Written and performed by Original Cyndi
Recorded by the Kelly Bros. and Justin Jordan in 2002. Mixed and MFI 2016
Fred Kelly:
Justin was the first. Long before we (or anyone else we knew) embraced the advantages of computer-based hard drive recording (as opposed to tape or dedicated non-computerized hard drives), Justin had discovered the power and the freedom in using a DAW in his music. It took us a while to see the light (which, of course, we have).
Coincidentally, around the time that Jonathan and I had started our own 8-track garage rock odyssey with The Rockwells, Justin had formed a new organ-based garage rock project: Original Cyndi. The songs were different from anything he’d written before. And, at least in my opinion, the tracks were all smokin’ good. As a result of our 8-track cassette, analog experimentation, Justin decided to ask if we’d be the rhythm section for this first batch of Original Cyndi songs. We’d cut the songs in Knoxville, on our Tascam, and then he could import them into his DAW to do with as he pleased.
This is one of those original batch of songs. I love it. I love all of those songs, in fact. This one is interesting, as Justin only need up releasing a Memphis-recorded version of it. It’s very good, but I always liked our version a lot as well. Here it is.
Jonathan Kelly
This song has a bit of a stranger path than even some of the other songs that Justin recorded with us for the Original Cyndi's album. At one point, after we transferred the tracks off of the cassette we recorded on, Fred had the idea to add fresh drums, bass, and guitar. It would be a hybrid version of the song, with Justin's original vocals and organ parts retained. I think we did that in...2008?
What we ended up with was fun, but we didn't have anything we could do with it, so it was a bit of a curio. This made it a perfect candidate for the Remix project! There are several songs that didn't make it on the the Original Cyndi album that could maybe be its own thing in the future.
As for the initial sessions for the project, I have really fond memories of them. It really felt like a total change of gears for Justin, and the very direct songwriting with melodic and intricate organ parts was really exciting.