Julie Grave

Album: Susquehanna (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this, the sixth track on the concept album Susquehanna, lead singer Steve Perry describes a point where the female character of the story is brought back onstage: "At this point in the record, I wanted to reintroduce the female principle (not an exact character) and maybe probe how the main character, in his interior, feels about the female. This is the most joyful song on the record, and it celebrates his kind of odd 'ideal' woman, I guess. She is older than he is and is enamored with all kinds of exhibitionist sex and drug troubles. I think I was trying to say that he admires her as a force of nature, a brave person who gives off a menacing, but also an exciting, feeling. She's a calamity, but never boring. Her animality is inspirational to him."
  • If you've detected a hint of the intellectual in the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' work, it turns out Steve Perry has a degree in chemistry and molecular biology from the University of Oregon. When asked in our Songfacts interview if this affected his songwriting, Perry responds, "They exist in separate lobes of my brain that mostly do not intersect." However, you can detect the occasional nuance in the way the music forms, especially when Perry's going on about Golden Ratios and Fibonacci sequences. (Check out the full Steve Perry interview)
  • A fun bit of Cherry Poppin' Daddies trivia: One of their stage props was a riding lawnmower modified to look like an erect penis, from which spurts liquid soap. This is named "Dildorado." This shows the spirit of subversiveness evident in all of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' work, starting from their band name, which caused some controversy when they first came out.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.