Album Notes

THE STORY BEHIND “MOUSE IN THE HOUSE”

In 1991, I released my first official cassette album entitled “Initial Cut.” It included such silly songs as “Turtle Soup,” “Prehistorical Skater,” and “Badaboum,” (a French board game) among other bizarre raps. Then, in 1994, months before my graduation from high school, I released my follow-up project, “Mouse in the House.” The album had a Christian theme for the most part, but contained some “just-for-fun” songs as well, “Mouse in the House” being one of them. I went on to release several singles throughout college, including “The Institute Thang” (Word of Life Bible Institute 1995) and “My Almamater” (Liberty University 1997), and later put out two full-length pop rock CDs after college – “Dishes” in 2001 and “Backstage Pass” in 2004. I’m currently writing and discovering the sounds of what will be my next album.

The Origin of the Mouse
It’s amazing to me how many people who attended my middle school and high school comment about “Mouse in the House.” In fact, even to this day, I am still sometimes referred to as “The Mouse.” I think part of the reason for this is that the vocals on the original recording were mixed so low, no one could hear the words, which makes me guess many people just assumed that I was the rodent in the song, when in reality, the mouse was just a fictional DJ, a character which since childhood had been part of my life. Let me explain. When I was a little boy, I had a bunch of stuffed animals (as did and do many children). One of these was a grey mouse named “Squeaky” who later became “Squeak” and then later in my rap years, “DJ Squeak” and “C.L. Squeak” (Cheese Lover Squeak, as he is referred to in the song). At the time, I really thought Squeak was a pretty sweet imaginary character until I got to college and realized it wasn’t cool to rap about rodents. :)

Why a Re-Mix?
So why after fifteen years did I make a remix of “Mouse in the House?” Well, for a couple reasons. First, I thought it’d be fun to update the song to a more current style so that my former schoolmates could relive their grade school days, while sharing some of those memories with their own kids. In addition, it was a fun challenge for me to re-invent an old sound using modern hardware and software.

Turn It Up To Eleven
It’s crazy to me how much of an impact this ridiculous song (and cassette) had on the students at Worthington Christian Schools. I hope that you have as much fun listening to the new version as my fellow students have enjoyed jamming to the original through the years.

Starting in 2001, I made the switch from rap to rock. Take a listen to my latest music at:
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MarcAndre