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Take Me Back To The Lodgings

from 8 Trackology by John Tabacco

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Words and Music © 1986 by John Tabacco
Published by It Iz What It Iz Music (SESAC)

A third attempt at reggae, this time in the Tin Pan Alley vain (at least that's how Dan Robinson heard it). It's about a crazed dude who works at a Howard Johnsons™ in a glass booth (a fish tank), renting cars. He wants to go back to the Kabloona sailor life he once knew. Every time he dreams of his escape, he's interrupted by a stupid phone call or automobile renter. Eventually he gets so fed up he decapitates himself by deliberately falling neck first on an ice scraper with razor blades scotched taped to it. The outcome: He pops into heaven thinking about being a kid and his dilemma remains unchanged. Now he's behind a glistening white counter renting out wings and golden harps and other angel type paraphernalia.

The form of this piece is complicated due to the fact that in my early drum machine stages I would create a drum track on the DX Oberheim and randomly play different patterns by pushing a button whenever the right amount of measures passed. I did not know how to sequence the information into a song. I think I figured it out after this tune. The bass sound is made up of a Juno 106 patch and a sample of Frank Zappa's "Sinister Footwear Movement 3". It gives the piece an almost carnival type of feel. The battling solo stuff toward the end was a bitch to co-ordinate. We didn't have a computer yet, so I had to play the keyboards live. However, the Ensoniq Mirage™ sampler came with a cheap sequencer. I played some notes into it and pushed the sequence button whenever it felt good. Left channel, right channel, left channel, right etc... For some stupid reason one of the solos is on the lead vocal track making the final mix very tricky to do. However, I liked the way I sang the melody so I didn't try to fix it. Again, the sound quality of the vocal sucks. I recorded it just before I purchased the Neumann U89 microphone, (a microphone that turned into a wise investment). It gave me some clout at Modern Voices Recording and maybe even subconsciously influenced Paul Michael Barkan and Marci Geller to let me live at their house for a while. If there is any similarity between this tune and Paul McCartney's "Can You Take Me Back" (a snippet on the White Album) it is not a coincidence.

lyrics

TAKE ME BACK TO THE LODGINGS

Tara and her little paper tigerrrr...
They can't bother me now
You know I put them in a grinder
Then I fed'em to Sal

They've been getting on my nerves like everyone else
From the garbage to the laundry
Time to make a reservation and settle my debts
with the Salvation Army

Gotta take me back
I gotta take me back to the lodgings
Gotta take me back
Gotta take me back to the lodgings

Take me back to where the only cheese
is what what you add to liven up your spuds

Gotta take me back
I gotta take me back to the lodgings
Take me back
Gotta take me back to the lodgings

Always buggin' me the minute I begin to undress
'specially when I take a solo
Can't ya see I'm evil when I'm under duress
Ya gotta grab me by the pollo and...

Take me back a step and write me a check for
Sixty thousand dollars worth of quiche
Where the wholesalers go to buy some bottle neck
And Rio gets that big fat chick
Well, maybe next year....
Ooooo take me down

(solo interuptus plays here)

(choir at the funeral takes place at this point)

Gotta take me back
Been spending too much time in this fish tank
Answering calls from people I don't even want to talk to
Gotta take me back!
I was eight years old having a good time
Not too much to worry about
Yeah, I liked those days back at the lodgings
Got to destroy a lot of plastic things and I didn't feel too guilty about it

credits

from 8 Trackology, released September 22, 2014
JT : Vocals, Bass, Mirage Keyboard™, Guitar

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John Tabacco Stony Brook, New York

John Tabacco is a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and visual artist.

Like an unfolding musical diary / puzzle, Tabacco’s music and art are constantly being re-worked, juxtaposed and intertwined.

For more info : www.johntabacco.net ... more

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