I love the introductory sectional verses that happen frequently throughout the Great American Songbook. The tradition of having a songs stage set, by using a free musical structure and speech-like rhythms, goes back to the theater. It’s a way of transitioning from the context of the play into the context of a song; a sort of decompression chamber of suspended reality. Songs like “I’ll See you in My Dreams” and “I Could Have Danced All Night” are examples of this, and The Beatles “Honey Pie” is a tip-of-the-hat to this all but forgotten stylistic motif. This song has one of those sectional verses, which I thought was appropriate, since I was writing about a vintage toy. The idea for the song came to me while looking up Robots on Ebay.

 I like writing songs for Joelle. She has a quality of voice that I admire, and I want to do justice by. I was thinking about her while writing it, and fortunately she liked it enough to sing it. Originally, it was supposed to be a whiskey drinking song. Joelle don’t drink no wine.

Ahh… the joys of the early Walkman era. But my family couldn’t afford a real Walkman, so I was lucky to unwrap a sears version with a generic sheen of hot pink and turquoise on black. It was wonderful.  I’m very sure I immediately tested it with Rush’s Hemisphere’s cassette. Propping the lid open would give you the proper EQ, otherwise it sounded like the band was sandwiched between pillows.