ALSO THE HOME OF
VIVO PRESTO SWING
Boogie In A Monk Suit
(Instrumental)
Note from Wade: This is a story about a man who left his job to
join a monastery and become a monk. While he was in the monastery he was caught but the
monsignor doing an unusual punk type dance to Echo And The Bunnymen on a boom box he had
smuggled in under his robe. He was promptly thrown out of the monastery, and almost
immediately got his old job back.
I couldn’t get the image of this guy dancing in this little
cubicle with his head shaved in a robe with a big cross around his neck, sandals on...
ect. I knew I had to write a song documenting this hilarious event, but I couldn’t
come up with any lyrics, hence, it’s an instrumental.
This guy also deemed himself a surfer, so if you listen closely to the little bridge part
before the CPE Bach Solfeggietto section and after the solo towards the end, you’ll
hear that it’s actually a surfer type motif, kind of like Wipe Out, but in a minor
mode. This is my impression of a monk on a surfboard, a reoccurring image I kept getting
in my head while writing Monksuit. So now you’re a little more filled in on the
esoteric humor of this piece.
By the way, the CPE Bach and the Gershwin have nothing to do with the concept of the song.
I don't even remember how the Bach got in there. I think one night I just threw it in
there on one of my classical tangents along with Chopin and Bartok, but the band liked it
so much it solidified into part of the performance. The Gershwin, on the other hand, was
kind of a statement. We were actually working on a rock version of Rhapsody In Blue when
United Airlines came out with their promo that featured bits and pieces of Rhapsody In
Blue. When we would play it, people would say, "United Airlines" and that just
ruined it for us. We stopped working on the Gershwin and just tagged a little bit of it
onto the end of Monksuit. Somehow, we thought that was a statement. Now, in retrospect, I
wish we'd finished our version. It was pretty cool.
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