In those days, I wanted no one to hear anything that wasn't fully developed, with clarity and exactitude. However I must confess that I've always been a huge hypocrite in this regard, because I myself have lusted after the demo's of others. Do not covet thy neighbor's demo.

But now I'm too old to care. That's not true of course, but not entirely untrue, either. The distance of the years makes their not being perfect seem like not such a big deal. And they do have their charm. Even the laughing when I screwed up in My Pussycat and Me makes the tune better.

Songs like Black Ice, You Won't Run Out, and It Might Be Rather Nice are from a songwriter camp in the south of France run by Miles Copeland. I slept in a turret. A bat flew in one window and out the other, at top speed, and with deadly sonar. A dog chased me, but I got a stick and we had a Mexican stand-off. I won. Good times! Actually, it was the experience of a life time, and I learned a great deal. Not to mention the food. And of course wine like I've never had.

In the case of It's Not That I Don't Feel Sorry, Kevin Costner showed up at the House of Blues in L.A., asking me if I'd write a song for his next movie, The Postman. These situations are always million to one odds, and of course the song did not end up in the picture.

Then there are the creepy tunes: You See That House, Mercy Kill Me, and Hold It Like an Egg. Creepy tunes written at creepy times. And how about the bizarre lyrics and crazy lead guitars of Digestive Process and Much Better? When listening all these years later, I was quite impressed with my own electric guitar playing. I haven't played electric guitar in so long that they make me want to pick it up again.

At the other end of the scale there are tunes like Satellites Pass Over and After My Dinner, songs in which I wrote a lyric and passed it on to Ellen, who finished them, composing the melody and chords and singing them. These are amongst the most charming tunes on the record.

Anyhow, enough talk. Put on the record, shut off your cell phones, internet, TV screen, and even the lights; then sit back, and give it a full listen through. I promise you'll laugh, at the very least. And a laugh is worth a thousand good ideas.