Songspinner liner notes

Produced by: Steven Macdonald and Thin Ice Records

Re-Produced by: Bill Roper and Gretchen Van Dorn

Engineered by:
Greg Gersabeck
Gretchen Van Dorn
Bill Roper

Recorded at Primeau Productions, September and October 1993; and at Dodeka Records in April 1994

Cover art: Heather Bruton

Steve Macdonald: Vocals, Acoustic, Electric, and 12-string Guitars; Recorder on Renaissance Melody; Synthesizer on Carriage Ride

Mary Ellen Wessels: Vocals on When I Think of You, Crossroads, and Seducing the Unicorn; Recorders on Skating on the Strings

Greg Gersabeck: Lead Guitar on Crossroads

Renaissance Melody
Copyright © by John and Steve Macdonald

Dreamer's Song
Copyright © by John and Steve Macdonald

I Wish I Didn't Have to Go
Copyright © by John and Steve Macdonald

For Susan-
For allowing me to share with the world. . . and come home. This would mean nothing without you.

Steve's Special Thanks to: John Macdonald, Greg Gersabeck, MEW, Thom Mattingly, Harry Smothers, Lee Billings, Alisa Cohen, Tom Smith, June Morley, Lisa Hunter, Spencer Love, Mom and Dad, and all who have (wittingly or unwittingly) encouraged, listened, told me when I sounded good (and bad), praised me when I needed it, and kicked me in the ass when my ego started getting away with me.

Bill and Gretchen would like to thank the Supreme Court for their ruling on parodies, but have nothing more useful to say than Justice Souter did.

Gretchen would like to thank Steve for being a real sweetheart. Bill tends to agree, but would probably phrase it differently.

Song Notes:

Renaissance Melody (6/83)
This may not sound like it, but it really is a filk song! John created the lyric to emulate a possible bar song that Aragorn, or even Bilbo might have heard in a tavern during their many journeys.

I Just Love Those Old B Movies (7/93)
Don't you?

When I Think of You (6/87)
Not much to say about this one, this is simply a love song I wrote for my wife, Susan.

Dreamer's Song (9/79)
I'm not really sure where John came up with these lyrics. To the best of my knowledge, we were both ignorant of fandom and filk in 1979. This song said something very important for me then, as the title implies; I was dreaming of great it would be if the third verse ever came true. And then it did!

Crossroads (9/86)
WARNING! This song has no basis in reality! I ws twiddling on the guitar one day, and came up with what I felt was a really good 'driving' song. From there I had to figure out why this person would be driving, and the rest is in the song.

Gather Day (11/86)
The direct inspiration for this piece was the fairs, or 'gather days', held at the various Holds during the summer season. The lyric did end up much more fantasy oriented, but I could not leave Unicorns out of the song, just because they did not exist on Pern.

Seducing the Unicorn (10/92)
I wrote this at my first OVFF in October, 1992. It was a very powerful experience for me. 'Nuff said.

Carriage Ride (7/88)
This song attempts to capture a singe moment in time; in London, late 19th century. time is transitional; we are always moving from one moment to the next; and most time spans do not hold their own resolutions.

Skating on the Strings (3/92)
I'm really proud of this. Total orchestration is two guitars (one capoed at the 5th fret, the other open) and two soprano recorders. The second recorder part is optional and only adds ornamentation at the end of the piece -- but it has definite impact. Just relax and enjoy!

I Wish I Didn't Have to Go (5/80)
In 1980 I toured Central Europe for 4 weeks with the Blue Lake International Choir. This was written for that occasion and has become my general good-bye song.