At the end of a long Grin & Bare It recording session, our engineer/sax player George informed us that there was only a little bit of tape left at the end of the reel. Our drummer Paul Caputo, having kept up with all the tempo and meter changes I threw at him all day, got a bit mischievous, said, "Wait, I've got an idea, record this!" George hit the record button, and Paul started playing, putting in as many changes of tempo/meter/rhythm/time signatures as possible, packed into just over a minute or so. If you listen closely, you'll hear where Paul broke one of his sticks at around 0:42. He merely grabbed another and continued undaunted, which was something he was brilliant at, being a heavy-hitting drummer.

Then he said, "ENOUGH CHANGES for you Ed? I dare you to put some music to THAT! heh heh heh..."

I accepted the challenge... which was to write something that went along with and fit this crazy drum track, but also could actually sound like a real song with the drums naturally integrated. I followed every single nuance Paul put in there, every hesitation, accent, change in tempo/meter, whatever Paul did, I followed, right to the end... and even after you think it's over. (Be sure to listen to the whole thing.) heh heh heh...

I recently updated this recording, which dates from 1990. After relearning what I did, I added some real bass to the existing synth bass, plus some subtle crunchy guitar doubling the bass lines, and a little Hammond organ (re-learning part of the lead line was fun too).

---