“Memoirs of a Manwhore” Playlist

I had long had the title for the MEMOIRS OF A MANWHORE: THE REELING WALTZ OF A DRUNKEN LOTHARIO before it even occurred to me to have a title track. In fact, my good friend and fellow vocalist/songwriter John DePalma urged me NOT to have a title track because he didn’t think it would be feasible to write a song called “Memoirs of a Manwhore.” But some couplet in Paul Simon’s “Think Too Much” (from his oft-overlooked Hearts and Bones album) inspired the line “My childhood was leavened by laughter and levity with no sorrow to transcend, my awkward adolescence marked by the mercy of its brevity, but inside somehow it never ends” in my song, and from there it all seemed to fall into place.

The arrangement of this song was also inspired by a lot of great popular R&B artists of the 70s and 80s, such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. For instance, Stevie’s influence can be heard in the keyboards, which are somewhat reminiscent of the keyboards in “Living for the City,” so that song appears in this playlist, as do “Higher Ground” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours,” perennial favourites of mine. Meanwhile, Michael’s album Off the Wall served as a bit of inspiration for the “feel” of the song. Hence, that album’s title track is included, along with “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough,” “Workin’ Day and Night,” and “Get On the Floor.” There’s even some Prince in the mix: “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.”

I’ve always wanted to do an extended version of “Manwhore” with a long, bass driven intro along the lines of Isaac Hayes’s “Shaft,” included in this mix, or reminiscent of some of my favourite Curtis Mayfield songs included here (“Superfly,” “Move On Up,” and “Pusherman”).

Of course, there have to be the obligatory nods to Elton John (“Bite Your Lip [Get Up and Dance]”) and Billy Joel (“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” perhaps his crowning achievement), and of course some Paul Simon for his contribution to the springboard from which the song came -- the aforementioned “Think To Much” as well as “Train in the Distance” from the same album. Similarly, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” is here because it has that same propulsive rhythm. Rounding out the set, we find New Radicals with “Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough,” included because it has the groove of Stevie Wonder and the propulsion of Bruce Springsteen.

You can LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST FOR FREE ON SPOTIFY AT THIS LINK. Remember, those Spotify spins of my original songs do contribute a penny or so to my account with each play, so please feel free to share this playlist with friends on social media: They’re more likely to take kindly to my original music when it’s heard in a context of more familiar tunes, and after they’ve enjoyed the 90 minutes of bliss (for free) that this playlist provides them, I’ll get a penny. So, hey, share with a couple hundred people! Eventually those plays will add up and help me fund my upcoming releases!

MEMOIRS OF A MANWHORE LYRICS

I’ve been told that I’m a product of my over-education, and everything comes too easily to me. Vacillating between narcissism and self-evisceration, I’ve always done whatever pleases me. So how’d I come to find myself the last item on the clearance shelf, devalued like a dollar that isn’t worth a dime?

I can’t recall a time when I’ve been bested, though it’s often been suggested that I’ve coasted through the margins on a smile and some panache. And if my sins must be confessed, it was my adolescence’s arrested development to blame for these transgressions come to pass. I’m not much more than the cumulative storied life I’ve led, and may the memoirs of this manwhore be the tome you take with you tonight to bed.

My childhood was leavened with laughter and levity and no sorrow to transcend. My awkward adolescence marked by the mercy of its brevity, but inside somehow it never ends. Perhaps deluded or depraved or too far gone for you to save, I won’t promise you forever, but you can ask me for tonight.

You can stay where you are and always be the greener grass. if you follow my siren’s song, you’ll only be another piece of ass. I won’t resent you if you choose to sleep alone, but I’ll be so damned grateful if you let me be the one to see you home.

And if my dalliances wend me on a circular trajectory, it’s not that it displeases me. My tether has been tender and hasn’t disaffected me, and everything still goes easy on me. Whatever solitude you suspect is harmless. I still stand erect. And on any given night, there’s someone looking for a bargain to be had.