Tattooed

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VC: lead vocals, Mosrite acoustic, Fender Strat, Fender Precision bass, Yamaha CS1 Synth (organ, clavinet, accordion), drum programming; Mike Grow: Fender "SRV" Strat; Angela Hessler & Suzie Kirrane: harmony vocals

Dreams have inspired many of my songs and “Tattooed” is a prime example of a dream that wrote a song. I wish I could say that I clearly remembered this particular dream, but the images I put down in the lyrics are about I can recall now, some nine years later. Obsession is obviously a subject that pops up from time to time in my lyrics and certainly I am no stranger to the subject. I can only conclude that everyone else who has been as much captivated by someone as I was at the time knows what it is like to by so physically as well as emotionally affected. It is both a blessing and a curse; the connection that is achieved is the most intimate possible on Earth, yet if the feelings are not reciprocated, it is beyond devastating.
What I do remember is waking up suddenly in my new groovy pad near downtown Berkeley and almost instantly grabbing my notebook and writing these lyrics. I don’t think I was consciously paying homage to Cole Porter, but I will say that I am a great admirer of his songwriting. But I took Cole’s metaphor just a bit further. Whereas the object of his desire was deep in his heart, mine was literally injected right into me, becoming part of my being. Of course tattoos were becoming so mandatory for people under thirty at the time that the imagery took on additional meaning and I added that title some time later. And the fitting irony for the song (there’s always some irony…) is that I tacked on a happy ending. In the end, I imagined that the connection was two way and through the magic of interlinked dreaming, she sees and feel my love and now I am part of her as well.
I was performing with some regularity solo acoustic at that time and it was quite clear that this would not be one of those singer/songwriter type tunes. I wrote it on both the keyboard and with the bass came up with its signature riff. I quickly recorded a rough demo on it on my four track cassette deck and that was that. It sat untouched, un-played, and unheard for three years until I joined a band called Amory Blue as its bass player. I was asked to sing a song or two and I thought long and hard for something that might mesh well with bandleader Dan Marcus’s swampy, funky, moody tunes. I presented this to the band and they transformed it into to something similar to what it is now. At the time we had two female singers, one of whom played melodica which inspired my accordion part. Also in this band was a talented guitar player named Mike Grow…