produced by: michael anderson
art direction: bernie larsen spinoutrecords.com
cover art (limited edition): robert hickland roberthickland.com
cover photo: glen erler - 1988
inside photo:bernie larsen - 2000
I would like to dedicate this collection of demos to real song guys
everywhere, but especially to Dan Howell, Bo Goldsen, Michael Puryear,
Saul Davis, and Eddie DeGarmo.
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The songs on "raw songs"
1. "maybe it was memphis"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: 2000 Taxi Road Rally - Nov. - in LA
announcer: Michael Lederer
Yes kids, the 800 pound gorilla of Michael Anderson compositions.
This version was recorded live at the 2000 Taxi Road Rally. Not the best
Iıve ever performed it, but nice energy and crowd response.
For those of you who like to hear me suffer (ex-wives and their
lawyers come to mind) - this one's for you. I was sick as a dog, wasnıt
sure Iıd make it through without coughing up pieces of lung, and there is
an edginess to the performance as a result. You've heard Pam Tillis'
perfect hit version of it - youıll appreciate her genius after hearing
this.
2. "white trash shakespeare"
2000 cadillac pink music (BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
Self portrait written in the desert near Joshua Tree at Dusty's
motel on a tequila / marijuana fast. My first song written on the 1934
National. I had bought it on a credit card at Guitar Center on Sunset out
of their basement the day before.
My buddy Bobby Hickland and I had breakfast that morning at an old
diner in a small desert town that looked and felt like it was out of a
50's Twilight Zone episode - beehive hair waitresses in orange smocks,
bearded old desert rats in flannel shirts, fluorescent white lights, pink
formica booths - we were jacked out of our brains at 9 in the morning
floating in the shallow end of the gene pool - I thought I was going to
lose it. I couldn't stop laughing. Everyone seemed to be watching us.
(Duh). It was like being in high school, on acid, in your TV.
We were followed out of town by a police officer in a patrol car six
inches off the back bumper of Bobby's truck. I had visions of Gram
Parsons burning in the near by hills and nervous Barney Fife style
deputies with agendas and guns and talking to my son on visitors day
through bulletproof glass on a telephone in prison.
Bobby did his first large painting at the same time out there. We
are going to put out the cd single version of this with his painting as
the cover soon. That will be real art.
3. "no love in you"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
This is a strange version of this song - I've done it as a hard
blues/rock song for years - my best Stones imitation. John Fogerty cut a
rocking version with Albert Lee, Booker T., Duck Dunn, and an all star
band for his HBO comeback special in 1986. He told me then I was the only
living white guy he had ever covered a song by on a record. That "living"
part bothered me more than the "white guy" part.
He originally heard the song on a Textones cassette with Phil
Seymour that came on a room service tray at the Bel Air Hotel - but
that's another story. This is a slow, acoustic, listen to the lyric
version that almost sounds mellow until you get the lyric.
4. "letter from shiloh"
1987 cadillac pink music (BMI)
recorded: pico/robertson studio - 1990 (?)
I wrote this song after touring the battlefield at Shiloh, in
Tennessee. It is a Civil War era song inspired by a letter that is on
display with a soldier's uniform in the museum there.
The letter was written home by the soldier to his wife the day
before the battle. They found the letter in the pocket of the uniform on
his body after the battle. She never got it.
This version was recorded in an apartment/studio I had about ten
years ago on the corner of Pico and Robertson with a couple mics set up
in the room and some people playing just before I moved to Nashville.
I know Lisa Haley is playing fiddle, Randy Mitchell is on guitar,
and Rob Watson is playing piano. I donıt remember the bass player's name.
He was a nice guy through.
I love this recording - funkiness and all - itıs in the feel. It
captures what I felt on a hot summer day walking through the cemetery at
Shiloh in Tennessee. This song became a book and a screenplay.
5. "something to believe in"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
Probably the oldest song in the collection. I think I started this
this in 1978 or so and have constantly been revising it since. It has
been recorded numerous times by other artists, (Textones, Phil Seymour,
Jeff Rollings, and by myself on the 1992 Forefront/EMI record "Saints and
Sinners"), but it still has something unfinished about it to me. This is
a basic version.
6. "she called me white trash (like that's a bad thing)"
2000 cadillac pink music (BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to cassette - 2000
This is a newer song - newest on the cd. Tongue in cheek Nashville
type satire that has more truth to it than I would like to admit
probably.
(Especially for someone allegedly conceived in the back seat of a
32 Ford roadster, born in a trailer park, and who's daddy was buried in
a NASCAR t-shirt - Dale Earnhardt no less, 5 years ago. Not to mention
still has a thing for women who chew gum, smoke cigarettes, drink Coca
Cola, and wear long tight jeans with white pumps and have a Southern
accent.)
And if that ain't white trash - you can kiss my ass.
7. "rosa lay me down"
2000 cadillac pink music (BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
Pure fantasy - unfortunately.
Everytime I drink tequila I'm tempted to become a Catholic again,
marry a Mexican girl, move to Mexico, have about ten kids, and sit on the
porch playing a classical guitar sipping Rio de Plata while she makes
huevos rancheros. Actually, that sounds pretty good right now.
8. "lust, passion, and pain"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
The real story of every love affair of my life. I may grow out of
this someday.
9. "and tonight"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded:criterion studio - 1984 (?)
engineer: guy roche
This is a standout track. The duet vocalist is Shandi. She and I did
this song several times in the early 80's live with my band and this
acoustic version was recorded while we were warming up to cut it with the
band. She absolutely goes angelic with her last chorus - I get chills
listening to it still. When we did it live she was breathtaking.
This was recorded at the Criterion studios in Hollywood about 1983?
Guy Roache engineered it back when I was famous and he wasn't. Did a
pretty lousy job too, judging from the tape hiss. (Just kidding Guy,
really. Don't end my career with a phone call. Please.)
10. "i still love you"
1990 music corporation of america (mca) / cadillac pink music (BMI)
recorded: pico/robertson studio - 1990 (?)
This was recorded in my studio on Pico/Robertson about 1989, I
recognize the bus stop noise in the background. I believe I wrote this
song with Don Kirkpatrick or Michael Omartian - the guitar playing is
better than me so it's probably Donny. I like the vibe of this. I think
it's Dave Raven on percussion and Taras on bass. Also notable for the
first and last time I attempted a Bruce Springsteen type background vocal
with myself.
11. "one touch"
1984 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: in my room - straight to dat - 2000
This is another much recorded old song done bare naked. I did it
with my bands, and Juice Newton heard it at the Lingerie in about 1985
and did it on her "Old Flame" album.
This simple version focusing on the lyric changes the vibe of the
whole thing. I do it live acoustically like this, and have done it for
every show for almost 20 years. Again, probably says more than I'd like
to admit. Been there, done that, still paying for the souvenir.
12. "sound alarm"
1986 cadillac pink music / atlantic music corp. / first release music
(BMI)
recorded: some studio in the valley - 1988 -
This is the strangest sounding cut on the cd. Tons of reverb and I
sound like I'm on helium. It was cut live in a studio for radio release
in 1988 when the album version of "Sound Alarm" was a hit and an MTV
video.
We did this because I was traveling the country doing it live on
radio to good response and the stations requested it. It was very popular
at the time. It's more of a curiosity at this point. But I sound ten feet
tall and bullet proof - reminds me of what it was like to be a kid and
full of jism.
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