Faux Dawgs,
I must have eaten a bad sprig of lettuce on Sunday as I was bedridden yesterday with fever chills and only now feel well enough to put on pants.
That is not to say I’m phoning this one in, but . . .1
Listen to today’s song addition to the Mixed Up Files in the player below:
As you can see, I recorded (or began recording) this song at 1:04 AM on Wednesday, April 13, 2011.
My son was about 17 days old when I made this recording.
At that time, I was taking a class at the Univeristy of Minnesota.
The teacher had given us an assignment and said that if we didn’t want to turn in a 5 page paper, we could instead draw a picture, make a poster, or record a song, etc.
I thought, “Hey, this will be a breeze, I record songs all the time.”
So I got home from work around midnight the night before class and went to my little spot in the basement to record this homework assignment.
Shortly after I started recording, the baby woke up and there was much commotion upstairs with my wife tending to the newborn.
I started the recording over.
On the second run through, there was more commotion upstairs and I botched the lyrics, so I started over again.
This happened more times than I care to recount.
As time passed, I started trying to sing as quietly as possible, so as not to wake the baby.
The whispered result is what you hear today.
It is far from perfect, but it is true document of its moment.
I think I got a A.
This song, strangley enough, is about a couple that decides to move to California and the travails they face in that journey.
The couple in the song wind up divorced.
My wife and I are still married.
Perhaps if Ike and Betsy had had a Subaru to cross the Mojave desert, they would have made it through.
This traditional folk song was collected in this song book from the 1800s. It is thought to have been written by one John Stone, aka Ol’ Put.
And with that, I will leave you,
I remain your humble servant,
OX&C,
Faux Jean
I am repurposing old homework once again to get this newsletter out.