It’s OK To Do Stuff… Songs Left Off Free To Be You And Me

40 years ago this month, Marlo Thomas broke ground in the war for understanding and peace among the sexes and all people’s of the Earth with “Free To Be You And Me.” Now, 40 years later, collaborator buddy Rob Kutner, my brother Stephen and I decided it was the perfect time for a parody. We actually decided this three weeks ago when Rob wrote to me and said “We should do a parody album of this, right?” So we undertook it and decided that since we were doing something to sully the name of one of the kindest and awesomest albums of all time, we’d better give our proceeds to St. Jude’s to keep our karma clear.

In the past three weeks, we have written lyrics and music, recorded and finished producing an entire (not at all full length) album with some of the biggest and awesomest names I’ve ever worked with. Songs that are supposed to feel like they were left on the cutting room floor of the original, with titles like “Divorce Makes a Family Twice As Big,” “Swallow Your Dreams,” and “Be Yourself… Unless (You’re an Asshole.)” The album drops tomorrow. It also comes out tomorrow.

For me the most exciting part was writing music that I sent off to the two actual musicians on the album, Steven Page (former Barenaked Ladies frontman) and Jane Wiedlin (of Go-Go’s fame.) Never has it struck home so powerfully that I do not have the voice to be on the Billboard charts as when people who actually DO have that kind of awesome sounding voice sing a tune I wrote. They’re so much better that these songs, that even though I spent hours and days writing and playing and hearing over and over again in my voice – the moment they came back in the real voices, their voices, that became the only way I could hear them in my head. Does that make sense? Well, it does in my head, so that’s two points for my head in one paragraph.

Anyway, it’s $5, it features an amazing cast of comedy and music stars, and the proceeds go to St. Jude’s, so when I tweet about that shit tomorrow, head on over and buy it maybe? Yeah.