EVERY SONG (AGAIN)

                                               I Could Have Offered To Drive                                                                  Loused-up In Space                    I wrote "I Don't Mind", words and music, in February of 1979 - around the same time as "Everything They Say" - as we were heading into the last few sessions for Won Out. I was trying to write a herky-jerky Talking Heads-type tune. The lyrics detail an outing with a beautiful young telephone operator I'd encountered. Back in the 70's adults were allowed into Oakland's Children's Fairyland (a quaint little nursery rhyme-based amusement  in Lakeside Park) with or without kids. Th...

                                                                                                      SHOO-BE-DOO-BE-DOO-WAH                                                                      First stop of the world tour? As Neil Young once sang: "There's a world". The current version of the Backorders is really the best yet. With two lead singers - Carole "Zingo" Starr and Johnny "Three Bags" Rafferty - the band features the most cohesive and powerful vocal combination ever, especially when adding the voice of talented keyboardist Chelly DuNord, who pitches in o...

A Look Ahead Next up will be the follow-up to Won Out , the singular Le Bonx,  which I've described as using the same notes as its predecessor only in a different order - as good a description as any as you will see. But first let's take a look at the A-side of the bonus single issued with  the second pressing of  Won Out a little ditty called "Wa". The final ultimately-dumplity version didn't slip into the stores in final for until the beginning of 1980. Back then you could bring a few of your albums into a record store - even a chain like Tower and ask the manager to carry it. They usually would and take a cut of every copy sold. It was in all of the big stores - Tower, Leopold's and a couple others I've forgotten. I remember one manager looking at the cover and asking me if he should file it under "Soul". I said "put it on" and he played it on the store's stereo. After listen to the first two songs  he said "Probably Rock. ...

                                                                   Let's Not Be L7 The Backorders, 2023 l-r Laura, Mark, David, Johnny, Chelly, some guy, Carole A lot of songs from the '75 sessions were in various stages of completion when disaster struck and my equipment was stolen, an event that caused a near-total rethink of the Won Out project. Fall On Me, Love Is All Right, Lend A Hand and Whatever You Want were the only songs that were completed and only the  first two ended up on the album (the other two were included as bonus tracks. The electric full band approach was abandoned for a softer acoustic sound. Going forward the songs would feature just my voice and guitar(s) and Arlene's keyboards.  "Feel Better Now" came from The Great Song Explosion of  '73, It's based on a Flo and Eddie song calle...

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 ...

  "Lend A Hand" was written as the Great Song Explosion was winding down.  It was recorded during the '75 full band overdub sessions the same week as "Fall On Me" and several other songs that may or may not appear here. I have no idea why it was left off the album - I remember it was going to be the leadoff song of the second side. It was mixed and mastered and then set aside. I may have had plans to put it on a single - I don't remember. When I was preparing Won Out for cd I went through the session tapes for songs that could be bonus tracks and found it. We didn't even have to remix it - it was ready to go. Ultimately it was the only unreleased song chosen to appear on both cd releases. Lyrically Lend A Hand is unlike any of the other songs on the album because it wasn't about the intricacies of love and romance. I was in a reflective mood when the song was written, thinking about  my life up to that point - what I'd learned and what I'd do...

In Closing "Em No Llaf'" takes us back to the beginning, wrapping things up in a neat little package Won Out is a collection of ruminations on the 5 stages of grief: Denial (You Know Me Blues, Breaking Point), anger (Fall On Me, The Insulting Song and Love Is All Right), bargaining (Trucks In The Sky and Everything They Say), depression (No Magic), and acceptance (Ten Years and Big Ass together) It didn't start out that way - my original intent was to record an album of the best songs from The Great Song Explosion, but life got in the way. The concept developed over the four years it took to put together. I didn't even realize what I had until I was sequencing the songs. With that in mind the cover picture and album title make sense - gripping his guitar and leaping into the rest of his life and leaving the sadness behind, Sparky Grinstead won out over his grief in the end. So, yes, Won Out is a concept album. A post-apocalyptical redemptive accidentally-on-purp...