When I discovered Toronto's open stage scene, I was amazed at its vitality. I was amazed that this gem had stayed hidden. This song was my anthem to open stages, and critique of the business of music.

I was later surprised to discover that the lyrics of a Kevin Quain song, "Tequila vampire matinée", fit the melody of "Play me a song" perfectly. Since I hadn't written a third verse for "Play me a song" at that point, I borrowed some of Kevin's lyrics:

Tequila vampire matinée	Play me a song
Well, the circus left without me, And there's no work here for clowns. And I'm hiding in Los Muertos, 'Cause Hector's back in town. And a hundred Bloody Marys And I'll be on my way Meet me here at midnight for A vampire matinée.	Well, the circus left without me, And there's no work here for clowns. And I'm sitting in Grafitti's now, 'Cause Kevin Quain's in town. And a hundred Bloody Marys And I'll be on my way Meet me here at monday night's Mad Bastard Cabaret

Now that I've written my own third verse, I rarely use those lyrics. But they sure brought a smile to Kevin's face the first time I performed them.

Recording Notes
(see also My Sister's Guitar recording notes)

I played all tracks on "Play me a song":

• Ukulele
• High Guitar
• Fake bass
• Lead vocals
• Harmony vocals
• Maracas
• Kazoo

"Play me a song" is actually one of only two songs from My Sister's Guitar that were recorded on my sister's guitar, an Anjo F 50. My sister, Trisha Kaplan got it, in turn, from my brother (Andrew Kaplan)'s fiancée, Nili Solomon. Nili describes it as a $75 dollar guitar. The inlay is a sticker, the tuning knobs are jerky, the case is a soft case whose lining comes off on the ends of the strings. The thing weighs about as much as a well-built mug, and it's the guitar I've used the most since I started playing.

The guitar I started on was a different one that belonged to my cousin, Ron Anderson's fiancée (at the time, now his wife) Michelle (neé Michelle Phillips).

Anyhow, the guitar went into retirement after I bought my Ovation CS-148. I had already recorded "Play me a song" and "In the Sighs". My friend, Andrew Woolner, has also recently upgraded from his sister's guitar. I thought of the album name when I notice we were both playing our sisters' guitars.

The flavour of the song emerged completely by accident, but I like it. It's an upbeat song to start with, and the flute certainly adds the that beachy, light feel. I kaypoed the guitar up quite a few frets so that it was essentially a six-stringed, bronze-stringed ukulele. Or is that called a mandolin?

There's no reverb on anything except the ukulele, and that may have to change eventually, but I think it's a fine first effort. I didn't expect to suddenly be dancing to it, but that's what happened.

Questions, comments or suggestions about this web site? Email me at aaron.bentley@utoronto.ca