SUGAR ANT
This one came out of watching these little tiny black ants invade our kitchen every summer and hunt frantically for anything sweet that we may have left out to chomp on. They seemed to be so intense and funny as they scurried around that they made me start singing a song to them and it turned into this little tune. I love the way the keyboard solo pans around from right to left just like a scurrying little ant.

CRAZY BLUE BEETLE
Originally I had played this as BABY BLUE BEETLE and it was quiet and peaceful. Somehow I felt like it was not living up to it's potential. I started reading some books about the Beatles and their experiences as a band and how crazy things were for them and I changed it to CRAZY BLUE BEETLE and sort of made it about a little beetle that might be in The Beatles. Musically I decided to make it feel like an early Beatles recording so that the theme and vibe would fit together. I love that way it turned out!

THIS OLD WHALE
I started to imagine a bunch of old man whales retired in a whale retirement home and I could see them sitting around telling tales and swapping lies. I like to imagine going to visit them and how funny they are! This is based on THIS OLD MAN which is a classic that always kind of scared me when I was little. What is "knick knack on my knee" all about? It seemed like a good candidate for a classic that I could make my own with a new theme.

SUMMER BABY
The Black Keys have been on my turntable for a while now and I was inspired by their recent sounds to make something that had that jumpy swamp thing that they are so good at. Originally this was about riding a pony around to a bunch of different locations but it didn't really make any sense. When I got the image of going around with a baby in the summer it just felt right! I love it when the baby sings from the mountain top. I also love the solo section in this one. I played a clavinet in the room with a wah wah sound.

BOOT GOT GROUNDED
This one was all finished for the last record but couldn't find a place in the running order that made sense so I held on to it. I saw in my mind a boot that was forgotten and left outside until it got so grown over with weeds that it could never be a real functioning boot again. Kind of sad I know but I like to sing about sad little things.

MESSY FACE
When my son Augie was really little his mom and I used to sing a song called "Tongue Nose and Eyebrows" while we cleaned up his little dirty face after a meal. This tune was released with that title in 2001 on an album I made and donated to a parent education group called PEPS here in Seattle. Something about the idea of cleaning a tongue never say right with me so I redid it from scratch with a more rockin feel and changed it to MESSY FACE to make it clear what the song is about. I hope this new version becomes the soundtrack to clean baby faces everywhere!

STOMPY THE BEAR
I love this one. It is about the confusion over this bear that stomps around the countryside. Some people think he is nice some say he is mean some say he is yellow and some say he is green and everything in between. The only thing everyone is sure of is that he just wants someone to boogie with! Have fun stomping around the room during the choruses.

ELEANOR THE ELEGANT ELEPHANT
I was driving with Kate and we stopped at a light and I misread an awning on a nail salon that said "elegant nails" and I thought it said ELEPHANT NAILS! That set in motion a whole image in my head of an elephant in a fancy dance outfit trying to impress the king and queen as she spins about in a dainty fashion. She does manage to impress the king and queen in the end and gets to dance all she wants!

BUNNY BROWN
This one is based on an old song called PRETTY POLLY that has a pretty dark theme but a great hook and feel. I took all the original words away and made it about the classic tortoise vs. hare story about the famous race. I had such a good time recording this one. I love imagining the turtle running in place as the middle part plays.

ALL THAT I HAVE GOT
I just wanted to have a song about living as simply as possible even if that means living in an airplane made of clouds! I was thinking of the feeling of old ska and reggae as I made this and I hope it makes you feel like you are relaxing on a beach someplace on a wee island with nothing to worry about at all.

THE ANIMAL LUNCH
I heard an old traditional song called NO MORE PIE and loved the lazy call and response feeling of the song. The original lyrics are all about food so I started to change them to be about a bunch of fancy animals coming for far and wide to eat a big feast. I know the lyrics are not all about food but I wanted to paint an abstract picture in this one rather than just tell a story. Have fun singing the responses in this one with your kids!

I DON'T MIND
Long ago in 1986 I wrote this little song and didn't know what to do with it. I was many years away from finding my voice in kids music so I just filed this one away for later and a year or so ago I remembered it and it fit perfectly with the Caspar thing. Basically it is all about unconditional love that parents have for their kids no matter what. We parents can take a bunch of abuse and still love our kids like crazy.

SCARED SCARE CROW
This song started out as FELL GOOD CROW and was ready to go for the last record but I felt like it was not finished growing. Sure enough I let it sit for a while and the lyrics shifted in to SCARED SCARE CROW about a poor scare crow that can't be scarier enough to actually scare any birds! He comes up with a genius plan to keep his relationship with the crows working. Good problem solving skills!

MORE MOLES
Kate and I were on a walk when we saw a yard all chewed up my moles. That old army chant popped into my head and we started to riff on MORE MOLES! as we walked. Later I put the story in place of capturing the moles then feeling bad about it and setting them up out in the country where they could be happy. Rachel Flotard from the Seattle rock and roll band Visqueen came in with her big pregnant belly and sang the response vocals so that Kate's original response vocals would be in the same range. She did an amazing job and really made the song come to life.

SWEEPIN' BROOM
A song about a scared little spider that becomes friends with a fly in the bristles of a broom. This kind of thing happens every day but nobody sings a song about it and I decided to end the silence and bring this issue into the news with this tell all tune!

LONELY GLOVE
What is up with those single gloves in the street? You know the ones right? They are all over the place and I have noticed that most of them are left handed for some reason. Well you know how much I love to sing about little lost things so I just had to tackle this lonely glove thing! This one went through many many variations actually before it settled on this simple approach. It was about socks for a little while too but I don't see very many of those lost in the street so that didn't work.

SNOWMAN IN THE SUMMER
How strange is this? A snowman just comes walking down the beach and lays out his towel and suns himself until he is gone completely! I have never seen anything like it. But it happened so I had to get it all into a song. Well, OK, It did not really happen but I saw it in my mind so that counts right? This one started out musically as a song of appreciation for the radio show Greasy Kids Stuff and the hosts Hova and Belinda. that's why the lyrics talk about the radio in the chorus. I love this one.

A THOUSAND TINY DOUGHNUTS
So I have a friend named Mark Klebeck who is part owner of a great doughnut chain called Top Pot Doughnuts that makes delicious things. When I did my CD release party at the main branch of the Seattle Library for THIS IS FUN! Mark brought a thousand tiny doughnuts to give away to al the people. That was so cool and fun that I immediately wrote a song for him as a thank you called (you guessed it) A THOUSAND TINY DOUGHNUTS. It is a dream about looking for the ultimate snack. Mark did a great job playing surf guitar which is not surprising since he has his own surf band called King of Hawaii.

EVEN BUGS ARE SLEEPING
The story behind this one is kind of a secret actually. If I told you the real story you might think I believed in ghosts and could write songs with them! But I have said too much. The story I can tell is that I was walking the wet fall dew through the woods and pictured all the bugs tucking themselves in for the night under covers made of leaves. It could be a good thing to say to your kids when they don't want to go to sleep! "come on and go to bed. Even BUGS are sleeping!"