wfmt '75 - the song notes




on this page, i give brief biographical and contextual information about each song,  how it came to be written, etc.   for a more detailed biographical memoir  by kendell kardt, click the link: ' the poems of bernard rudolph ' on the home page.   be sure read the disclaimer before proceeding.   click on the title of any song to go to the 'lyrics' page.




            1) buzzy & jimmy  -  


i wrote this song in 1971 in San Anselmo, CA.  my wife, Lynne and i had visited the Point Reyes beach and noticed some  odd creatures on the sand that resembled small loaves of whole wheat bread.  Lynne said they were sea cucumbers.  this may not be accurate. :-)   however,  it gave me the idea for this song , which i wrote in Mr. Whites garden at the house.  it pretty much says how i felt about children, the garden, and my quirky wife. 


                     2) funky song  -                                  for notes on this song,  click here


                     3) gypsy dance  -

i wrote this in Nashville, TN in 1972 while i was working on the first track of my Columbia album to be, which never was.  written for my girlfriend, Varda Perry.  i missed her.  later that week the record company paid for her to fly out from  SF.   they used to do that kind of thing for artists, you know.   of  course you had to pay it back later out of royalties.  it can be expensive.   once she she got there, i didn't miss her anymore.  our relationship was like that.



                     4) just how i feel  -   also written for Varda Perry.  same idea, only slower.  see 'gypsy dance' above.


                     5) lady of a thousand songs  -          for notes on this song,  click here


                     6) lullaby of broadway II -  

in late '74 i was about to relocate to Chicago.  for some reason that fall i had to visit NYC,   always a depressing experience, because i stayed at my parents home.  one evening, i borrowed a car drove into Manhattan.  i cruised  through Times Square, looking for trouble.  i soon happened on a group of young ladies standing and chatting on a street corner.  one of them signaled to get my attention.  the rest is in the song.  a 'country boy in New York.

                     7) silver engine -  

i wrote this song in '71, nominally as part of the 'gospel' group with 'walk' and 'three steps'.    the text iis taken directly from a dream.  the events of the dream are described.    the song sometimes reminds of a German folk tale my Ohma used  to tell, with a similar  them, but not with such a charitable view of the 'bad guys'.  this is a song of tranformation.

           8) tombstone reminder -

i lived in Los Angeles in 1973 -74.  i hated LA and jumped at the chance to leave and take a steady back up gig in Chicago.  a week before i left town,  i met a a beautiful, talented, young woman named Emily Tracy.  we fell in love and i left town.   our relationship was conducterd mostly by mail.  i wrote beautiful letters and beautiful songs for Ms. Tracy.   she should been the love of my life, but she turned out to have ( expletives deleted ) like many other people in LA.    she stayed, and made a name for herself playing the dead vampire in some grade D horror flicks.  at a girl.  i'm still pissed.  can you tell?

 


            9) tutu & the cannibals  -  

during my stay in Los Angeles, i shared a house  part of the time with  Elizabeth Bakewell,  a divorced mother with 10 children,.  i loved the kids.  when their grandma, Tutu, a retired missionary came to visit she told them stories about her life among  the south sea cannibals.

   
                    10) walk on the water  - for notes on this song, click here


                    11) welcome home -  also for Emily Tracy.  'nuff said.     see 'tombstone reminder above.