Spoken Nerd Finds Inspiration In Beetlejuice

One of the interesting qualities of good art is the way that it takes on new relevance as it ages.  I think about older films and songs and how their messages seem to speak to the present day and I’m reminded of a line from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Excursions”:  “Daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles.”  The last song that I released in this series was inspired by Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond and was dedicated to my friend, Stuart. Having found enjoyment in writing a song for a friend based on their movie choice, I decided to dedicate my February songwriting to my wife, with a song inspired by one of her favorite movies as a surprise for Valentine’s Day.  Spending our first year of marriage living in a pandemic, as my day job had become ridiculously dangerous but necessary, we experienced the holidays without seeing our families.  Throughout all of this, we worked together and leaned on one another to preserve passion, experience joy, and align our hearts with light.  All things considered, it was quite obvious that Beetlejuice was the right film for me to rap about.     

A few years back when I was touring in Colorado I met Otem Rellik and Shocker Mom at a show we played in a basement venue in Denver.  We kept in touch and this is the 2nd song that we’ve made together as the instrumental features a throbbing bassline with gorgeous strings and piano.  I wrote these words over the course of a week while I was snowed in at my house.  Don’t worry, I wasn’t going crazy or anything.  I was cooking chuck roast, watching movies, and sledding.  It was a blast.     

Beetlejuice flirts with the unpopular idea of an imperfect afterlife.  I love the absurdity of bureaucracy after death in the scenes where our heroes reach out for help. The title is taken from a line in the flick spoken by Barbara as the Maitlands are trying to figure out what is going on.  Although Beetlejuice is full of dark themes, the protagonists find their way to a peaceful afterlife through teamwork and I applaud them for it.

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