Album Notes

TRACK-TALK:
(A travel through the songs on Tommy’s new release!)

1) PLAY THAT CHEAP TRICK, CHEAP TRICK PLAY – I was cleaning the kitchen and listening to Cheap Trick when I got the lyrics in my head. I started writing lyrics in between washing dishes. From there the song roams around some familiar topics for me: the love for my family, self-doubt, and playing my gigs, whether they ever pay off in worldwide fame or not. My favorite part is the nick of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” at the end.

2) IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT GOOD – Another song about domestic life and coming to grips with the notion that not every moment in home life HAS to be some massively satisfying moment. It doesn’t have to be that good; it doesn’t have to be that bad. By the way, the album can be looked at as a box set of 6 singles. Track 1 the A side, this one the B-side, and on and on through the record.

3) BYE & BYE – A song about running into an old flame in the grocery store, and my mind flooded with images of life back then when we were together, and how for a moment they make my life now humdrum in comparison. Side A of the second single.

4) I’M TOO OLD TO FEEL THAT WAY RIGHT NOW – The B-side, where I stand up for myself to the old flame a bit. Your face and body still make me do the hula-hoop inside, but baby, I’m just too old to feel that way right now. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to curl up with a good book and a tall glass of Metamucil. Nighty-night.

5) ON & OFF THE WAGON – Oy, if THIS isn’t the story of my life! I have tried “controlled drinking” so many times in my life. I’ve wound up drunk a lot too.

6) 90 MILES AN HOUR DOWN A DEAD-END STREET – Already a live favorite, this is a rap, just voice and drums, telling a true and terrible tale of driving from Cleveland to Indianapolis drinking Chianti and proceeding to blow the whole Indy gig in a big, bad way. Like all my spoken word pieces, it rambles over lots of topical terrain. Not hard to see why this is the B-side to Track 5.

7) GUILTY SNAKE BLUES – I had a lot of these lyrics for years. It’s about all the lust I’ve ever had in my heart. I think. Jim Hoke blows a mean saxophone on this one.

8) POT HEAD BLUES – Maybe my personal favorite on the record, and an unlikely choice. It’s a quiet little acoustic number lamenting all the years I’ve lost to being stoned.

9) I LOVE YOU TO PIECES – I like this track a lot too. It’s a good greasy rocker. The words are all about flirting with a pretty girl. (For me, it’s my wife. For you, make your own choice.) I also like the two verses of plain jamming with the guitars and harp at the end of the song. It’s not all lyrics and plots here, sometimes it’s just musical fun going on.

10) OVER THE HILL – The B-side love song going along with Track 9’s A-side. I had this tune in my head for years and it finally found it’s home. I love the horns on this track. Kinda reminds me of Donavan’s “Mellow Yellow”.

11) WISHES DO COME TRUE – A quiet interlude, written with Irene Kelley. It’s a song of eternal love, but there are some disquieting aspects there too. There’s a whiff of infidelity in there, but it’s never defined. Sometimes it’s best not to define some things after all.

12) LET’S HAVE ANOTHER CIGARETTE – On my “There, I Said It!” record I had a song called “I Want a Cigarette”, so hey, let’s have another one. This time, fidelity wins out. I’m flirting with a cute girl before heading out of town to the next gig. Nothing’s going to happen. I’m too old to feel that way right now. Watch my taillights fading out of town. And that’s my record. I’ll see you when I’m back in town. If you’ve got the stomach for it. Start the darn thing all over again.