Song of the Month, July 2022
Stories and trivia about our songs
"Dear Abby", 2007
As all parents know, raising children is like living in some kind of time warp. For today's Song of the Month we turn back the clock to January 2007, when Maya Williams was only 8 years old and recording with Rocknoceros. Williebob is Maya's father, and he cannot quite believe that his sweet little daughter is now 24; didn't we just make that record together a few years ago, sugar?!
"Mayabob" (her official Rocknoceros handle, of course) was recruited to add some sparkle to our second album, Dark Side of the Moon Bounce. And sparkle she did, naturally! Of the several appearances that Maya has made on this album and others, Dear Abby is her most prominent performance, sweetly crooning a complete verse and chorus (well, see below for thoughts about these terms ‘verse’ and ‘chorus’...)
Though no photos exist of the Abby recording session, this month's Photo feature was taken around that time and describes the process we used for essentially “remote” work. (The photo was taken in Maryland; Willebob seems to recall recording Maya’s Abby vocal in Fairfax, VA - she recorded in a bunch of places with us!) Maya was always a natural behind the mic, singing very well in tune and even listening quite critically at such a tender age… In fact, to this day she is slightly annoyed by what she hears as a mistake: When she sings the word, 'question', in one of her lines, there is a slight tongue-tied sound in there. We feel certain that there is nobody else on this planet who would hear this as anything other than simply adorable.
People of a certain age would instantly understand the reference to "Dear Abby" the syndicated newspaper advice column - young people today probably read that sentence and think, "it's a what what advice column?", where the word 'column' obviously refers to words on a screen. For this story, it's not important to know about newspapers or syndication; our song is a gentle parody where a young advice columnist named Abby responds to other children's questions. We hear first from a young interlocutor named Arty (great name!)
Arty has a bunch of abstract questions, provoked by his wonderment of the natural world, to which Abby responds with a broad philosophical stroke. Williebob admits feeling bittersweet hearing his young daughter sing, "Many mysteries grow deeper as time passes by" (that’s got to be a Coach Cotton line).
This is one of the most simple Rocknoceros arrangements to date, really like a 'demo' recording, but we all agreed that it sounded complete without a bunch of bells and whistles. Oh, that's a twelve-string acoustic guitar playing the solo in there.
Mayabob has yet to join us on the concert stage, though for many years she ran the lyric slide show for our Holiday Sing-Along concerts at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA - always an extra special day for Dad, at the venue where the band got its start. For our typical live rendition of Dear Abby, we change the key so that Williebob can sing her part in his regular voice.
So, about those words, ‘verse’ and ‘chorus’: This is one of those songs that can make you wonder, which is which? Honestly, we aren’t sure! We'd love to hear your opinions on this, and on all the other mysteries of the universe. Until next time, then, keep growing and singing the way you were made to.
TRIVIA CHALLENGE:
Mayabob’s voice appears on three tracks on the Dark Side of the Moon Bounce album. One you know already by now (i.e. see above!), another one is easy to spot, but can you find the third one? Hint: She sounds a little different. Email us at fanclub@rocknoceros.com with your answers, or with anything else you want to ask or tell us!
LISTEN to "Dear Abby" on Soundcloud:
LISTEN to “Dear Abby” from a streaming service you can select by clicking here