When I found out that today was FA's third birthday, I thought I'd try and upload something in honor of the occasion (technically I missed the birthday by a few hours, but I haven't been to bed yet, so as far as I'm concerened, it's still the 16th). Trouble is, I'm just not feeling motivated to create anything new right now... so I've reached back into the archives once again for an oldie that I haven't posted yet. Plus, this way, the pressure's off me to try to record something new before the end of the month :D .

This one is called "Happy Tappin'", and it was recorded in February of 1989. I was 17 and a senior in high school. My friend Luke, who lived in Vermont (just a few miles south of the Canadian border), came down to Massachusetts to visit his grandparents during February vacation. While he was here, we decided to try to record a follow-up to the album we'd recorded the previous summer under the name Isolated Incident (I uploaded a 'remix' of the song "Red" from that album back in April 2007). That album had been made entirely by Luke and I, but this time, we decided to bring my brother Bill into the fold, as well as a girl named Michelle, who I was friends with at the time. The result was a 6-song EP called "Driveling Nonsense". One of the songs was a half-intentionally butchered cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter", which U2 had famously covered the previous year on their Rattle And Hum album. U2's version, recorded live, began with Bono's self-important remark, "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, and we're stealing it back". Our version started with Luke saying to a mock crowd, "This is a song U2 stole from Charles Manson, and we're stealing it back" LOL. Another song was called "A Raw Bagel With One Burnt Corner", despite the fact that bagels, by definition, do not have corners.

But I digress. "Happy Tappin'" is a bastardization of the Dale Evans/Roy Rogers song "Happy Trails", which Luke had half-learned to play on harmonica. We called it "Happy Tappin'" because we thought that it seemed like a song that it would be difficult not to tap your feet along with. I played the main keyboards on a Yamaha Portatone PSR-16, and my brother added some extra keyboards on a Casio SK-1. The aforementioned Michelle did not appear on this song. Oh, and quite regrettably, that's me that awkwardly exclaims "YEEEEAHHHH!" 1:27 into the song. Man, I wish I hadn't done that lol. That one aspect of the song is what's kept me from uploading it before now.

In preparing to upload this, I just learned that there is actually a Sesame Street song called "Happy Tappin' With Elmo". This troubles me, so I would like to make it perfectly clear that "Happy Tappin'" was recorded before that song existed. I would also like to declare that there are no connections whatsoever between this song and "Happy Feet", or Senator Larry Craig.

Happy Birthday, FurAffinity... and happy tappin'.


"Happy Tappin'" (2:37)
Written and recorded February 1989
me - keyboards
Luke H. - harmonica
Bill D. - keyboards