POOH IS CALLING [listen]
(Andy Offutt Irwin)
There's something to be said for conversation There's something to be said for staying up all night And the darkness leads to sleepy contemplation To your given plight Did you notice that you've joined your hands together? Do you hear the laughing pouring, do you feel the AM buzz? I know you've reached the end of your tether What to do with your love There he is Pooh is calling you away to Wonder's flight Here we are Here to witness what the heavens might And it never goes unnoticed And it never goes unsaid That we know how you got here How you were lead No one need explain our silence Knowing eyes cross the room with gazes only friends could know Let's go to the Majestic and have some apple pie and coffee There he is Pooh is Calling you away to Wonder's flight Here we are Here to witness what the heavens might And it never goes unnoticed And it hardly goes unsaid That we know how you got here How you were lead The waitresses change shifts It's close to dawn Rippling through the restaurant's A contagious yawn Satisfying and sweet As the homeless file out to greet The day
(Lint Hatcher and Andy Offutt Irwin)
I know a girl, her name is Clarice. I know that's her name, I got it from the police. She's the kinda girl likes to hold my hand. Only problem is she belongs to ... the Klan. Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan? Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan? I saw her at a march just the other day. I knew it was her by the way I saw her sway. She had on a sheet and a funny hat. But no other girl can sway quite ... like ... that! Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan? Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan? [sounds of Klan rally (Note: a boy from the rural south can get this right... ed.)] I asked her if she loved me if I was BLACK. She said if I wore a paper sack. I said "THAT'S WRONG" and I walked away. I never, ever heard her say "Stay". Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan? Clarice! Why don't you quit the Klan?
(Andy Offutt Irwin)
Maribel. Why do you do this to me? I'm sittin' in your class today. I listen to what you sing and say and play, Ah, Maribel. Birmingham's favorite prodigy. But I am just a drummer. I never wrote chorales before. But if I met you 40 years ago, I'd ask you to the prom. But you're the same age as my mom. Maribel. I see your swollen knuckles. I know you miss the Preludes. I wish I could kiss the pain away. Maribel Went to school in Cincinnati. Oh, a perfect beauty, Came flowing from your hands. And if I'd met you forty years ago I'd ask you to the prom. But as you know, You're the same age as my mom. Please forgive my parallel octaves. Please forgive my parallel fifths. And I know I make you crazy, With how loud my cheap watch ticks. Maribel. Why do you do this to me? I'm sittin' in your class today. I listen to what you sing and say and play, Ah, Maribel. Birmingham's favorite prodigy. But I am just a drummer. I never wrote chorales before.
(Andy Offutt Irwin)
Would you mind dating an extremist?
A fanatic is usually dangerous and always boring
Would you mind dating an extremist?
I would like to go out with you
Would you mind dating an extremist?
A fanatic is usually dangerous and always boring
Would you mind dating an extremist?
I would like to go out with you
Is that right?
You're Baptist
Is that right?
You work with children
Is that right?
You like to go to the mall
Gone with the Wind is your favorite movie e e
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Would you mind dating an extremist?
A fanatic is usually dangerous and always boring
Would you mind dating an extremist?
I would like to go out with you
Would you mind dating an extremist?
I can tell you're a nice girl from a nice family
Would you mind dating an extremist?
I would like to go out with you
Is that right?
You're available
You just broke up with your boyfriend?
He was a body builder
Always smelled like coconut oil l l l l
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Would you mind dating an extremist?
Someone who's always worried about what he consumes
Would you mind dating an extremist?
Someone who takes himself far too seriously
Would you mind dating an extremist?
A fanatic is usually dangerous and always boring
Always Boring, Always Boring, Always Boring, Always Boring, Always
Boring, Always Boring, Always Boring, Always Boring, Always Boring,
Always Boring.
(Andy Offutt Irwin)
CYNDI:
Will you be my Rodeo clown?
Will you be my Rodeo Clown?
Will you keep my old boyfriend
From hanging around?
Will you be my Rodeo Clown?
