From the recording OUR BLESSED ISABELLA
Lyrics
OUR BLESSED ISABELLA
She was the queen who couldn’t come clean
To stay in her fancy, rumors and glancing
Shifting through pedals, roses, medals
Harbinger muses and oil paint ruses of . . .
Our Blessed Isabella
Sitting in the sun
Until the flames have come
She was the dove that severed its wings
On razor blade love and hair trigger flings
Courtesy fencing and muscular tensing
She’s seeing double through Mr. B. Rubble of . . .
Our Blessed Isabella
Sitting in the sun
Until the flames have come
One Wicked Isabella
Looking so sublime
Choking on her time
And the sun bleeds down
From her melting crown
Say what you will but I have to thrill you
You feathered and tarred me
Now you will be sorry
She was the bitch, impossibly rich
Her faithful battalions hung like medallions
She egged my garden and promised me pardon
Slipped me a mickey and carved out a hickey of . . .
Our Blessed Isabella
Sitting in the sun
Until the flames have come
One Wicked Isabella
Looking so sublime
Choking on her time
And the sun bleeds down
Our Blessed Isabella
c1996 by Wishnefsky
Wishnefsky – vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitar
Todd Jameson – synth
Dave Rodgers – drums
Stephen Bock – electric guitar
Archie Frugone – bass
COMMENTS
I wrote this song towards the end of the Jabberwock days. We recorded it during the last sessions we ever did in November of 1996. We did Isabella, (I Want to) Disappear, Cakewalk, and Gates of Paradise. It was the only time that we recorded with our live guest musicians Archie Frugone (bass) and Steve Bock (guitar). They did a great job. If Jabberwock had kept on going, we would used them on future recordings. They play their respective instruments much better than I do and they always got the feel of the music (which is a lot harder than it sounds).
In 1998, Veneer redid Our Blessed Isabella for the Sandbag demos.
I tell the story behind this song in the comments for the Veneer version. So, if you're interested, head over there for more.
In the meantime, here's some history for you:
I met Dave and Steve when I was a junior at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles at the west end of a scorching wasteland known as the San Fernando Valley. They were in a cover band called Atlantis. Dave's PE locker was next to mine. Somehow we discovered that we were both musicians. Dave told me his band was looking for a keyboardist and invited me to audition. I had never been in a band before, although I had been writing songs since I was a little kid. So, mustering a nervous combination of courage and ambition, I lugged my gigantic Fender Rhodes to the living room of Steve's parents house (which included two luxurious green chairs that much later made their home in Jabberwock's studio at Dev's house). I set up and played through a bunch of songs with the band. It was easy.
Then they asked me to play a solo.
I remember it was a Paul McCartney song and in G minor. I was an absolutely horrific soloist at the time. But I could play impressively fast. So I basically just blazed up and down G minor scales, which was no small task given the waterbed action of that damn Rhodes. I hoped the velocity of my playing would distract the band from noticing little things like my complete lack of dynamics, invention, and melody. Well, Dave and Steve certainly noticed. But they didn't care because, after rehearsal, I sat down at Steve's stand up piano and started playing every Elton John song that Steve could think of. Dave thumped along in his best Nigel Olsson impersonation and Steve morphed into Davey Johnston. There was instant chemistry and life long friendships were born.
As it turned out, certain band members wanted me and other band members didn't. My audition inspired a massive band dilemma that resulted in Dave and the other guitar player leaving to form a rival band, while Steve, the bass player, and the lead singer asked me to join them. We auditioned some drummers and they all sucked compared to Dave. The four of us begged Dave and the other guitar player to return to the fold. They did and over the next few years, we played a slew of high school dances and parties, and one dance marathon at 6:30 in the morning.
Wishnefsky