Long Dark Night. “Here is a key that won’t unlock the door.” The spark that set off the war. My Franz Ferdinand. There really is a key. A big brass one. I’ve had it for years. We used to laugh around the television envisioning a gangsta rapper wearing it around his neck. It sits on a shelf in the GuitarsWerk workshop. I picked up the ’63 Fender Jaguar and started absently playing a chord progression I had been working on. Nothing too serious. The first line in the new song ended being about the key. I’m funny that way. I can look at something and take it somewhere else. Maybe strange ideas make the best bed fellows. Bed fellows. I’ve always had trouble sleeping. I find it hard to shut down. Song ideas. Sound ideas. Novels. Stories. But I’m thankful. I can only draw stick men. A blessing in disguise. CandyLand doesn’t need to be dolled up like the Sistine Chapel and I’m grateful for the few extra hours rest. It’s only fitting then, that a radio should be interrupting my much sought after rest. Slumber. Not to be. By the end of the song we find that we’re in a time loop. There’s that radio again. The original demo featured the intro minus the effects. There was talk amongst the group of ditching the intro. So I decided to mess about with it on my own. Very happy with the end result. Took a few long dark nights. Long Dark Night. If you can relate in terms of a tarot reading, it’s a dark night of the soul. Look at me. Getting all Capricornia and Saturnian at the same time. This was one of the first songs we recorded for this album. Probably the third one in. So I’ve had plenty of time to live with this song. And funny. I thought this song was so ready but something kept nagging at me. I was aware of what was on my shopping list. List completed. But still. And then it hit me. Astrid. She had done a fab job on RADIO CITY. And that, my friends, was that little bit of icing the song needed. Of course there was mucho clean-up aisle three needed. That bed of nails is gone. Along with that toaster. Hail hail rockroll … xoRJ