ANDY:
When he dropped you like a rock...
I thought you would turn into magma
You got so hot...
CYNDI:
But my pain, my anger, my rage!...
ANDY:
Now calm down and act your _____
CYNDI:
Will you be my Rodeo Clown?
ANDY:
Yes I'll be your Rodeo Clown
I will keep your old boyfriend
From hanging around
I will be your Rodeo Clown
When the bull comes out of the chute...
CYNDI:
Will you act real charming?
ANDY:
I will act real cute.
CYNDI:
Will you say all those funny things
ANDY:
We will drive that boy______
CYNDI:
Will you be my Rodeo Clown?
ANDY:
Yes I'll be your rodeo clown
I will your old boyfriend,
From hanging around?
I will be your Rodeo Clown
(Take it away Tim!)
CYNDI:
You are my Platonic friend.
ANDY:
I think that we're exactly
What Plato meant
CYNDI:
For the truth always changes,
you see
ANDY:
I can tell when you're looking at ______
I will be your Rodeo Clown
CYNDI:
Will you be my Rodeo Clown?
ANDY:
Yes,I'll keep your old boyfriend
CYNDI:
From hanging around,
ANDY:
I will be your Rodeo....
CYNDI:
Be my Rodeo Clown!
BAND:
Yes he'll be your Rodeo Clown!
ANDY:
I will keep your old boyfriend...
CYNDI:
From hanging around,
ANDY:
I will be your Rodeo....
CYNDI:
Be my Rodeo....
CYNDI&ANDY:
Be (my/your) Rodeo Clown!
Get off it, Andy Offutt Irwin! Where have you been all my life? Indie demos pour into C-stone's office, and even when a few rise above the herd, they rarely achieve the lasting impression that this humorous singer/songwriter and storyteller did.
A lot of the magic present here is due to Irwin's childlike sense of wonder and willingness to take big risks. He changes styles (straight folk, torch, country, and touches of rock) and moods more often than I change adjectives. If one or two tunes on this eleven-song album don't work as well as they could, they're still interesting and enjoyable enough to bear repeated listening.
"Pooh Is Calling" is Irwin's personal paean to that childlike wonder that you-know-who uses to transport us to you-know-where if we follow Him all the way. "Clarice" is a very funny a-cappella piece that follows the tried-and-true formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl to the Klan. My personal favorite, "Fountain Pen," reminded me that what you say is more important than what you say it with.
Banana Seat ends with a hilarious twenty-two-minute monologue dealing with race relations, mud racing, and innocence. I highly recommend this disc for the adventurous and those who need to be. You can obtain it [from CDStreet].
The photo on the front of Andy Offutt Irwin's Banana Seat shows him as a child, a little drummer boy snared in a moment of youthful mystery; the back cover depicts him as an adult. But across its 10 samples of clever song craft and one tall tale (plus a hidden bonus track), Banana Seat show that the little kid on its cover is very much alive inside the gentle giant pictured on the back.
On "Fountain Pen" Irwin writes of discovering infinity on his Bic: "There's a little round-headed man on the barrel, holding a pen/That's got a little round-headed man on the barrel, holding a pen/That's got...." His happy obsession with small details reaches a microscopic extreme on "Clamydomonas(SP?)," an ode to a single-cell organism that can reproduce both sexually and asexually. "If they don't feel it's compatible," he explains, "they just split." There's political bite to "Clarice," in which the KKK seduces his baby away ("She had on a sheet and a funny hat/But no other girl could sway quite like that"), but Irwin is at his jocular best on "Rodeo Clown", a duet with cowgirl Cyndi Craven in which he offers to chase away her bullish ex-boyfriend. When Craven sings, "You are my platonic friend," he slyly chimes back, "I think we're exactly what Plato meant." But when the multi-talented Irwin purses his lips and blows musically through Oscar Hammerstein's "Kiss to Build a Dream On," he proves he's one tall Georgia boy who ain't just whistlin' "Dixie."
Contact Andy:
