Another non-song chapter title, invoking a musical trio while foreshadowing a few different dueling duos.
We’re hitting the crossroads where the story loosely outlined in my head for years takes a hard turn in a different direction. In hindsight the breadcrumbs were there (they always are…), but this is the spot where the lost adventures of Local Boy and the old man from TP between 1969-2002 morphed into the narrator from Timely Persuasion isn’t the only time traveler manipulating Local Boy, and the stakes are 27 times higher than you think.
The big change in direction really happens with the unexpected return of an old character at the conclusion of this chapter which I’ll get into next time. For now, onto the tidbits…
Onto the Tidbits!
- The original work in progress draft had a scene where Local Boy actually did meet his son at the bottom of the stairs after some trial and error of mistaken identity, but I came to realize teasing an appearance of his son was more compelling while also helping to keep this book standalone(ish).
- The Eagles have always held a special anachronistic place in Local Boy’s heart. His lawn mowing showmanship stunt in 1969 was inspired by “Take It Easy” (written by Jackson Brown–respect the greats!) and here he conjures 1974’s “Already Gone” (by Jack Tempchin & Robb Strandlund) out of the ether at the end of a sentence.
- When the son was present in this scene, he fed Local Boy lines while interrogating the Nelsons on where their songs came from. Here LB is showing his street-smart level of intuition, which is stronger than the book smarts he repeatedly reminds us he doesn’t have in a self-deprecating way.
- I should really keep a list of every actual and possible Local Boy album title, so might as well do that here. TP1 had Done Good, Live at the Barnstormer, Coverville, and Quits. In Done Gone he brainstorms Allowed Aloud and In Cahoots. If his career took off I reckon he’d eventually have to call a record Dangerous Folk Rock Appeal too.
- “A shrug away from an accident and a slush away from a snow cone machine” is a line I love and a few people in my writing group also highlighted. I’m sure it had some level of deeper meaning when I wrote it, but I have zero recollection of what it actually meant. (Edit: Cold shoulder, duh!)
- Strange proof there’s no such thing as an original idea anymore: Googled “doe in a spotlight” on a whim and found I’m the 6th person to turn that phrase, the most interesting being Richard Donner using it to describe a pre-Superman Margot Kidder.
- “Stop stallin’ and start singin’” foreshadows a future (and past) stolen song.
- Playing the upright bass as if it was a guitar was a random idea I had riffing on a way to have Local Boy’s technique pay tribute to Mark Sandman from Morphine. Then I found this video:
- Having the Nelson’s cover Nilsson felt fitting. Agonizing over whether you can play “One” & “Won One” back to back was a real life internal debate that made its way into the story.
- “Won One” is 3 minutes & 11 seconds in the recorded demo version, so burning 3 or 4 minutes is factually accurate. There’s a lot more about “Won One” to come in these commentary posts.
- Won and One and Won is three is a message from a future self foreshadowing the ending and a few other things to come.
- The mechanics of what’s happening on stage with seen & unseen presences is intentionally vague at this point, but will eventually have enough info to piece it together even if it isn’t outright explained. Hint: we learned about two types of time travel in TP1 (in head & full body), and will learn about two more in this sequel.
- “It’s always about a girl” invokes both Nirvana & The Mr. T Experience, the latter of which often introduces multiple songs per night as “this is a song about a girl!”