THAT TEXAS GIRL
This is the first take of That Texas Girl (currently available on the Late Model Human’s War of the Worlds CD,
as well as my solo CD Real, Real Man). This is a much more raw take than the released version. A bit more angst
and passion on this one. CLICK HERE
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A BOTTLE AND A GUN
When a reviewer recently said my songs "feature strong men in ‘High Noon’ situations" when describing the Real,
Real Man album, I realized that is true for many of my songs such as this one. I’m thinking I should exploit that
aspect of my writing more, considering we live in a time of gutless pussies like George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and
their scared-of-their-own-shadows rightwing followers. Why didn’t we do anything to get Bin Laden after 9/11
again? Oh, right! Because Bush & Cheney are face-down, take it up-the-ass, worthless be-otchs! CLICK HERE
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MARY CAROLINE
A song about the beautiful Mary Caroline of Beaumont, Texas. Written while I was stuck at the Lincoln Tunnel
during the northeast blackout of August 2003. CLICK HERE
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GOING DOWN FAST
At many times in my life I thought I was sinking fast and that there was no way out, particularly in December 1999
when I lived in Hoboken and would walk along the Hudson River at night and think about ending this wretched
existence. Then I’d listen to Billie Holiday and realize she found hope facing much worse situations than I have.
The key is to use that despondency to my advantage by writing or painting, and creating something worthwhile...
This song is a serious throat-shredder. CLICK HERE
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DADDY-O
Roughly: This is about getting paid back for doing wrong.
Then realizing the ultimate price is nothing to fear. CLICK HERE
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THE MOON THE SHINES ABOVE
I always thought this song could be used to great effect in an advertisement for the New York Waterway. It’s about
finding love & taking the ferry ride from 38th & West Side in NYC to Weehawken, NJ. Something I’ve done many,
many times late at night getting home from a night in Manhattan. CLICK HERE
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YOU BROUGHT A NEW KIND OF LOVE TO ME (FRANK SINATRA)
(Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, and Pierre Norman)
This song was introduced by Maurice Chevalier in the 1930 movie 'The Big Pond'. But, as with many tunes that I
cover when I’m alone, I know this primarily by Frank Sinatra. I should put out a whole CD of Sinatra covers,
because unlike most people that do tributes to The Chairman., the songs I cover are generally ones that no one else
touches, like ‘Lady Day’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’. CLICK HERE
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DENISA
I find that the best songs are usually ones that roll out complete with very little actual work involved. This was
written in about a half hour on a sunny day in the spring of 2004 when I passed by the smiling face of the song’s
namesake. Pretty little thing! CLICK HERE
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HE’S GONE
It’s been a long time since this was written, and since great people die prematurely every day, I’m really not sure
who I was talking about. But since the death of decent people is a daily occurrence, the song’s meaning will never
grow old. CLICK HERE
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MY NEIGHBOR’S WIFE
A fun song in the vein of Cold, Cold World, about the never-ending fire of the libido that gets good people in
trouble every day. Most likely inspired by my landlord’s wife in 2003, who was DAMN fine! CLICK HERE
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SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
An exercise in using a popular expression as a hook. I never heard anyone else use this expression as a song title.
When I originally wrote the bridge ( I could have been a farmer’s son / I could have been a rich girl’s man / I
could have had a hollow heart / the kind that you could understand ) I intended it only as a placeholder until the
words could be changed. But the off-the-wall nature of the words seemed so incongruous that I left them in.
CLICK HERE
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PICK UP THE GUN
Another from my High Noon canon of songs. The inspiration for this was the late, great Austin comedian & social
commentator Bill Hicks who did a routine about how the USA at the end of the 20th century had become a
country that arms the world and then fights them (such as Reagan’s friend & fellow freedom fighter Saddam
Hussein). Hicks compared it to a scene in the 1953 Western movie Shane where Jack Palance throws a pistol at the
feet of an unarmed sheep herder and says “pick up the gun”. The man doesn’t want to fight, but Palance repeats his
demand - “pick up the gun”. As the man hesitantly lunges for the gun, Palance shoots him dead and then says, “You
all saw him. He had a gun”. A great analogy for the United States that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against in his
farewell speech and that has since tragically come to pass. I used Clint Eastwood’s bar room bloodbath at the end of
The Unforgiven as the song's setting. CLICK HERE
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