words and music by Fred-Ex (c)(p) all rights reserved * * * * * A H H H, T H E S O N G S * * * * *What do they mean? Are they mean? YOUNG GIRLS Written just after I graduated high school when I was 18 or 19 about a friend's "young" sixteen or seventeen-year-old sister who thought and acted well beyond her years. Kind of awkward for me to sing publicly as the years progress. Written quite innocently and with a twist of humor that these days probably just seems twisted. Yet, it's still funny to me. I've always liked the bridge musically. One of the best I think I've ever written. The guitar lead is very new wave influenced in my opinion. One of four or five songs I wrote around the same time and in some inexplicable way are connected for me. you can't bring them flowers, young girls, you can't take them drinking, everybody's trying to tell ya, I'LL SAY WHEN Written from a boy's point of view of what generally a girl says to the boy in a relationship, but it's reversed. Played the song once at a band audition in Cleveland and all the band guys' girlfriends listening in thought I was a freak, sexist, jerk, and probably a lot worse. They were seething. They wanted me to change the words, which I refused to do, cause I wanted to make a point that uh, it's reversed. Of course it can be infuriating -- that's the point. I never could adequately explain to them the humor that the song contained for me. I didn't get called back. A lot of my opening guitar riffs are inspired by Chuck Berry's simple but genius riffs, and this one is a case in point. Sung by Donna Brown and myself. she said, boy c'mon now to me, I said, hey babe, I'll say when she said, boy now why you waiting, I said, hey babe, I'll say when it could be today, but i'm not saying yet, hey babe, I'll say when I'M FOLLOWING YOU I wrote this probably shortly after I heard U2's "I Will Follow." I don't remember what they were singing about in their song but I felt I had to capture a certain feeling at the time about a girl in my song. Now, however, I would simply say "Good riddance!" I certainly am not going to be following someone stupidly, for instance, at least I hope not. Yeah, if I was rewriting it today it would be a dance tune called the Rid Dance, but it would be good. if'n you sail the seven seas, if'n you go to somewhere dear, and I don't care about the cost, yeah, I'm following you if'n you go to timbuktoo, if'n you go to somewhere else, and I don't care about the cost, please don't leave me, I'm following you ... I LIKE THEM Written after I read an ad for a strip club in Cleveland. I was still a teenager and couldn't even get into one legally. Nor did I want to just look, anyway. The whole song never happened. I wrote the lyrics after becoming mesmerized by the names of the strippers and the actual descriptions of their show. They actually ran an ad with these words in it. At some point I did see something like this once in the Combat Zone in Boston and all I can say now is, wow, was somebody um,barassed. Still one of my favorite songs 'cause it rocks. jo jo, tammy, wendy, sandy, goldie, laurel, lee, I like them, they show me, I like them, they show me tantalizing fantasizing pleasureful to see, I like them, they show me, I like them, they show me they show me a dance pretty, REPLACE MY BODY Trying again to create a guitar riff worthy of Chuck Berry heights. Written from the point of view that our bodies are a commodity and we are simply consumers harassing God for replacement parts - that is if God has such a thing as a complaint department. Chuck Berry is a great rock and roll musical genius. replace my body I got my bill of sale got time in the world but that doesn't matter I feel run down replace my body I thought I'd keep the goods I been to complaints but they can't help me I feel so strange don't close the store and don't tell me never replace my body TRY Written when I was younger and searching for the true essence of a relationship and finding myself upset that on one particular evening it didn't end with the physical joining between a man and a woman. Sung very well by Donna Brown. Originally all the verses were the same musically. When I presented it to the band they got bored with the repetition and told me to fix the third verse. I wrote different music for the third verse in about 10 seconds. It improved the song considerably. Lyric originally was "and stay awake for loving's sake." try to be there when you know it won't be done and stay away where love won't pay when I saw you last it was for me to find you know I could have stayed that night smile to pleasure drink to all the time that's passed you know I could have stayed that night you know I would have stayed that night SHE WILL Originally written as my own "Gimme Some A Lovin'" (Steve Winwood) with the beat and thumping that I like so much. Lyrically started off as a reference to an imagined drug experience but consciously changed to refer to the concept of "woman as a drug" and an actual experience one night outdoors with a girl that was never physically consummated but ideologically stimulating just the same enough to write this song. I still am trying to understand the full contours of the lyrics because it has many levels for me. When my voice is in full command I go higher at the end in live