“The Strongman of North America” (Masterpiece Theater version) – the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, recorded mostly by Ducky Carlisle and Joe Stewart at Dimension in J.P. (some overdubs recorded by C.T. at home), mixed by Ducky at Ice Station Zebra.
An alternate mix of one of my favorites from our latest, “Waving Kissyhead, Vol. 2 & 1“, and certainly the one that changed the most during the recording of it.
My lyricist David Greenberger hates to over-explain things, but this beautiful lyric is one he wrote about hid daughter, Norabelle, whose wedding a bunch of us played last month. I probably would’ve used the “Masterpiece Theater” version on the album if cooler heads hadn’t prevailed; this mix also differs from the mix on “Bocce and Bourbon” because the band drops out completely in the second short B section (“while I’m not the man I was, here I am because / I once was the Strongman of North America”.)
Zealots may also enjoy the earliest studio mix, “The Strongman of North America, mix 1“, which demonstrates how much the song changed (enough so that some band members were initially rather shocked, and not particularly pleased, though I think they all came around pretty well eventually); a lot of the changes were at the suggestion of my good friend Steve Berkowitz, who suggested dropping out everything except an acoustic guitar and vocals on the C sections, which up until then had been right when we’d been throwing everything in. Certainly a surprise to me, which led to other surprises… jeese, I love recording and arranging and especially editing!