Friday night in the suburbs. You are a 17-year old boy hanging in your friend Jeffery’s basement. The room is packed. It’s big hair and Marlboro Lights, Domino’s boxes, 2 liters of Orange Slice, cheap beer, makeshift pipes and bongs. Katherine is at the pool table in a low cut tie-dye. She lines up her shot. The light bounces off her cleavage. She’s solids. Your stripes. You want her like only a 17-year boy can.

The question is does Katherine understand the power she is growing into or is it simply learned behavior? Is this how the older girls always acted and she’s gonna fake it till she makes it? It’s academic to you. She smells of lip-gloss, cigarette smoke, bubble-gum, and Prell. That intoxicating brew. To this day it brings you back to those nights and that basement. It almost makes you hungry for Domino’s. Almost.

Cat Steven’s influence looms large over this song. Think ‘The Wind,’ or anything off of ‘Tea For the Tillerman’. Thematically the idea of “journey” that the now named Yusaf Islam was so good at writing and made you feel like you were right there with him on the road to find out.

The Mellotron software I used on this song has a patch called ‘Strawberry Fields’ flutes apparently sampled from the original Mellotron. I played sounds using a tiny old Oxygen 8 that once could only be made by creaking tape machines housed in a 2-ton keyboard. Strange days indeed.

The Internet has fractured the tastes of billions and caused an emotional diaspora where like minds gather in disparate parts of the globe and form tribes based around their fondness of arguing about tube technology or how to watch The Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon. It makes one long for the days when pool tables and cleavage were the results of innocence instead of the inevitable destination of youthful promise gone unfulfilled.

I heard Katherine is married now with children of her own. For their sake and mine I hope she teaches them to shoot pool. Nine-ball would be nice. It’s the better game.

Where he discovers that all food is political.

Imagine a yet unknown Bukowski drinking hard and slow on a Tuesday night in winter. JFK Jr. and his latest paramour walk in and it’s like somebody turned on the lights. The world smells better. This couple orders some food to go, drinks some beer, laughs, talks loud, and leaves. The lights dim again. Bukowksi starts a poem in his head, mouths off to Stallone’s brother and wakes up later with a black eye and an idea.

The title comes from the soap opera Kramer mentions in a Seinfeld episode.

The second verse about Henry Ford and JP Morgan came from a different song that I never finished. In the book Ragtime, there is an entire section on how JP Morgan and Henry Ford formed their own secret society based on the belief they were modern day pharaohs.

This song was also written during the time of market meltdown and bank bailout and based on feelings I had about that while reading the Michael Lewis book, The Big Short.

Will Dickson played a beautifully boom snap beat during the verse and chorus and Kurt’s tambourine really pushes the chorus with its 16th notes against the 8th notes of the toms. I used a sampled Mellotron patch that doubles the oohs in the second and third choruses. Ilene also sings some oohs. Listening back they are as much Supergrass influenced as Brian Wilson.

I went for bread and circuses anger presented as a Beach Boys-Phil Spector influenced production like a troll lurking beneath a fancy bridge. Think Twin Peak meets Chomsky with a sense of humor. To all those pissed off folks trying hard to stay in a good mood, this one’s for you.

Where he hears ‘God Save the Queen’ in an elevator and wonders who won?

I always wanted to write something that had me singing parts of words in the rock tradition of My Generation. It’s fun playing with what could sound like a novelty song but has something underneath if the listener cares to venture there.

When reading a biography of Neil Young’s early career I got the impression that he sacrificed many friendships for the sake of his success. By way of apology he’d sing about them or mention them in the liner notes. That’s living the Rock Stars way.

I wrote this song in the ocean while vacationing with my wife and her family in South Carolina. The water was like 80 degrees and I’d float around seeing the words in my head. I tend to write a lot away from the guitar. I’ve finished many a song while doing the dishes, or in the shower, laying in bed, or driving to work. Many mornings I ran to my desk looking like I couldn’t wait to get started earning my day’s pay when really I was trying type what I came up with in the car before it returned back into the ether.

Played this a couple times with the Longwalls. The infamous but honest with a check Mickey Bliss woke up during it and started working the lights which I took as the highest form of flattery. Another time at an air force base a government employee of some sort refused to believe the song wasn’t a cover. Some advice for the aspiring musician: when driving onto an airforce base for a gig, make sure your driver’s license hasn’t expired or at least travel with other folks who have licenses themselves.

Before recording the drums, I had given Will most of the songs to practice. Yet I threw Rock Stars at him last minute. He did a great job and came up with the perfect beat. Kurt and Mike Quinn sang with me on the choruses. Picture the Separate Ways video by Journey, only we had less hair, we were inside, we were sitting down, and unfortunately not wearing denim jackets. Actually, for your sake, never picture the Separate Ways video by Journey.

This was the first song we worked on after the drums were down and it became the working base of the record as well as a measuring stick.

Where he learns that by surrendering to the wave he will not drown.

Our boy is dating a beautiful woman of Puerto Rican descent. She’s his first serious girlfriend in a while. She’s smart. She’s funny. She’s hot. She digs messing with him. He likes her. He likes her a lot. This scares him. To make matters worse he can’t roll his r’s no matter how hard he tries. She doesn’t care about his r’s. She wants him to relax. She wants him to concentrate on her. She wants him to solve the problems he can.

This song started out just the chorus on acoustic guitar with different words. Listening back I thought it could be heavier. It could be poppier. The story was built around that. It just showed up with the verses. I hear it as Suffragete City Bowie meets Ace Frehley’s Back in the New York Groove with some harmonized guitars ala’ Boston. Will Dickson plays them groovy drums. Kurt von Stetten keeps it moving on tambo. I sing the vocals parts, play guitar and bass. Mike Quinn pieces it all together.

Whip out them roller skates, force yourself into them Jordache Jeans, and give it a listen. If you like it go to Bandcamp and download the whole thing. Name your price, this week only. Thanks for lending your ears.

Check out my new record on the Static Motor Recordings label entitled Happy To See Me. Featuring fellow Longwaller Kurt von Stetten , engineering by the world famous Mike Quinn, keys and vocals by Leeny Tunes creator Ilene Altman, and drumming by Will “running stance” Dickson, Happy To See Me is my 1st solo record. It’s been described as “Ray Davies meets East Coast cool” and “… a midnight run through the trials and tribulations associated with becoming comfortable in one’s own skin”. I call it “Happy To See Me” because it says so right there on the cover.

It’s available at Bandcamp, ITunes, and here at Static Motor.