My sister Wendy used “nutsy cuckoo” as a pet expression when we were growing up.  It faded from my memory until I was visiting Key West and I heard roosters crowing in the darkness.  I woke up from my dream and blurted out “They’re making me nutsy cuckoo!”, wrote the phrase down and started writing this song the next day.  Some songwriters call this a “catalog song”, a stringing together of similar things into a list. “I’ve been Everywhere” (Geoff Mack/ Johnny Cash) and Dave Frishberg’s “Marooned in a Blizzard of Lies”, which became a musical model for our catalog of kvetches.

I say “our” because co-writer Jennifer Lighthall joined in the effort for several days in Key West, FL.  She had been kept awake by the roosters, too.  Jen helped to identify and remind me to write down the little annoyances that crossed our paths in our moments together, and ones that tripped across our paths of recollection.  You’ll hear cock-a-doodle-doo-ing as well as a bunch other grumpy old guy gripes I hear myself complaining about. Maybe you kvetch about some of them, too.

The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn saw retro jazz man Drew Nugent from Philadelphia reunited with Producer Vanessa Silberman.  They had previously worked together on Second Hand Man (2020), All My Pals Are Clowns (2021), Hard to Get Home (2022), and Beautiful Day in Paradise (2023).  Vanessa brought in locals Carissa Johnson and Andy Plovnick to cover bass and drums.  The Bunker had a great vibe, allowing us all to have fun with this track.

Although the song gets caustic it is light-hearted and bright at its center, because I almost always don’t stay mad for very long.  Hoping the same is true for you…

Credits:

Recorded May, 2023 at Bunker Studios, Brooklyn, NY

Peter Evans: vocals, guitar, arrangement and co-writer

Vanessa Silberman: co-writer, producer, engineering, mixing, and mastering

Drew Nugent: horns, Wurlitzer organ, vocals

Jennifer Lighthall: co writer.

Carissa Johnson: bass

Andy Plovnick: Drums and assistant engineer