1)  friend of jesus   -  after my breakup with Carl Richardson i 1979, i went through a period of intense bitterness, oddly juxtaposed with my new interest in 'spirituality',  nominally 'Christian'.   this song addresses the weird contrast as applied to my relationship, then in limbo.  it may be funny.  you decide.


2)  courtship dance -   in spite of bumps in the road, Carla and i did eventually get back together and then marry.  of course getting her to agree to that step was a challenge in itself.  around this time i was reminded of the movie, Walkabout, in which an Australian aborigine boy falls in love 'by mistake' with a white teenage girl, lost in the out back.  he courts her, but eventually dies because she will not respond to his ritual efforts to win her.  hence this song.


3)  there is no death -  my new, dawning, spiritual awareness had it's serious side as well.  i began to compose songs that, if anything, were far too sincere.  or maybe not.  this is one.  incidently, when i heard the music for this after 40 years, i couldn't believe i actually wrote it.  i had to listen twice.  i must have smarter that i thought back then.


4) baby, hold on -  i guess that 1979 is a year i wouldn't care to repeat.  on again, off again with Ms Richardson,  try to hold together the remnants of my performing career while adjusting to life in a strange place --- made me-  well,  INSANE!    the song needs no elucidation.



5) if you're blue tonight  -  religion, i.e. faith, began to help me around this time, but a lot of the time i was just a sad idiot, in love with a girl who had promised so much and now seemed utterly lost and  confused herself.  we wandered through the maze together or apart, hurting, making up again, giving in to despair, crying our little hearts out.  and so on.  thank goodness we got through it and finally married.  we had no choice.  breaking up was clearly impossible.  


6) obadiah -                              to see notes for this song, click here


7) praise you jesus -    another spiritual song from '79.  perhaps an 'original' psalm.


8) teacher  -   definitely NOT a psalm, or maybe it is.  in twisted praise of my 5th grade teacher, Mrs Connaughton.  she had a style of dress while not 'revealing' by grade school standards, still might be called provocative.  one garment in particular comes to mind.  the dress, a black, silky affair, had a slit in the front of the bodice held closed with a gold pin.  which showed nothing remarkable unless Mrs. C turned suddenly on her stool to point at the blackboard.   why would she DO that??  she caught me and Jay Levin red-handed and red-faced when we loudly stage-whispered that the moment we had been waiting for......   'I know what you boys are up to...'   boy, was she steamed.   God bless you, Mrs C.  this is your song.


9) thank you, father -   see note for # 3 on this page.  same time, same station.


10) that's my body  -   and now for something a bit more - ahem - earthy.  things must have been going well vis à vis Carla.  i was happy.