(updated below) I have yet to experience an interpersonal relationship that has precisely conformed to my prescription.  I am no doctor (my attorney advised that I make this public disclaimer) but I write prescriptions all the time.  Little slips of paper with pithy directives, text messages with helpful suggestions, and my personal favorite, the mind-meld, wherein I concentrate extremely hard on how I’d like my myriad patients to behave with regard to their terrible illnesses.   A wonder then that my personal brand of imperialism has so few willing subscribers.  I am often puzzled by this.

For instance, when I married my lovely wife, whose treasures I surely coveted, I helpfully tried to insert a simple bit of language in our vows that would compel delivery of these treasures to me.  Who better to look after these precious gifts?  And, having been a righteous steward of these gifts, who better to profit from them?  She – and this is a real head-scratcher – declared that she would have no part of this “neo-colonial” relationship.  Huh?  Well, despite my perplexion, she won that battle.  She had done a little reconnaissance, the dear, and had discovered that my war chest was running quite low.  It was a surprise to me too!

So here I am, my empire clearly in decline, negotiating with terrorists (pretty much everyone I come across these days), writing and recording songs (like this new one here) as a means of attempting to recede gracefully, and just plain old trying to get along.  This is not easy.  But I think I now know what Tiny Bradshaw meant when he wrote “Train Kept A Wreckin.”  All night (and all day) long.

UPDATE: For those of you who missed the “Works In Progress”‘ interview of yours truly and co-producer Jonathan Visger on Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music, which aired April 24, 2010  on WDET, you can listen to it here.