I'm sorry. I wasn't precisely straight with you. We didn't just make a new record. We made a rock opera. Why is this happening to you? Read on!
My wife Sarah and I played in a band together for a while and we specialized in playing traditional songs and fake traditional songs. You certainly know a traditional folk song when you come across it . An example of a fake traditional song would be "Long Black Veil." It sounds old timey, but it was actually written in 1959. The Pogues made a whole career of making trad-flavored music.
Researching repertoire for us to play I discovered that 18th century musicians would slap together a bunch of popular songs of the day and change around the words to tell a little tale. This is called a ballad opera. That is what The Beggars Opera is. The Threepenny Opera is based on The Beggars Opera. I'll bet you've seen that.
It first occurred to me to compile some songs, change their lyrics and do our own ballad opera. Then I wondered if I could concoct my own homemade fake traditional songs. Turns out I could!
Sarah got busy with becoming a famous scholar and so we had to dissolve our little band. I kept playing and working on the songs I had written and gradually they began to feel more like rock songs. Like Constant Velocity songs. So, I got the boys together, they wove their alchemy and a mere 12 years later, voila!
I was determined at the outset to do my utmost to fashion the words in such a way that the plot, whatever plot there be, of the opera could be apprehended just by listening to the songs. In this I failed, not totally, but mostly! Our opera makes as much sense as Tommy or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Afraid I can't do you any better than that.
But that is not why I am writing so volubly about our album. Not understanding whatever cockamamie “story” I had in my head will not detract from your experience, but your pleasure may be enhanced if I show you what kind of musical inspiration was my starting point for some of these songs. Knowing their DNA is fun. But neither thing is necessary to enjoy the album. Ars est celare artem is our motto. Okay, I promise no more preamble.