“Rejected masters for the 2nd Skafish album”
Recorded November 1982 

When I finally got the go-ahead in July of 1982 to do the second LP from Miles Copeland, I was elated.  It made perfect sense to me to simply pick up where the 1st LP left off, record another portion of the songs we used to do back in the 70’s, and complete that chapter of the story.  I also thought to write a couple of new pieces to add a fresh touch to the whole thing.

In contrast to the 1st LP, I decided to make the arrangements for these tracks more other-worldly and surreal, with stranger synthesizer soundscapes, reverse voices, polytonal improvisation, vocoder, and a more meaty guitar sound.  When the record company heard the masters, they HATED - HATED - HATED IT!!!! I remember feeling so ashamed of myself as an artist, along with a strong sense of failure....

About 15 years later, I had a strange hunch to look for the tapes.  Instinctively I went down to my basement--the same basement my band cut "Disgracing" in back in 1978, and voila--there they were!  I had everything, and I felt like a baby freak on Xmas morn holding a pile of socially unacceptable presents from some alien iconoclastic Santa.  When I had the tapes copied to a digital format, I was AMAZED!!  Even today, I would bet that most people anywhere still couldn't begin to deal with these pieces--lyrically or musically.

Let’s Play Doctor:  A chainsaw synthesizer part simulates hacking me up...  In my teenage years into my early 20’s, I felt a strong sense of gender disorientation.  I wasn’t identifying with being male or female at all. 

You know today I might just have this sex change
But you know I’m not exactly sure which gender I need to be
I see a beautiful thing he can slithically slit and slit me
Slice happy surgery scalpels slice happy switchblades feed my lust
Round and round a circular head down a shaft and round the whole world
Numb this pain clean incisions sew back up with dissolving stitches
Doctor - Doctor - Let’s play doctor
A shreddled shriveled up dinky dead thing
Is like a concavistic concave pouch without a thing
Just leaves me wondering who or what is he and she
Which is me?

© Copyright 1977 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

Home Invader:  The concept of breaking in and murdering a respectable, proper, upper middle class family in their picture-perfect home was my revenge fantasy for being completely and utterly discarded by respectable society.  In the music, lyric, and production, I attempted to put every drop of anger and hatred that I ever felt toward society on tape and LET IT RIP!!!  I felt pleased when Gary Loizzo kept commenting on how terrifying the composition was.  During her take, Barbie seemed to have become overtaken.  She suddenly started speaking in tongues, blurting out syllables and sounds I had never heard before.

All these years you’d flaunt your high class home
And us recall rejects won’t leave you alone
We appear in windows of fine homes to kill
My mug on this pane looks just the same
It gives you your death chill
How are you doing?
How are you feeling?
Relax
You’ll never see another day you die
I do not to need to grab a chain or leather whip
Nor do I need a gun my fist is hard and stiff
My body slams you down lay still like still born birth
We deny you your right to live and breathe on earth
Deny

© Copyright 1977 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

Barbie Doll Dream House ~(with Barbie Goodrich & Skafish monologue):  With Barbie as the Barbie doll and myself as the Ken doll, we did simultaneous monologues at the end of the track, with my voice put through a pitch transposer that made me sound like an underwater monster.  During the monologues, we were both speaking at each other about the American dream, with Barbie contradicting herself over its wonderfulness, while Ken talked about himself dying. I loved the essence to this piece - haunting, airy and dream-like. The words to this ballad were mocked by the record company.

[Barbie monologue]:
Hi I’m Barbie
And my new house is called the Barbie Doll dream house
And it has a camper and a kitchenette
With a patio and a canopy bed in the master bedroom
And a very pretty backyard
You know I’ve got to be honest
Me and Ken are really not believable
Because we know how life really isn’t
It isn’t just dolls
But still isn’t everything able to be just wonderful

[Ken monologue]:
Barbie oh where have you been?
It’s so good to see
But I can’t see why you left the dream house
And now it’s great to be back together
Oh Barbie remember when we built our dreams together
And I realize that either I died or you died

© Copyright 1981 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

Barbie Doll Dream House ~  (with Barbie Goodrich monologue only): (Same as the track  listed directly above, except the monologue section features only the Barbie Goodrich monologue)

“We’ll See,” Daddy Says (The Chicago Cubs Baseball Game):  We tried to capture the ambience and sounds of a baseball game from the vantage point of my adolescent and distorted experience.  Javier had some great “home run” synth sounds, the band was cheering, and we put my voice through a harmonizer to make it sound more boy like and slightly artificial.  When I was a kid, my dad use to take me to the Cubs games even though I didn’t want to go.  The lyrics ramble at a high-speed pace, but it’s the last lines of the song* that used to always be the shocker when we’d play it live.

Dad you are not here
I am so lonely
I love this baseball game
Dad you shout and cheer for the home team
I hate this pain and my life at this game
But dad I am waiting
Here for you again right at the gate
Near the infield I’m standing alone
A doubleheader’s two games in one for me. . . .
*Daddy if you’re dead
Why is it too late for us just to be friends now?

© Copyright 1976 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

You Invited Me Here:  For this one, we recorded breaking glass, 4th of July firecrackers, loud party favors, and lots of carnival synthesizer sounds.  Barbie and I sang this one together, elated over the fantasy of being a tornado at a pretentious party and leveling the proceedings.

We huff and puff at your favorite penthouse
The crystal tables the cheese and the mouse
A chandelier with a candle and wick
We’ll burn the house till we’ve only a brick. . . .
I bomb and bash
I dive and dash
I tromp and trash
I slam and slash
You invited me here

© Copyright 1977 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

Executive Exhibitionist:  When I first wrote this, it was partially based on the anger I felt for the enormous slabs of hypocrisy I had witnessed; both religiously and politically.  I created a character that was two faced; family man and businessman at the office, exhibitionist to children at the schoolyard.  Compared to the 1st version of 1976, this arrangement used more reverse taped effects and psychological sounds as opposed to musical instruments.  I thought it was great to come full circle on the 2nd album, and record this—our first opening number from early 1976.  How wrong I was.

Flip flop flip flop your pee pee round
Doodle it doodle it up and down
Gobs of pleasure you receive
Laughing as the children scream
Exposed! Exposed! Exposed! Exposed!

© Copyright 2007 Skafish Music - All Rights Reserved

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