Pearl of great value

Dear Les,

3 AM, Wed. 8-16-11

Cannot sleep.

Just played

The last cut on Side B

Of an old cassette tape

For Dee who was coming to bed

After a late session of cookie baking

For son Lee……

Yesterday

I found a handful of tapes

In a drawer

Fortuitously

Having saved them in the move

Last year

And this one

Pictured here

(both sides B and A)

Contained along with

The Dukes of Dixieland

Two cuts of the Natural Gas

Jazz Band;

One of ‘Forever’

And the other of

‘Lover’

The latter – Lover –

Is a long number by

The trombonist, name unknown to me

Playing the most amazing

Rendition of the song

Most notably performed

By Les Paul and Mary Ford on their guitars.

It is a blessing for me

That I’ve found this old dusty tape.

On the other side, side A,

Are some numbers I multiply

(see Les Paul)

Recorded on what I called

‘two inexpensive

Japanese tape recorders’.

On this half of the cassette

- I modestly titled

THE WORLD’S

GREATEST MUSIC -

I put some versions of

Ja-da, Cecelia, I Love You, etc.

And a reading of

The Owl and the Pussycat…..

The songs are performed

On slide whistle, ukelele, kazoo,

A child’s toy piano, all blended together

And the vocals

Are done by me on top of it all.

This pearl of a tape

Was recorded

In 1983.

I am going to try to get

David Jr. to take that cassette

And make a CD of it

Which I will give you a copy of

as a brotherly gesture.

I remember

I came home late one night in 83

After some libationary action

And was loose enough

To be in what was for me top form.

Those few folks I made cassette copies for

Treasure the tape, they insist.

John Helt, for one.

BUT THE CUT I WANT YOU TO HAVE

ABOVE ALL THE REST

IS THE NATURAL GAS’S

LOVER

With the trombone solo.

All the rest is

Fluff.

Or fluffier.