Insights to the songs on Perfect Strangers
These stories are all based on true events. I share them from my heart. Enjoy!

Daniel
   The most intense job I ever had brought me into contact with some amazing young people dealing with overwhelming life challenges. At times heartbreaking and harrowing, the experience taught me that there is no line, on one side of which reside the “normal” people, and on the other, the “abnormal.” We are all in this together. One young man in particular evoked a unique drama around this point. For the sake of this recording, I call him “Daniel.”

This Can’t Be My World
     Almost everybody feels some kind of distance from the world, has at sometime stood on the edge of a canyon, or looked up under the night sky and cried, “I’m down here!” This is from what I call “the before time,” when there were decades of utter darkness. I’m still thankful for that cop in the snow bank. (Wasn’t too happy about the straight jacket though.)

Faces on the Train
     A rainy Portland day like any other, but on this trip it seemed I was sharing the ride with a car full of characters from a Jim Jarmusch film. A bit surreal, but also, disturbingly typical.

Precious Vessels
      A companion piece to “Faces.” Kids are these little information sponges - they take in everything, including the garbage. Through their actions, people will continually teach that killing and violence and hatred and greed are admirable values – then when things go wrong, turn around and wonder, “Gee, how did that happen?” Lunacy.

Postcards from Diane
      One flip-side of “no news is good news,” is that sometimes, “all news is bad news” - a point illustrated daily in our disaster and mayhem-glutted media. Even the best poetry about horror is still horrific. When I was living in the tiny Colorado mining town of Rico, my friend Diane showed me her collection of postcards folks had sent from all corners of the earth, notes from visitors grateful for the special beauty found in our sleepy mountain hamlet. This song I’ve dedicated to Diane, who always helps me keep it real when the news just drags ya’ down.

If Only...
      Coffee house musings on the mildly sad boredom of the disaffected when they shoot you that, “What’r you lookin’ at!” glare. The song will have to do ‘cause, otherwise, I’m playin’ it close to the vest, Jim.

Perfect Strangers
      Growing up, the real pain of being in love was not being able to tell anybody – not even my lover. I have to chuckle at these mopey open-mic dilettantes, always kvetching about the pain of romance, or the “dangers of falling in love.” For me, the real danger of falling in love was getting my ass kicked. But still, a lot of people have told me they can identify with this story. It’s not really about polarity; it’s about the desire for honest intimacy.

But for the Likes of Lynda Barry
      This song contains some really sweet piano phrasings, and borrows from my classical background a bit. As for the lyrics, it's another instance where my exposure to the media was just getting to me. The papers are all full of lies and fashion, and it seems the only truth is in the comics. Ernie Pook’s Comeek, like Joni’s sweet laments, came along at just the right time to lift my heart. God bless Marliss and Maybonne.

©2008 Steve Snelling