Up to space - the long road to Whatever You Want

Warning: this entry may contain images and material that some may find disturbing or upsetting. Maybe kids or easily offended people should stay away. There's nothing really bad - nobody's naked and I don't use naughty language 

I'm just sayin'

he Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro

 I think my favorite movie of all time is My Neighbor Totoro, the 1988 animated feature from Studio Ghibli directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki. If you haven't seen it, why not? It follows the adventures of two young girls as they explore their new neighborhood, make new friends and encounter Totoro, a legendary spirit (who looks like a giant stuffed animal) and go on fun adventures with it. There's much, much more to it than that but I don't have the words to do it justice. Well, I probably do but I can't find them right now. I know they're around here somewhere. Maybe they rolled under the table. If you ever watch it try to find the original version translated from the Japanese. It was redubbed at some point. If you can't find that version or can't be bothered to look for it that's okay. Since you won't have anything to compare it to it won't make any difference to you. It's a great movie no matter what. The Backorders (my band) are doing a song that's a medley of the Badfinger song "No Matter What" and Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman". I added the following lyrics to the Orbison song to describe the pretty woman of the title: "She Fights like Asuka (Ah-ska), sings like Shiina (Shee-nah) Ringo and looks like a young Joan Chen. In case you're wondering, Asuka is a WWE wrestler, Shiina Ringo is a Japanese pop star and Joan Chen is an actress. Now you know. Unfortunately I don't have a recording of this interesting mash-up, but I promise to post it in the future.

Asuka, The WWE's "Empress of Tomorrow"

"Whatever You Want" was to be the "A Day in the Life" of Won Out, the big production number to close the album in grand style. I worked on it all the way through the sessions for the album, adding effects, re-doing vocals and instrumental parts, shaping and reshaping. trying to make it work. In the end I gave up and put it aside - I just couldn't get make it into the song I was hearing in my head. Listening to it now I can see what I couldn't see then. Maybe if I'd had another pair of ears to help me with it instead of being determined to do it alone...ah well, it's the proverbial water under the proverbial bridge now. It did ultimately make the album as the b-side of the bonus single that came with the second version of Won Out. I did the best I could with what I had. "Whatever You Want" was, of course, meant to be the title song of the album, but when it became obvious that it wouldn't be included I had to put my thinking cap on.. I think the title I came up Won Out suits the theme of the collection better. So there.

The lyrics were a poetic description of my last encounter with my first love, Denise Evans, who I've waxed rhapsodic about in earlier entries

I saw you standing with an older man

Out on the corner where the 'copters land

And as I stood and watched he took your hand

And waltzed with you through the intersection

And you smiled at him with sincere affection

And he waltzed so fine for someone so old

I saw you talking with the boy next door 

Comparing notes on what you had in store

I thought you saw mw but I wasn't sure

I turned away feeling changed and older

The sun had set and the night grew colder

And I'd always thought you were made of gold

You caught me telling my reflection lies

I could have seen it if I'd only tried

And after reading off a list of sighs

I closed the door and I found the staircase

I climbed the stairs and I went up to space

And the stars came out just to see me home

I can't protect you 'cause I can't protect myself 

Still I'm convinced that I won't make it by myself

Out here with someone else

Alone

The 'copters landed as I drove away

The men in blue had come to save the day

But I'd stayed long enough to hear you say

You couldn't leave because it wasn't easy

Your plans were made and you didn't need me

And I realized that you'd never known

I can't forget you 'cause I might forget myself

It leaves me convinced that I can't make it by myself

Out here with someone else alone

If I'm still living in a year or three

The helicopters will have taken me

And from my vantage point up high I'll see

The city steeped in restless worry

Machines and men in constant hurry

But you'll be a sky I can call my own

I suppose those references to helicopters need explaining. A friend was working on a script (or at least had a title) for a movie called The Attack of the Police Helicopters. I wrote "Whatever You Want" as the title song, but he rejected it. When I asked him what I should call it he replied "Call it whatever you want". So I did.

 

Shiina Ringo is a musical hero. She's big in Japan but unheard of in The States

As I've mentioned before, copies of Won Out will occasionally show up on Ebay, on collector sides and in used record shops. I once found a near-mint copy for five bucks in the cutout bin of a local shop. The bonus single that features, beside the mighty "Whatever You Want", a little ditty titled "Wa" (which we'll probably get to tomorrow) is rarely included with it but will sometimes show up on its own. 

Bob Dylan's masterful album Blood on the Tracks was released the same month, January of 1975, that sessions began for Won Out. I couldn't help but be influenced by it. I was listening to it with a friend, who turned to me and said: "You should write songs more like this and stop writing those cute little pop songs". Though I brushed him off with "Bob is Bob and me is me" his words stayed with me and I began working a little harder on my lyrics. Sometimes I went a little overboard (like the present song) but sometimes I got it kinda right (Love Is All Right). I could never approach Dylan as a lyricist, though, so I stuck to my strength - engaging little songs with engaging little melodies that told engaging little stories. I remember trying to write my own version of  the masterful "Idiot Wind". I came up with a thundering opus "Meet Me at the Gate" where I tried my best to make the backing track sound like The Band. It wasn't bad -  4 or 5 verses of me raging about love lost and found again. It was no Idiot Wind but it has the distinction of having more words that any song I've written before or since. I left it in an unfinished state but who knows? Maybe I'll dig it out and try to make something of it. Nah.

Joan Chen starred in Twin Peaks, the singular David Lynch series

Okay, I'm done. Igloo to you and yours. Be safe and remember to be nice.

Today's lesson: "supposubly" is not a word. It's pronounced "supposedly". Get it right.

More stuff: There's another version of "Whatever You Want" on the session tapes, a quiet piano/vocal arrangement that I tried and gave up on. I can only remember one occasion where we tried to the out live - Arlene and me with a stand-up bassist (who stood up. or maybe she had a stool). It wasn't recorded and there are no pictures I'm aware of so you'll have to take my word. It was tricky getting that bass into our Beetle, but we did it. I once bent te front axle of the car missing a left turn one drunken night. I was drunk, not the night - but you know what I mean. Drinking and driving is never a good idea, I guess it would be okay in a zombie apocalypse if you happen to be drunk when it breaks out. If that happens anything goes. SPOILER Speaking of a zombie apocalypse, I watched The Walking Dead until the wheels fell of when Rick left. It limped along for a few more seasons but I wasn't interested.

"Whatever You Want" is included as a bonus track on both Won Out cd releases

 

"Whatever