Steve Skaith Band - Imaginary Friend - Song Descriptions
Album Details :: Album Lyrics :: Song Descriptions
Imaginary Friend is an atheist song pure and simple. Not only because of the appalling effect of religious fundamentalism in the world, but because it seems to me absurd for anyone at all to believe that there is a ‘Being’ out there who planned our creation, watches us, judges us and one day will reward or punish us. It really is like believing in the fairies or, as the song says, that the world is flat. I don’t deny spirituality or the as yet unexplained wonder of the universe, but God? It defies all evidence. Fundamentalist and liberal believers alike all have to resort to ‘faith’ to justify their beliefs and in a way the Liberals – even leading open and progressive lives – do help to sustain the fundamentalists by sharing the view that truth comes from above. How can we ever hope to have alternatives to the ridiculous war on terror, war on drugs, war on sexual freedom,if we believe some heavenly father is instructing us. Sorry, I can’t swallow any of it.
So why put Hidden Hand on the record?
Hidden Hand. Actually there were moments when I wondered whether we should include this song, though I always liked it musically. It’s an old Mike Jones lyric but for me it’s a song not about whether there is a God in the watching, judgemental sense but what the universe is all about and how come it seems to work. Plus, how difficult it is for us to get our heads round it conceptually: the universe had to have a beginning but how does something start if there is nothing before it? I particularly like the last verse and the picture of someone staying up all night trying to fathom out what it all means and getting nowhere.
Do Without Aladdin. I think the lyrics of this are pretty straightforward and I think we’ve all been there wishing for some magic, short-cut solutions to a problem or two. I included this song with confidence because for the first 9 months of his life it was my son’s favourite song and always, but always, grabbed his attention, making him smile and even getting him into some primitive dancing. This must mean it is catchy, surely!
Imaginary Friend was chosen as the title track of the album because for me it’s the most ‘important’ lyric – by which I mean the one I most want to be heard. There was a problem though in working out what relation this would have to the rest of the album and the more personal lyrics that we were using. At first, the idea we had for the album cover didn’t really help this (See left picture). Fortunately the record company (politely) rejected our cover idea and came up with the photo that we are now using. This suddenly gave more coherence to the album because the image has a strong sense of loneliness and isolation and this relates quite directly to the themes of some of the other songs.
These other songs are all Mike Jones’ lyrics and old lyrics at that. They come from the archive I have of his lyrics which I turn to most times I want to write a song. To be honest, Mike is not exactly thrilled that these lyrics are now seeing the light of day and claims not to particularly remember why he wrote some of them. For me though, they definitely resonate and form an interesting counterpart to the more optimistic tone of Life and Adios for Now.
Gave Somebody a Night. I think it was originally written at the time of the Latin Quarter album ‘Bringing Rosa Home, around 1995. I remembered it for this album after Ricardo and I were discussing rhythms we like and I realised that this song could be fitted to one that we both like very much.
This song begins with the image of a guitarist arrogantly and even violently strutting his stuff on stage before an adoring audience (one kind of one-night-stand) and then becomes a reflection/memory of unhappy, disappointing sexual encounters.(Other kinds of one-night-stands.) At times the meaning – as with many MJ lyrics – is opaque, but for me lines like ‘Dry your eyes with alibis/And don’t go looking back’ are brilliant to sing and of course resonate with meaning. Many relationships are abusive, not in the strict (and terrible) physical sense but precisely because we search for alibis and not honest reasons for what we do.
Life - Actually God nearly appeared in this song because at one stage I had the line ‘When God says that was your life/I’ll say I don’t believe in you/But as you’re here, give me 5 more.’ I liked it but it didn’t fit. This is a song I wrote one night, thinking about impending fatherhood. The line ‘Daddy makes his debut’ is actually stolen from a Mike Jones song from years ago that is probably now forgotten (but that line always stuck in my head.)
Whisky, Hatha-Yoga. This is a portrait of a very quirky married couple that Mike knew in the 60’s and early 70’s. He with his ridiculous looking wig, she with her dual obsessions: whisky and Hatha-Yoga. The line ‘Like a rogue in a toga’ is my favourite because, I think, it’s a little unusual in a gentle lyrical song like. And that’s a plus in my opinion.
How Many New Toys. A song about someone who is constantly dissatisfied and restless wherever they are. Someone who doesn’t fit in because they are always looking beyond to what they imagine may satisfy them more. Mmm
Stranger at Your Door. This is a song that I have played with for many years, finding melodies then rejecting or forgetting them. This time I recorded it. It’s a simple memoir of the break-up of a relationship but for me the interesting thing this time was to realise that the ‘Stranger’ is not necessarily (or only) another man but the writer/singer himself who has become a stranger to his former girlfriend. It seems obvious that this is what the song is implying, but I didn’t notice that till recently.
The Emperor. This is a song about fame and the modern obsession with it. The verses are about the original ‘King of Rock’, Elvis Presley – he was born in Tupelo, Mississippi – and the chorus is about queues of young guys dreaming of being the next big thing - now more than ever with shows like Pop Idol, American Idol, The Academy. These shows are truly depressing. Watching industry figures (and I try not to) decide which singers fit the marketing formula is a perfect counter-revolution. Rock music began as a rebellion against the conservative and stifling culture of the 50’s and early 60’s and was led by the artists, not the marketing people. Whenever it is renewed (as it was by punk for instance) it is renewed by that same spirit and never by the Simon Cowells of this world.
Its not that previous generations of singers didn’t want to be famous. Many revelled in it and in fact it destroyed them (Elvis Presley actually being a good example.) But it does seem that all those stars started out through a love of what they were doing – singing, playing, acting. Nowadays fame seems to be an obsessive thing in itself: the Paris Hilton syndrome where singing songs and selling perfume amount to the same thing.
Adios for Now - I’m planning to move back to the UK in the summer and this is simply a good-bye to things Mexican. Some are people/places/things I really love (Lila Downs, Huatulco, Negra Modelo beer) others are there because the European listener may recognise them(Hugo Sanchez, Frida Kahlo), others because they sound so good (Tequisquiapan).
The song started with the rhythm suggested by Ricardo and then I had this idea for the lyric and a tune. But the process was completely different to any other song I’ve ever been involved with. We simply decided on this repetitive formula: vocal verse to be followed by instrumental solo, then that instrument stays in under the next vocal verse, then a new instrument plays a solo, staying in for the next vocal verse etc., etc. So gradually the whole thing builds up. In other words it’s a song that depends completely on the arrangement and the solos and if it was played just voice and guitar, would very quickly get boring. Up until the last couple of weeks of recording, I had no idea if it would work, nor exactly what solos we would use and if they would turn out OK. Now, I have to say, it’s my favourite piece on the album.
Song descriptions by Steve Skaith 2007.