See the music pages on The Ragin' Contagion at HearNow
Title: Everybody Has a Story (CD-RP)
Artist: The Ragin` Contagion
Catalogue Number: e5alb02411478
Barcode: 0195269077167
Format: CD
Club Bohemia:
Dave,
who is the Ragin’ Contagion? And why? It’s clear that this CD was
created by you during lockdown. What does the album mean to you, and do
you care to take us track by track through the CD?
Dave Godbey:
Thank
you, Joe, yes, thank you for the opportunity! When the lockdown kicked
in March of 2020 due to covid 19, all of us were left with a lot of
extra time on our hands, weren’t we? My
personal path since I played bass in Fox Pass (1975-1977) and with The
Rubies (with Wally Jay in 1978, aka Wally Baier of the Road Apples), led
me to college in Berkeley California. While there I played acoustic
guitar recreationally, and bass briefly in a surf music band known as
Two Peters and a Dick. Many years later, 2015-ish here I am, with a
family and two kids, and playing my Martin guitar once in a while to
maintain my sanity. My youngest was leaving home for college, leaving me
time, and a desire to get back into music. And I even remember the
moment. The movie Hunger Games came out, and there is a brilliant song
at the end by Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars called Safe and Sound. And
I thought, “I want to play that guitar part.” So I started practicing
my guitar daily for an hour or more. In 2016 I started playing open mics
in Baltimore and Bel Air. Baltimore and surrounding areas have a very
active music scene. Teavolve in Fells Point was a real hotbed of
acoustic musical activity, led by Rob Hinkal who was the master open mic
host and leader of the band ilyAIMY. He also was a rich source of
inspiration for me. As I got more comfortable playing out, playing
finger style and other guitar techniques, I started collaborating with
other artists. I played bass with a local song writer and guitarist
Derrick Credito, and I started to get my writing juices flowing again. A
song here, a song there. I even had a minor hit in the Baltimore area
called Alternative Facts inspired by Kellyanne Conway. The song was
recorded and can be found on my youtube channel.
Now,
back to your questions. So the lockdown came, and I thought about all
the songs I had penned over the years and realized that I had enough
material for a full CD, and I now had the time to pull it all together.
It was a confusing time, wasn’t it? Some people were pissed about the
lockdown, calling our governor Lockdown Larry (Hogan). Others were
concerned about this unknown disease and taking all the precautions, and
pissed at those who refused to take the pandemic seriously. And I was
thinking about the rage. And the confusion and the contagion. And I was
thinking about Hamlet talking to Yorick (don’t ask me why on that one,
lol). And so the project jelled around me as The Ragin’ Contagion and
the cartoon me talking to a virus particle as Hamlet spoke to Yorick’s
skull. My daughter Mia created the graphic and did the lettering for the
album. Steve Levin provided the colorful backgrounds artwork.
Let’s talk about the tracks:
Cloudburst
I
wanted a song that reflected best the body of music on the CD to lead
off, the lead song being so important to an album. This one I selected
because it had a nice rif, was me singing, and Rob Hinkal told me it was
dope. It had an interesting lead break, kind of electronic and ambient.
The break is only 8 bars long on the CD, but in performances I
elaborate considerably. The song itself was written on my 21st
birthday, and reflected my anxiety finding myself laid off and without a
job after enjoying a secure position with pay. It was a couple of
months later when I joined Fox Pass. I rediscovered the song in 2018,
and finished its development so it might see the light of day.
Adulting
Nice lighthearted pop, this song is sung beautifully by soprano Elena Gray who I met through Rob
Hinkal at a Teavolve open mic. Check out her high harmonies: so sweet!
The song itself was born in the early days of the lockdown when my
daughter Mia was a senior in college, getting ready to graduate. Mia is
an organized person, and her apartment near the University of Maryland
campus was supposed to be secure until July, at which time she had
another apartment lined up and a job to work. Well, March 2020 came.
