|
Inspired by tales of sub degree weather on the East coast, this was written by Alan in 2004 as part of a musical compilation for ESQ magazine.
This was written and recorded at the urging of Brian Chidester, a serious devotee of Hawaiian music and culture. Brian heard an old unfinished demo of the "Hawaiian Rhapsody" tune and suggested I use that as the basis for a track for David Beard's 2004 ESQ CD. Brian later came up with the little humming riff on the coda. Around the same time, Susan (Hobie) Lang was calling me up and complaining about the bitter cold of the East Coast winter, and the idea of the "story" came from there... This was a fun one to do - lots of friends came over and sang and played and spoke and otherwise chimed in. Hats off to the "Hula Girl Chorus."
Excerpt from a score for a short 1920's film, which was written by Alan in 2002.
For years I've been collecting and restoring vintage films, often licensing "Americana" footage for documentaries, broadcast, DVD release, etc... Years ago I found a wonderful little "travelogue" from 1928 showing off some of the eccentric architecture in Hollywood, and scored it for release on DVD and broadcast on the Classic Arts Channel (plug! plug! - it's available as a "bonus attraction" on Flicker Alley's release of "The Garden of Eden" available at info@boydproductiongroup.com. And yes, I did borrow a bit of "In My Merry Oldsmobile" for some great shots of 20's gas stations…
Boyd steps away from the sunny southern California style, and goes hopelessly romantic... Look forward to more of this type of song from Alan in the future.
This was a collaboration with Steve Kalinich - poet, songwriter, and a friend whose intense, loving spirit can reach the deepest recesses of a hardened heart. Mine included. The world is a scary place these days, and this song just sort of came out one afternoon when Steve and I wanted to create a little something positive, a song with not even a hint of cynicism or irony, a song of appreciation. I guess it's about not taking those we love for granted. Feel free to sing it to your cat. Don't be shy...
Back to the beginning…
We'd just about finished assembling this CD when, at the last minute, I had this weird urge to go back and revisit the first song (I must have driven Trish bonkers doing that). I called on Stan Shapiro, a dear friend I met through "Beach Boy Land" (Stan had written lyrics for some incredible unreleased Dennis Wilson songs), and he helped to come up with a new approach, kinda summing up the whole "California Myth" thing from the point of view of a guy trying to persuade a girl to come to the Promised Land of the Pacific...
|
