Midnight Train
Pennypacker :
This song has a smokey late night feel but it’s pretty complex......

W.A: "There’s a sensual undulation that I wish I could hear everywhere, all the time, but I’m very pleased to hear it here. It’s all the juxtapositioning of those different rythyms coming together in these swells. The lyrics are pretty scathing. A study resulting from having the best seats in the house for some really dastardly behavior. And I’d like to surrender these tickets. I don’t know how they got in my pocket but I’m there for almost every show, in a proscenium box. I’m investigating the ticket surrender package under the Geneva Convention."

The Night We Danced
Pennypacker: This has a dreamy orchestral quality. It’s very cinematic.

W.A: "Kenny Gamble (legendary producer/writer and trustee of the Grammies) heard this and said, “Oh, this is for a movie”. It could be the soundtrack to some epic production or it could be music for a classic horror movie. It’s got that huge sound to it and the truth is, there are very few instruments. It proves the power of the notes' integrity. I like economy. That’s what made Garbo famous, her economy of movement. Colette is hailed a great writer because of her economy of words…As for the lyrics, The Night We Danced is about psychosensual fraud."

Liars
Pennypacker: Maybe the album’s hit single, so to speak.

W.A: "It’s one of the tracks everyone’s responded to. It was inspired by one of the great R&B duos of the 60’s, Sam and Dave. One of my favorites of theirs is “I Thank You”. It’s got this great beat. I wanted one of those and I was tapping it on the piano top with my hand. As with most of the work, the music here was written first. Then I needed lyrics and was thinking about people who are just constitutionally unable to tell the truth. They’re afflicted. And they think the rest of us are stupid. So Liars is about who’s the really stupid one and needing a great memory, and not having one."

Right- They Was Wrong
"Ah, the Instrumental Interlude-well-I think everyone who can really play - ought to. And in a rightly ordered world, people who really play would, as a matter of course, put a solo on their CD to show their credentials because the consumer, the buying public, would care and it would absolutely matter."

Purest Devotion
Pennypacker: An angelic ballad, like a hymn.

W.A: " It’s really a tribute to my brother regarding the death of my father. A lot of people seem to do good deeds and noble acts of sacrifice but truthfully, they’re getting something out of it. Sometimes material, sometimes 'spiritual ego stroking'. What my brother did for the father was absolutely pure devotion. There was nothing but trouble in it. My father’s death was a stultifying study in disaster because we had a wicked stepmother who was so bad she made cancer look easy, making his last months worse than they already were. And my brother handled her brilliantly. His performance under the gun was impressive."

Hot, ‘Cause You’re Not
Pennypacker: This swings with a dash of boogie-woogie.

W.A: "I love Swing. R&B came out of Swing so I always view the two together. And if I can be there with them, I’m very happy. Lyrically, it’s for all the people who are legends in their own minds. Another case of 'we caught your act and it stinks.' ”

You Do
Pennypacker: Also very Swing flavored.

W.A: "When I envision this stuff I’m always conducting an orchestra and I think this is a real barn burner. Lyrically it’s a study in the lengths people will go to pretend they are something they’re not. All over our world, system wide, there’s a lot of manure masquerading as chocolate. Bad leaders who can't speak let alone orate, doctors who are not healers, lawyers who don’t read, musicians who can’t play or don’t sing past the 4th rate level. And I really wish the consumer were as sick of it as I am, because then it would change. Just because something or someone is expensive or has a label doesn’t mean it's good. You have to know what good is to find more good. If you make it your business to know what good is and demand it, then the schlockmeisters will not be able to get ovah as easily as they do."

Love You Lullabye
"...I don’t know what to say about this one… everyone goes nuts for it-men, women and children. Apparently it strikes some wonderful chord in people and to be very honest--I missed it completely. It was actually the ending of another song. And I was playing that song over and over and then just playing the ending. So I expanded it, said it was “nice” and then thought nothing of it. A friend comes over, asks if I had anything new to play. I told her I’d been messing with the ending being a song unto itself. She says “that’s gorgeous,” not a word I heard a lot from her. I was surprised, and said I would finish it. The words are a complete departure for me but the same friend was expecting a baby so I said I’d finish it for the baby’s arrival...lullabye was on my mind at the time."