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"Angeline Is Coming Home"

River Songs
From the 1995 album River Songs
Written by Mike Naydock & The Badlees

"Angeline" was the first song we learned when we started working out material following The Unfortunate Result of Spare Time, which as I remember, was only a few weeks after that record was released. We started playing it live immediately.

Many fans of the band don't realize that "Angeline" is for the most part Mike Naydock's song. None of the band members wrote a lyric and most of the tune was there when it came to us. There are about 2 or 3 songs like that in The Badlees catalog. Most of the time Mike and I collaborate on things but this time it was a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it". I loved it. The band certainly did alot of arranging and we put together the big outro together. But the nuts and bolts were there.

The song gained a little extra notoriety locally because of the lyrics. One local radio station had a contest for prizes called "What In the Hell Is Pete Sayin'?". Grease landed in where? Quintissential what? It was funny. Many have also asked what a "bathtub virgin" is. So here it is folks: In northeastern PA (and I assume in other areas) many Catholic families have a little shrine in their front yard. You take a bathtub and cut it in half. Then you put it up on its side to create a little amphitheater. Then inside you put a statue of The Virgin Mary (or your saint of choice). Decorate to taste. Hence, a "bathtub virgin". Basically it is a lawn ornament.

When it came time to make the video for "Angeline" our label asked us for concepts. I started explaining what a bathtub virgin was and how I wanted to incorporate that into the video. The folks in L.A. didn't get the "upside down bathtub" concept at all. So they suggested, "Why don't we get a couple television stars to direct and star in it?" Hell, sure, why not? The CATERING for the video shoot cost more than we had spent on the whole record. Sheryl Crow stopped by with her dog and some of the cast of the show ER stopped in to check out the shoot.

We sure as hell weren't in Kansas anymore.

   - Bret Alexander

Next: "Thinking In Ways" →

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