Okay,
Continuing in the tradition of debuting some of our rough drafts for the album . . . we're adding another one today . . . (1) to start introducing people to some of Jan Berry's lesser-known solo works from the 1970s . . . and (2) to start introducing people to my friend, Robbin Thompson.
I wasn't gonna post this one yet (not by a long shot) . . . but someone inadvertently talked me into it . . .
"California Sunshine (On My Mind)" has an interesting place in the history of Jan Berry's solo works. The tune started life as "Ginny's On My Mind" . . . but soon morphed into "Diane's On My Mind" . . . (during the filming of
Dead Man's Curve in 1977) . . . after Jan's new girlfriend at the time.
The song was originally written in 1976 by Jan Berry, Tom Sumner, and Alan Wolfson. The the original instrumental track was committed to tape around that time . . . and it remains one of co-writer Alan Wolfson's favorite Jan Berry tracks from the '70s.
Though they were never recorded, the lyrics and vocal melody for the song were also written out (i.e., notated, especially as "Ginny's On My Mind") . . .
But then something very interesting happened . . . They set "Ginny" aside and wrote a whole NEW lead vocal melody . . . and changed the lyrics . . . and the song became "California Sunshine" . . . Thus, it was always a work in progress.
Here, we offer the song as "California Sunshine (On My Mind)" . . . featuring our adaptation of Jan Berry's original music score, with lyrics culled from various sets of original alternate versions . . . with a vocal adaptation by Robbin Thompson.
This is our raw version. Most of the harmony vocals are still missing . . . (Jan almost never did two-part in the '70s) . . . and the electric guitar parts (which will be added by me) are also still missing.
But it's easy to share our first sparse edition of "California Sunshine" . . . because Robbin is a master of bare-bones acoustic music. If you ever get a chance to catch any of his "one-man, one-guitar" shows . . . in a club setting or private performance . . . you'll know what I'm talking about.
Aside from being in a band called Steel Mill with Bruce Springsteen in the early '70s . . . Robbin's first solo album was contemporary with Jan Berry's "Ginny On My Mind" and other tunes written by Jan in 1976.
In the '80s, The Robbin Thompson Band gained a national audience, with a huge following on the East Coast. Their song "Brite Eyes" (penned by Thompson) spent nine weeks on the Billboard charts in 1980.
Today, Robbin co-owns one of the East Coast's premiere recording studios, which cranks out music for national commercials and films.
Our finished version of "California Sunshine (On MY Mind)" will be much fuller . . .
But in the meantime, enjoy the draft . . .
http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantributeMark A. Moore
Author
