NOTES

When I was 19 and busted by a dorm security guard for having two 12 packs of Heineken concealed inside an acoustic guitar case, soon after Dave Heinz would sing, “Marist Security; I’m so tired of you looking in the guitar case of our lives…”

A true renaissance man— known to captivate a campfire audience by singsonging stories while playing the spoons— Dave one day returned from a college poetry class profoundly evoking our existential conundrum in a poem we still recite at an occasional SkyDaddy show to this day: 

“…We were nothing to begin; Won’t be nothing in the end. We’re never born; we never die … ”

The Other Side of Perspective is a phrase that perhaps recalls the essential yin and yang of my longtime friend and collaborator, Dave Heinz. But from that early track, “Perspective” — to our brand new single we’re releasing this week, “Shook Up” — Dave has exhibited a knack for stirring up emotional feelings in his listeners. 

“…You’re a twelve-hour shift and there ain’t no breaking. I’m putting in a little overtime, if I want to take home a dime; Pack a lunch, no forgetting, you could make a betting man break a sweat in a second.”

[Shook Up, SkyDaddy—out now!]

Ahead of the Alpha Male Gorillas, Mazzstock All Star Band and SkyDaddy show this Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, Nov. 27, I asked the members of AMG and SkyDaddy to share their favorite Dave Heinz-lyrics.

The panel…

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#1): “I’ve got a mind at ease, my pool is 80 degrees, I’ve got a blender and a pile of old CDs…”

Just Enough Wine (SkyDaddy, 2015)

Chris Schwind, “OL Blue Note,” of AMG: Love it cause it just absolutely puts me at a great barbecue where everyone is chilling, swimming, drinking something good and singing along to our favorite old songs that we know every word to.

Vinny Pomarico, “The Don Vincenzo,” of AMG: Dave just paints this imagery of a perfectly sunny day, chillin’, grillin’, hanging with your girl, your friends, your fam’, tunes on the speaker—but it’s just so catchy and put together so well that you actually can imagine days just like that when you’re hearing it.

Honorable mention from Just Enough Wine: “We can go for a ride, the top is off the JEEP, start a bonfire in your soul real quick…”

#2) “Gimme the Popov Cocktail, lickety split hittin’ with the sloppy hot girl.  Stimulate the greatest when I pace this tasteless vacation—I’m lookin’ for sensation.” 

Beach Bum, Alpha Male Gorillas (2010)

The Don Vincenzo: This really captures a moment in time for a lot of the band: just living broke, vagrancy style, at the Jersey shore, barely enough cash to have a few drinks, not even enough to leave a tip, play some ski ball, and hope to find somewhere to stay during the night… It really ties into the chorus well too, which is, “One more shot, I’m too shot to drive.  A place to stay is what I’ve got to find…”

Schwiny: In one sentence it sums up what we used to do at the beach when we were young…

Honorable mention from Beach Bum: “I’m lackin’ legal tender, backpackin’ when it’s crackin’ and I can’t remember. Slippin’ by, sippin’ time, you know I’m not a tippin’ guy—I’m broke at the beach, it’s summer time!”

Editor’s note: I reached out to Anthony DeFraia for comment on this article and he said: “I’m sorry. I’m at work right now. ‘I hope your dog needs expensive surgery.’ That’s a good [Dave lyric].”

#3) “… Not going to work, never gonna get paid again, stay home and watch re-runs of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’!”

Allergic to Work, Alpha Male Gorillas (2010)

The Don: I love this one for some many reasons. There’s that compound rhyme in the middle that just flows so well and just really drives home the point of the song—which is “fuck work”—and the killer punchline of “Everybody Loves Raymond” has legitimately gotten people to laugh out loud when they first hear it.

#4) “Gathering kindling in your mind; all we need is that spark…”

By The Fire, SkyDaddy (2017) 

Joe North, of SkyDaddy: I love the imagery and how the hard consonants play against each other. 

Clancey: Dave manages to again conjure spirituality and possibility filtered through his life experience, in this case the Mazzstock Music Festival and its epic campfire jams, which inspired this song. 

North: He puts emotion and thought into his craft, And that translates to other aspects about his life. He’s a people person. I’ve seen him entertain one person crowds, to 30 person gatherings, to huge audiences. His passion for performing comes through in whatever he is doing…”

#5) “I can’t stand this modern day electronic tidal wave. I can’t tell if it’s you—or auto consciousness. Are you really you?”

Dinner Time, Alpha Male Gorillas (2012)

The Don: We live in a strange electronic age, and Dave sums it up beautifully in just a few thought-provoking words.

#6) “Green old leprechauns give me financial advise…”

Peyote Redux, Alpha Male Gorillas (2012)

Schwiny: I love it, because first of all, it’s hilarious. Secondly, it’s funny because in that song I kind of repeat whatever he says, and because “green old leprechauns” is longer than other things he says, I could only fit “financial” as the response. I remember the first time we did it, we laughed about it forever.

#7) “Holy Mary, won’t you pour this old man’s misery away.”

Old Man. SkyDaddy (2009). 

North: It’s super powerful… You picture an old man drinking in the dark by a candle or whatever. His imagery is really impressive.

Clancey: This song goes way back to our early in our professional lives, and it’s one of the few we co-wrote the lyrics. I saw the Irish whisky bottle in the kitchen and suggested “St. Jameson will fill your mind with lies, deceptions and good times,” to which Dave completed “like a man of the cloth when the clothes come off, and the lady takes her time…”

AUTHOR’S CHOICE: “We used to go to the Jets game and hang by Gate D, until your old lady read the New York Times piece.”

Old Lady, SkyDaddy (Unreleased)

Clancey: It remains a joy to laugh and sing about our shared life experiences, including being tortured Jets fans during the era of the Gate D scandal, nearby my Dad’s Section 120 tickets.

As Dave wrote…

#8) “I’m asking questions about the Universe. I’m finding that my time is best spent in reverse.”

You Tell Me I’m Crazy, SkyDaddy (2015)