Here are brief little snippets about each tune on my “Finnegan” solo acoustic album (link to purchase is available at the bottom of this page). A printable version is available here for anyone who bought the CD and would like to stuff a copy in there.

1.  String Poem Nothing ever came between Devo the cat and his beloved string. Not even treats.

2.  1619 Somewhere in 1994 the planets aligned and my first official solo acoustic song was pulled out of the air. Due to lack of any better idea, the name is the address where it was conceived on Ashland Avenue in Cottage Grove, MN.

3.  Airport Song Going to the airport often makes for sad, tear-filled goodbyes. In some cases, however, the goodbyes can be a much anticipated joy-filled liberating event that makes you want to jump up, click your heels and yell “I’M FREEEEEEEEEEEE!”

4.  Bacon After my first drive through Louisianna, Mississippi and Alabama in July of 2001, it was inevitable that I would paint it in my little musical diary. I got a few songs out of that trip, but I think this one comes closest to how I felt. It was a blast – cuz y’all know, we ain’t got them bowled paynuts ‘n’ greezy brake-fast res-tirraunts servin’ grits up here in Minneso-ta. The title means nothing – I was making a setlist for a show and “bacon” was the first word to come to mind. It’ts a subconscious Waffle House thang, really.

5.  k This song is for a lady whose penmanship takes the letter K and makes it a piece of artwork. By the way mom, those K’s were incredibly difficult to forge in high school…

6.  77 The super early years of being a kid are a bit blurry, and not just because I stuck a hairpin in a light socket. Or that I had a fondness for the smell of permanent markers. I was 4 in 1977 and that was the time when I started to develop a long-term memory. There’s these vague little slices of time that I’ve retained over the years, like sleeping over at Gramp’s house, Star Wars being released, being scared shitless by the Oompa Loompas on Willy Wonka, Olivia Newton-John on the “Grease” LP cover, etc.

7.  A Sparkling Shade of Green Gramma got herself a new car, and its color goes by the name of Electric Lime.

8.  Birdy Inspired by the oddly fascinating 1984 film “Birdy” with Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine, and almost-name of my cats Devo and Frank until their personalities suggested otherwise. The version of this I heard in my head as I was writing it was to be played on a banjo – that is until I tried playing a banjo… I’ll leave the snare drum-on-a-stick to Roy Clark for now and keep playing it on my guitar.

9.  Daisy She was a sweet old grey-faced Golden Retriever that was found by her family on the side of the road. Whether she was in the middle of downtown Minneapolis or at home behind the white fence, she was always happy just to be around. She knew that she was going to spend the rest of her life being treated like a queen.

10.  Corduroy Boy Every day in kindergarten, Tommy wore his corduroy
pants tucked into his cowboy boots.

11.  December 31, 1989  It was about 10pm and I had a 3 mile walk home from a friend’s house. A new thick layer of snow was blanketing everything and there wasn’t a car or person on the street the whole way home. Every time I looked back all I’d see was a trail of my footprints. Although I froze my ass off, it was pretty amazing.