Stories of the songs
Expand each track to listen and learn more about the creation of each piece.I was 24 in 1981 and had bought a big house on the Main Line of Philadelphia, with thoughts of getting married and starting a family. The only problem was I didn’t even have a girlfriend. The woman next door was raising a 5 year old on her own and occasionally brought him over for a visit. There was nothing between us, but I started putting words down about being married with a son. Most of my songs were written with the music ideas first, then I would figure out a melody line for lyrics. For “Our Son”, I did the vocal melody line and lyrics first, liked the result, and built the music around it. The lyrics for all my songs were written for a male voice, but when I found Carol Veigh to sing, I realized they worked just as well, and perhaps even better sung be a woman.
I’ve always felt piano and strings produce the most beautiful sound together. Inspired by George Winston’s “Autumn” and “December” albums, I wanted to make a beautiful piano introduction. It’s long, and maybe I could have tightened it in one or two places, but I’m still pretty happy with it all these years later. The song itself reflect relationship angst at this age and life-stage. Nice and maybe a bit sad. Carol did a great job of adding the emotion to it. And I still like the snappy drum beat.
I was a member of the Fifth Ave Presbyterian Church for a year or so. The minister at the time was an amazing orator, and he was packing the rafters with young people, probably over 1,000 people every Sunday. The vibe was one of positive energy, hope and possibilities. I wrote this after a Sunday service, harkening back to my more innocent and carefree days growing up in Ohio, and reflecting on how to remind myself to apply those lesson today. I sang the vocals so that vocalist Carol Veigh would know how I wanted it done. Problem was, she got a job on a cruise ship and I never saw her again. So I put as much reverb as I could on my voice and let it be. I actually played a tape of this song as the entrance song for Lori and me at our wedding. Although it sounds peppy, we learned it’s really hard to dance to...
Embarrassing confessions here. I wanted to prove to myself that I could write and play a song in a more complex time signature. I called it “7/5” not realizing that time signature doesn’t exist. It’s 7/4, and Adam Holzman’s p2025 version is worlds better than this one. I programmed my drumming to be too fast for part 1, but on the good side, there’s a lot of stuff going on here, just playing off two relatively simply progressions.
I loved the band Yes and still do. The grandeur of the early music (And You and I), still fills me with wonder. Jon Anderson had an amazing voice and wrote lyrics that sounded so mystical and prophetic. But they made absolutely no sense. “On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place., if the summer changed to winter, yours is no disgrace”. What the hell is that Jon? At the risk of disappointing those who find meaning in the lyrics, “The Key” was my Jon Anderson version to make a song and lyrics mystical and lofty, even if I can’t exactly explain what it means. Once again, Carol’s singing really brings it to life.
The shortest and simplest song on the album by far. I wanted to see if I could use only one idea, with one setting, on one keyboard, and overlay a small new piece for every verse. I put it together in about 6 hours one evening, added drums, and wa-la!
(See notes from 1985 version). Adam Holzman really reimagined this one and took it to a whole different level. Much, much better than the original, Russell Holzman on drums and Bryan Beller on bass are the icing on the cake.
(See notes from 1985 version). Adam Holzman led the way on re-imagining perhaps my favorite song on the album. This was the first song Chanda Rule sang on, and that Craig Blundell played drums on. I loved the outcome. The band really jazzed it up, for a different vibe from the original, in a very cool way.
(See notes on 1985 version). It’s hard when you have listened to your own song hundreds of times over 40 years, to listen to a new version. The first time I heard Adam’s piano opening, I wasn’t sure, but today, it may be my favorite part of the whole album. Just beautiful.
Chanda, Bryan, Craig and Adam just took this to a new level.
“Catapult” consisted on Ron Hazelett on Keyboards, Chris Henderson on bass, me on drums and Harold Weese on vocals. We played the bars on Northeastern Ohio for about 2 years in the early/mid 1970’s To record the and “The Water Song”, we rented a reel-to-reel recorder, set up our instruments in my living room in Stow, Ohio, and cranked it out. What a fun and crazy song. We all got to show off our skills, but teenage Chris on bass for the ending is still one of my favorites. I didn’t include the lyrics, because 50 years later, I still can’t figure out what the hell Harold was sing in between all those screams and other sounds.
This was Catapult’s version of a nice and pretty song, even though Harold still likes to do some screaming on it. Wish I could provide lyrics, if someone else can discern them, please let me know. I think Ron wrote this song, and it was a band and fan favorite. It also gave me a chance to show off my new-found ability to play double bass drums.
