Album Notes

Bob Baker’s heroes include the guy who writes a letter to the DMV asking for a “handicapped” parking permit on grounds that his heart is broken:

"Since she left I’m a human frown
Can’t stand up for falling down
I lost a hundred points off my credit score, so
How can you ignore
This handicap?"


Then there’s the guy who explains to his psychologist why "low expectations" keep him sane:

"When life hands me lemons
It’s lemons they stay
When I go to trial I don’t get off like O.J
When I come on to a woman she rejects me at first sight
I expect nothing and I’m always right"


And the guy who dreams that he has insomnia:

"There’s a black, jagged pit of dreams rubbed raw
And a man whose body aches
So tormented by some nameless phobia
That he thinks he’s still awake"


And the guy who can’t figure why he just got dumped.

"I was there from the start, I healed your broken heart
I propped up your confidence
Til one day I spotted this younger guy
Climbing over your fence
I politiely asked you for his name and you said:
You can call him lover man
And then you got into his van"

And the creep who celebrates getting “an e-mail from a female,” and tries to lure an under-aged girl on the Internet:

"Open it up, wop boom bam
Praying so hard that it ain't spam...
...It ain't spam, it's a girl named Gwen
Asking me do I wanna I.M.?
I got an e-mail from a female
I got an e-mail from a female
I got an e-mail from a female
Maybe she'll be the one."


Once in a while, some of these guys develop a conscience or a backbone. Like the one who refuses to take a cheating girlfriend back and wishes that four grotesque scenarios befall her. Or the one who vows to stop settling for being “almost there.” Or the country singer who can’t wait to tell his mother that his struggling band finally made an audience dance. Or the lovesick guy desperately breathing the name of his lover. Or the one who is still consumed by 9/11:

"Half the world is crazy, and the other half is scared
When it comes to dying, they’re religiously prepared
They cross the street on red lights,
they don’t look the other way
So confident they’re never gonna make it through the day
They used to love to greet the dawn,
but nowadays they hurl
Epithets at sunrise--there’s a madness in the world. "


Bob’s characters grew out of three decades of chronicling human absurdity as a newspaper reporter and editor. He quit the Los Angeles Times, produced a home-made demo, and made two trips to Nashville to re-record the music with session players. That experience was so heart-warming that Bob authored a first-person account of it in the New York Times in 2007. (See "Links" info on left-hand side of this page.)

Bob, a Los Angeles native, is the co-author of “Burn, Baby! BURN!” (University of Illinois Press, 2003), the autobiography of legendary R&B deejay Magnificent Montague. He also wrote "Newsthinking" (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), a book on mental organization for journalists.

Here's a translation from a Dutch website specializing in alt-country, http://www.altcountry.nl/recensiesmrt08.html#bbaker

The 58-year old Bob Baker gives up his job as an editor with the Los Angeles Times, puts together a music demo at home and travels to Nashville twice to record his songs with the help of studio musicians. When the CD is finished, he writes an interesting article for the New York Times about the making of "Low Expectations" (self-released). To summarize: The pros dedicate a few sessions to Baker's songs, who initially fears losing control of his work, but soon starts to realize that they are taking advantage of opportunities that he himself had not yet seen. The singing process is a dramatic experience for Baker, but after some cutting and pasting in the mixing room, the songs are finally ready. Baker's doubts don't disappear until he listens to the songs on his car stereo while cruising through his own neighborhood. And what does he hear? A successful recording that defines his style as a rocker similar to Dave Edmunds or Dan Baird. In a way, it's a little disconcerting that professional studio cats can so easily crank out a fun rock record. But of course that has everything to do with Baker's writing, who knows that rock 'n roll is all about nonsense with a serious twist. This results in songs such as "Handicapped," about a young man who requests a handicapped parking permit for a broken heart. Or the Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis-inspired "I Got an E-mail from a Female," where the protagonist tries something with a minor girl.