April 03, 2005

The Big Onion Blues turns 10

While working at a job a ways back, I had a big crush on a married woman that worked upstairs in public relations. It was all very innocent and, of course, nothing came of it - if she knew, she never let on.

It was her sense of humor that drew me to her. She had a well honed sense of the absurd and an overactive imagination that easily exploited the work atmosphere. She would telephone random people in the office and, as they picked up, transfer the call to some other random person. Sometimes she would leave strange rambling stream-of-consciousness group voicemail messages late at night. Yes, looking back, she may have been insane - but it was the good, fun kind of insane. Right?

It was in one of those strange rambling stream-of-consciousness messages that she first used the phrase "Big Onion Blues" to describe her mood. It had so much potential that I took the phrase and wrote a blues song for her.

Late one night I recorded it with two of my friends: Bill on drums and "Fretless" Joe on bass. Bill was the music director there and did an amazing job recording the tracks. Joe also worked in the audio department and added effects to the final piece. I assumed the role of Blind Onion Wilson and also played guitar.

This is the 10th year anniversary of the song, so I have decided to re-release it, so to speak, and dedicate it to everyone that made it possible...

Big Onion Blues (3.65 MB).