Joel Schick
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Hot Summer Night Hot Summer Night
'60s vocal group rock & roll. What those swingin' summer nights were REALLY like for some of us in 1962.
Gimme A Stem Cell And A Bottle Of Beer Gimme A Stem Cell And A Bottle Of Beer
Mellow, jazzy vocal harmony blues. Bessie Smith wanted a Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer. This guy wants to impress a girl at the bar. But all he's got is the wrong stuff.
Smoky Bar Smoky Bar
Jazz-country vocal harmony song about cheatin'. Yeah: It's cheap, it's tawdry, it's hollow; I have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Let's do it!
Wham Bam Beadle (My Baby's Comin' Home Today) Wham Bam Beadle (My Baby's Comin' Home Today)
Rockabilly-urban blues. 'I got the Smirnoff Ice, I got the shades all drawn, me and my baby's gonna tie one on. Wham bam beadle, doozan-doozay, my baby's comin' home today.'
Drinkin' Straight From The Bottle Drinkin' Straight From The Bottle
Straight-ahead slow C-minor blues. Sometimes you're holed up with the blues. It's a long night in a downtown walk-up hotel room. You're drinking straight from the bottle--living film noir.
All Dressed Up (No Place To Go) All Dressed Up (No Place To Go)
'50s doo wop group vocal. The midwestern boy has come to make it on Broadway. It ain't happening. The glitter rubs right off and you're nowhere.
Natalie Portman Natalie Portman
Country blues waltz. There's always a gold standard of feminine beauty: The girl always holds herself up to it, and finds herself wanting. The boy finds himself wanting too--he wants the girl. Just as she is.
I Can Do That By Myself I Can Do That By Myself
Country ballad. I let you have what you want, I let you do what you want. But I won't let you make a fool of me, darlin'...I can do that all by myself.
Desperate Times (Call For Desperate Pleasures) Desperate Times (Call For Desperate Pleasures)
Mellow old jazzy R&B vocal and harp. Desperate times call for desperate pleasures--come on, baby, I'm desperate right now.
Sucks To Be Me Sucks To Be Me
Electric boogie blues. Some days everything goes bad. You shoulda stood in bed.
On Division Street On Division Street
Groovy, bouncy little jazz number. Love comes to the lonely subterranean boy, and even mean old Division Street becomes a place of joy.
Day Of Atonement Day Of Atonement
Doo wop vocal group style. An homage to Allan Sherman. It's Yom Kippur, and the guy calls his ex to atone for being such a putz.
Roswell, New Mexico Roswell, New Mexico
Mexican border ballad to a beguine beat. There are so many reasons the boy and girl in a song can't get together. In Roswell, NM, there's yet another.
Hard Times In Silicon Holler Hard Times In Silicon Holler
Traditional country, homage to Woody Guthrie Depression ballads. Updated to Appalachia today, and the coming and mostly going of decent high-tech jobs.
Weapons Of Mass Destruction Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Honky tonk country, homage to Tom T. Hall, Charlie Rich and all the rest. We finally found the WMDs: This chick's got 'em, hidden in plain sight, in the vicinity of that tank top. And she ain't afraid to use 'em.
Do The Perp Walk Do The Perp Walk
'60s vocal group R&B. Homage to Watusi and Locomotion and Monkey Time and, yeah why not?--Tighten Up. You watch the perps on the news; it's all so ritualized it might as well be an actual dance.
Blue Reverie Blue Reverie
'30s American Songbook ballad. It even starts with a verse. Homage to Lorenz Hart, always cynical and poignant, and funny and sad, and ever so slightly twisted.
I'm Through With Love I'm Through With Love
Bittersweet '40s Great American songbook ballad. When love is over and hope is gone, all that remains are the clichés.
Outback Steakhouse Blues Outback Steakhouse Blues
Electric boogie blues. With tip-o-the-hat to Them, John Lee Hooker, Gene Vincent. Some blues lyrics are double entendre; some are single. This one's even less than that. Giving only the appearance of meaning.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Slow blue waltz. It's Life's dancing instructions: One step forward, two steps back; and sometimes you jump to the side.
