Tries Their Best
An Album-A-Day recorded April 9-10, 2005 with my friends Casey Emerson and Stu Jordan, the three of us performing under the name Theophilus Monk. I mixed and produced the album. The name is in homage to those 50s and 60s records where you'd have the band name and then a verb, like Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely or what-have-you.Overture (The Birth of Theophilus Monk)
The opening track, this is an instrumental chiefly composed by Stu Jordan and Casey Emerson. Mr. Emerson is on keyboard and Mr. Jordan is on guitar.
Casey's Birthday Song
The anniversary of Casey's birth, April 19, was coming up when we did the album. I wrote most of the lyrics before crashing on the titular figure's couch, and recorded it as soon as I got up. I wrote the lyrics, play guitar, and sing on this track.
Frattie Blues
Living in a public university town (and being students at the university), the bandmates and I have a lot of exposure to fraternity members (disparaged here as "fratties.") This song plays on some popular stereotypes about this particular demographic. I wrote most of the lyrics. Stu's on lead guitar and lead vocals, with Casey on rhythm guitar during the solo, I think, and he and I both provide some background vocals.
Barry Uhl, Bad Ass
A colleague of Casey and Stu's in the music college, Barry Uhl is a composition major whose primary instrument is the guitar (as the song details). I met the guy on a handful of occasions by the time this was written and found him to be pretty hip, so we wrote this track in homage. Stu's on guitar, and he and Casey do background vocals. I sang lead vocals and wrote most of the lyrics.
Punching a Cow in the Face
For a while I've been sort of fascinated with the idea of punching a cow in the face. It seems much more fun than cow-tipping, which I hear is a physical impossibility anyway. Maybe when I turn twenty-one I'll try it. Anyway, this track's fun because every verse brings with it a gear change. I wrote most of the lyrics and have chief vocal duties, shared with Stu. Casey and our friend Mark Weagel, along with Stu, are featured as cows, and Casey plays keyboards on the track.
Nippon
"Nippon" is the Romanicized version of a (colloquial, I understand) Japanese word for Japan. The keyboard part, composed and performed by Casey, is Asiatic in its key, and I wrote some haiku to serve as lyrics (which I perform).
The Pope (He Dead)
Our Album-A-Day was written between the time Pope John Paul II died and Pope Benedict XVI was elected. This track was inspired by that event, the Pope's passing (naturally), in... all right, I'll admit it... something of an irreverent manner. Casey's on keyboards and background vocals, with me on lead vocals. I wrote most of the lyrics.
Politics (Why I Don't Like George W. Bush)
I was one of those tools who figured Al Gore and George W. Bush would be essentially identical presidents back in 2000, which I empathically no longer believe to be the case. I voted Kerry in 2004, but Bush was re-elected. Here I mention some reasons why I'm not a fan of Bush. I wrote and perform the lyrics, with Stu on guitar and Casey on keyboards. I also mixed, but I mix basically all of our songs.
Finale (The Death of Theophilus Monk)
Instrumentals bookend the album, again with Stu on guitar and Casey on keyboard. I contribute a line of vocals to this one, though, inspired by the Doors' recording of Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor, and then Stu and Casey can be heard in some "studio" banter at the end. Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner" is here quoted as well.