College classes became all virtual. Graduation ceremony became all
virtual. And they closed her apartment building so she unexpectedly had
to move back in with her parents (us). The lyrics of the song came from
Mia’s frustration trying to start her life and cope, stressful for any
young person in the best of times. But for her, here in the midst of the
pandemic when her post college life was turned upside down, it was much
harder indeed. Still she kept the lyrics light and fun.
I Hope You Click Send
Being a bass player at heart as I am, this song is bass driven with a bass solo in the middle. You
know how when you set up arrangements with other people, and when it is
time for the event, they leave you hanging; they don’t show or they
don’t reply to your messages? I hate that, don’t you? Yeah, I better not
get too high on my horse unless I’ve never done this myself! Anyway,
instead of letting the song get all whiney, I made it a fun affair about
love interests in dog parks, karaoke bars, and Trader Joes, yet to be
consummated with lots of pop culture references incorporated.
Only You
Pure
radio playing pop, this one! The lyrics for Only You were written by
Bianca Sky. Bianca is also an accomplished singer, but due to the miles
between us and other commitments, she was unable to sing for the CD. At
the time when I was in high gear working on the album, I met alto
Carolyn Wilson who was available to sing the song on the album. She did a
brilliant job singing this one, as well as two other songs on the CD. I
also want to shout out Mr. Curt for his wonderful keyboard work on Only
You.
Advise and Resent
This
song is an instrumental EDM/progressive rock offering from me. EDM is a
direction I have been cultivating for a little while now, inspired by
such artists as Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Lanz and Speer. I had a
great time with the lead guitar work, and i was happy how it developed.
Blood Sport
I
know politics has always been about metaphorically bloodying up your
political opponent instead of just arguing on the merits of the ideas.
But it seems to have gotten particularly ugly in the past few years with
the metaphor sometimes leaking into reality.
Careful With That Sax, Jeanine
Another
instrumental, this one. The synthesizer work was inspired by the old
Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd song “Careful With That Axe, Eugene.” I
almost ended up playing synthesizer sampled saxophone on the song, but
then I was able to engage Chris Spagnolo to play saxophones. A brilliant
job he did, and captured perfectly what I was hoping for: a domestic
violence episode.
You’re Not My Enemy
A real rocker! Our politics. Our political leaders practice divide and conquer far too often. Why do we let them?
Conspirator’s Delight
This
song is a rap, choral piece that could only be pulled off by someone
like Carolyn Wilson who co-wrote the song. It pokes a little fun at
conspiracy types! Very fun and danceable!
Perspicacious
Elena
Gray and I had a couple of paying gigs together lined up for
significant money when the lockdown came. And when the lockdown came,
the gigs vanished. But we penned and recorded this song together
remotely using Dropbox. Elena, who wrote the lyrics, melody, and sang the track says about the song: Perspicacious is a song about
the discordance between the self as the self perceives it and with the
image others see. How even when one’s worldview has crumbled, the world
itself stays on to be lived in.
Runnin’ Runnin’
Pure
radio playing pop, another one! I knew I had a good one here when I
saddled up to the bar one night after playing and overheard the
bartender singing Runnin’ Runnin’ to herself. I wrote the song when
MeToo and TimesUp was a major news item. How does it feel when you
realize you’ve been a jerk sometimes and suddenly shunned by people you
care about, like what happened to Al Franken?
Everybody Has A Story
Ah,
the title song, and perhaps my personal favorite on the CD. This was
the last song I wrote, and I wasn’t even sure it would make the album.
Mr. Curt and I exchange ideas and songs together sometimes. And when I
presented this song to him for a quick listen, he replied with a
(paraphrasing) “here it is, this is your title song. It pulls all the
other songs together perfectly.” I took his advice, and made it the last
song, the best song, and title song, on the CD. Carolyn sang
brilliantly on this one, and Thillman Benham filled out the sound with a
beautiful crescendoing cello string section.
AVAILABLE ON EBAY
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