performance. The band shortened and changed that last part of the song to bring it down a step. I never liked that idea, but since I wrote all the songs, I thought I'd be decent enough to say, "Okay, we'll do it that way." I still cringe when the music transposes at the end. I have another version that may be on an upcoming disc, which also allows for a longer guitar lead at the end. Why irrationally compromise if it makes you miserable? More on that later. DO YOU LOVE ME LOVE LIKE I LOVE YOU Well, I think this should be a big hit, although someone recently told me in a pub that it didn't sound like a "fred-ex song". The song musically wrote itself. Most of the time I have no idea what I am doing. I press play and record and wake up the next day wondering what I sang or played. This song expresses how I feel or felt from time to time in a relationship. Somewhat insecure, so not a healthy one at that really. Who needs the self-doubt. Find someone who loves you and get on with it, unless of course you're already married then fall in love with your spouse. Donna Brown sings this very well. Although when I sing it I rhyme "oughta" with "water". However, she was so sexy and beautiful and humorous, and sang the song so well, who am I to argue? So I didn't. Do you love me love like I love you Every time I see you I feel hot And my heartbeat says, go go go Do you love me love like I love you I love you
This is a serious song I wrote after some girl told me no one could know she had been physically joined with a man. It was a terrible and dangerous secret for her. Years later I found out she had also miscarried around the same time. The two might have been connected. Lyrics were written long before the phrase become so much political triteness in the 90's. Now the song sounds like it could be about someone denying their homosexuality, but it's not. Don't tell anyone Don't tell any friends 'Cause I'm crying, crying, crying, crying
I've always had cheerleaders in my life from time to time and I think that I consistently let them down. It's really nice to have a cheerleader. But, in this song, I am irritated about being told what to do, as if I could not figure out what to do by myself, which undeniably happens more frequently than I'd prefer. The cheer at the end of the song is an actual cheer that I read in a book somewhere I think. I could not and would not write it myself. It's so trite that it fits right with the attitude of this song. Musically, I was experimenting with a very, very cheap keyboard that had a bass part preset. I just went off on it. I really like the feel of the song except for the guitar lead which should have been played in a blues minor scale as opposed to a major scale. It was played by Adam, a remarkable lead guitarist. At the time I was being very measured in what I requested from the band because I had just quit a band when the drummer would not play a part I had written that was integral to the song. I liked this band and did not want to push it to the extremes. No one was getting paid so what can you really expect. Had I asked, I am sure Adam would have gladly fulfilled my request but I didn't ask. Also, this song was a stretch in a new direction musically for me and I welcomed everyone's experimentation with it at the time. CAREER WOMAN An imaginative song about some ideal world in which I could sit at home and drink beer, yet still romance the girl. This song wrote itself musically and lyrically. The guitar riff is original but influenced by Chuck Berry. I like to play two notes together and invent a melody that grabs me. This does that for me. The band was sensational. This one was very popular live with the band as was "Oxford, Ohio." FIRE IN MY HEART I've heard a lot of "heart" songs, and I don't mean the band. This was a combination of two ideas put together, that is, fire and heart. I think it is a powerful image and the music pushes it hard. The lyrics were surprisingly prophetic when they unfortunately came true. In other words, I wrote the song long before any relationship break up. This song was written about a good friend's girlfriend who wanted to break up with him and flirt with me but actually starting playing around with other guys. I think I wrote it about my burning mood regarding it all. Somehow I personalized it to me. Yeah, maybe it's always all about me. This version still considered by me to be a blazing rendition that rocks the wheels off. Amazing guitar lead by Adam. I try to keep up. IF YOU LOVE ME Another blazing guitar lead by Adam. It was so loud that when we recorded the song it affecting all the sound levels. Lyrically, it still holds true. If you love me, tell me. I would like to know. I always thought this song should be a big hit. I LOST MY LOVE TODAY I think this would be the flip side to Bitch if I had a choice in the matter. Written about the same girl at around the same time. I wasn't even in love with her nor she with me but like a grain of sand in an oyster, she irritated me enough to write this song. This girl was some friend's younger sister and younger than me by three or four years. In hindsight I was lucky nothing ever developed. Donna sings it very well and created her own toast in the middle using a grapefruit as a metaphor. [more about the songs later, ....] | |