I had thought “Get It in Your Fingers” was a well-known phrase. It seems like it should be. The song is all about muscle memory; you can learn something, but you can’t really do it without thinking, and therefore perfectly, until it’s deep in your memory. And I thought that was “getting it in your fingers,” like learning a piano piece. Apparently, no! Well, it should be a well-known phrase. Anyway, this is my generous advice to young performers. The song originally had a verse about the Beatles, based on a scene from the documentary, Get Back: “Paul said to George: ‘Get it mechanical first’/The boys were writing new songs as they rehearsed/’Cos if you get it mechanical, you start to have fun/Just let it be, get back, and the song gets done.”

A couple of smart people - Barry Gifford, for one - said my last album reminded them of Bob Dorough a little, and there’s more here in the delivery. And maybe a little Thelonious Monk in the arrangement. The solo section was completely out to lunch at one point and we had to rein it in a little, so in the end it just sounds like someone practicing scales. That’s Matt Cappy on the trumpet. I’d like to sing this live in front of a hot band as I click my fingers and look like Bobby Darin.

Design by Morgan Narkiewicz
Photo public domain