I Really, Really Dugg’er (reposted from Facebook)

Sorry, I’ve got a little off track promoting the TITANS album! Part of this lapse is work related. On the one hand, I’m VERY busy working! On the other hand, the uncertainty of my schedule as a teacher/tutor in the private sector means I’m perpetually on the lookout for work, and that in and of itself is a perpetual motion machine (or perpetually motionless machine, you decide!) that detracts from the business of creation and promotion in the arts. That is not to say, however, that I haven’t also been extremely busy creating new music: Besides demoing up some more songs I’d written a while back, I’ve written probably several dozen songs’ worth of new material in the past two months.

Anyhoo... “I Really, Really Dugg’er” is a song about exploitation: The exploitation that occurs when religion indoctrination isolates individuals from society and thus allows abuse to occur; the exploitation that occurs whenever we participate in reality TV that elevates dysfunction to “worthwhile entertainment”; and the exploitation that occurs when somebody in a position of power uses said power to violate the individuality of another being. It’s a song about a reality TV star who preys upon younger members of his own family. And it’s about Bill Cosby. Beyond that, you’ll have to guess as to the identity of that reality TV star and his or her seventeen siblings. Read to the end to find out about the recording and read the lyrics, as well as to see links to both a live rendition and the studio version.

The recording of the song was, as is often the case with my songs, somewhat unorthodox. I would have loved to do the song COMPLETELY live, but my piano playing simply isn’t good enough to pull off a Little Richard, and I wanted the song to sound like a collaborative effort between Little Richard and The Ramones:

I laid down a very rough piano track along to a drum loop and click track to at least keep the timing and I charted out the chords. After that, the rest of the band (Tom Briant on guitar and Paul Galiszewski on drums) gathered in the Jankland Studio, where the band played along (and I sang along) to the pre-recorded piano track, which was kept very low to avoid throwing the band off. By the fourth take we had nailed it, and what you hear on drums and rhythm guitar and vocals are pretty much all from that fourth take, with possibly one or two snippets borrowed from the other three takes anywhere that we weren’t at absolute perfection.

Once those pieces were in place, Adam Silverstein in England used the rhythm guitar, drums, and vocals to guide himself through a much stronger piano part, which is what you hear on the album version. Adam also provided the bass line! Tom Briant then returned to my home studio and laid down lead guitar licks and solo lines, after which the song was ready for final mixing and mastering.

I Really, Really Dugg’er (lyrics)

I got one, two, three, four and several more counting. It’s just natural curiosity. Viscosity’s mounting. I got roaming hands, but when it’s over the pants it’s no sin. I got brothers to the left of me, sisters to the right, Crews of camera men who go home every night. A little under the blouse when that sweetheart’s passed out: I dive in!

The fruit on the tree is the sweetest to me and it’s close. There’s no indecency if the family don’t oppose. And I’d rather pick a delicate blossom than a full-throated rose.

And you can’t say I didn’t love her. It just got swept under the rug. Her needs were not family priorities, and at least I didn’t bugger her. I didn’t ask her permission on this simple proposition and I dugg’er. I really, really, really dugg’er.

They were 11, 12, 13, 14, heading toward legality, So statutory limits were nothing but formality. My religious exemption was my free pass to redemption. It was only incest, not bestiality!

Maybe Mike Huckabee will take his picture with me today And offer up rationale that will help explain it away. Yeah, I strong-armed my way, but at least now you know I’m not gay!

And you can’t say I didn’t love her. It just got swept under the rug. Her needs were not family priorities, and at least I didn’t bugger her. It was a sin of omission, and it’s not like girls got volition. And I dugg’er. I really, really, really dugg’er.

Wish I could say I was joshing, now the clan’s awash in spin, And the sponsors finally caved saying nothing can be saved And waved me to the irrelevancy bin.

And you can’t say I didn’t love her. It just got swept under the rug. Her needs were not family priorities, and at least I didn’t bugger her. I may have gone too far, but I wanted to try a vag that wasn’t built like a clown car. And I dugg’er. I really, really, really dugg’er. And at least I didn’t drug her; it wasn’t Bill Cosby looming up above her. And I dugg’er. I really, really, really dugg’er.

Check out the live acoustic rendition

Or the studio version