Album Notes

“In Case You Didn’t Know” – Larry Whitler

I like the way the title could read, “In case you didn’t know Larry Whitler.” In a way, that is how I feel this CD was created; as a way to introduce the listener to the core of me which is my music.

So, what else is new? Most artists have a personal element in their art.

Anyway, I’ll give a little liner note for each song on this CD in just a moment. First, I wanted to mention that I recorded these songs in 2007 but, mostly, these were written in the early 1990s.

Okay, here are the notes:

“Burning Passion” – I once thought that EVERYONE had a burning passion for SOMETHING. I certainly had, and continue to have, a burning passion for music. I always imagined that we all have such a passion and all have an instinctive understanding of what our own passion is. This song is about my realization that I was wrong and THAT explains why it has often been so hard for others to understand my own burning passion. Got it? Good!

“In Case You Didn’t Know” – This is a new song. I wrote this while recording this CD. I guess as we face our own mortality we hope that those we love are aware we love them. Still, I wrote this song just in case.

“Morning” – I love this dopey little song. It was originally a poem I wrote. You can probably tell that since there is no bridge or chorus. Lots of “favorite” lines in this song. “Morning I said to a roach by the sink, you’re awfully familiar, we’ve met once I think” is one of them. “Morning I said to a pencil sketch nude” is another one. Hope you like the song.

“Skipping Stones” – This is a much older song than all the rest. I wrote this in 1976 and I’m sure I must have written it about the days I spent with my girlfriend at that time. It was originally an acoustic song but I was in an orchestral mood the day I recorded this and so that acoustic feel is no longer there. Now it sounds almost cinematic. Kinda like the memory I have of those days so very long ago.

“The Lonely Fisherman” – Oh yeah. This is also older than most of the songs. I’m not exactly sure when I wrote this but I’m thinking it was also in the 1970s. I’m not sure of that, though. Anyway, it’s a song about a fisherman who lives his life alone and then, one day, a TV channel decides to give him some local notoriety. He’s on at six.

“All To You” – Back in the day when I used to really pitch my songs by literally walking the streets of Hollywood and New York and knocking on doors to recording studios and music producers, I heard someone say that hit songs are not written, they are RE-written. Well, this may never be a hit but it IS re-written. I’ve have this in my box of songs since the early 1990s but never really liked the lyric. I re-wrote the lyric this year (2007) and now I like this song a lot. Hope you do too.

“In Cedar Key” – I love this one. I love hearing it and I love playing it. It’s about a little fishing town on the gulf coast of Florida. Beautiful little city. I hope they like this song as much as I love their town. In addition to being about the town, it is a song about going to Cedar Key with my son, Alex, when he was just a little boy.

“When You’re Around” – This is ANOTHER song from the 1970s. I was driving a newspaper truck and stopped at a convenience store along my route to get a drink. Someone said something to me that really bummed me out. I’m not sure what they said. Maybe they called me a loser or something. Anyway, I actually started writing this song in the truck.

“We Remember Osceola” – This is a simple song about Chief Osceola, of the Seminole Indians. Just me speculating about how he views his modern day status.

“Taking It All In Stride” – This is for my son, Alex. I wrote it when he was 5 years old in 1991.

“On The Old Railroad” – I, for the first time in my life, will be riding that train that I watched go by so many years ago. This time from the inside.

“Between Dreams And Memories” – I wrote this song this year (2007). I was drawing near to completing this CD and was reflecting on how almost everything we dream to do, or become, becomes a memory in the “blink of an eye.”

“One Little Child” – Another personal favorite. This is me sticking my tongue out.

“New York City Suburban Long Island Rock And Roll Block” – Hmmm…I could tell you a lot about the block I grew up on. I’ll just let the song tell the story.

“I’ll Know I’m Home” – This is a song I wrote about Florida as home. Those who live here think of their home as the beautiful rivers, the cypress trees, the graceful herons, and all the other elements referenced in this song. This is an acoustic version. A more produced version appears on the Robin And The Giant CD titled “Partners In Rhyme.”