'Bolongo Bay'

Liner Notes

History:

This song was written shortly after returning from a 2 month gig on the American Virgin Island of St. Thomas. We actually performed at a place called the Frenchman's Reef hotel (as far as I know there is no "Plia Del Rae" but "Frenchman's Reef" didn't fit into the lyrics very well. We also were not staying in Bolongo Bay (an actual place on the island) but up on a hill overlooking the hotel in our own "band house" It was quite an impressive location and gave a very wide angle view of the Caribean.

The song captures some of the feeling of being there but the lyric content shouldn't be taken too literally. For instance, we didn't really lie in the sun with a bottle of rum, though once a week when the cruise ships arrived and the new tourists invaded the hotel, we invited ourselves to the Pina Collata party and drank enough of them so that, I'm sure, we all still shudder at the thought of another one.

It was humorous to watch the tour groups come and go eight times while we were there and even though the management wanted to extend our engagement ANOTHER 4 weeks, none of us could stand the thought of staying one more day. I had just joined this new band (Saddle Tramp) and within 2 or 3 weeks they landed this job in St. Thomas. No one in the band really expected me to go with them since my daughter, Melanie, had just been born. She was born on July 19th and I left for the islands on August 19th. It was hard to do but I really needed the job.

The band I was working with at that time was called Saddle Tramp and consisted of:

	Joel Thomas	(head honcho - rhythm guitar - vocals)
	Joe DeMott	(bass guitar - vocals)
	John  Glover	(drums - comic relief - nicknamed Junior)
	Kathy Dawes	(vocals - good looks)
	Rick Holton	(lead guitar - vocals)

Recording Notes:

This recording was made at home on my 4 track TEAC, a TEAC mixer and a Shure microphone. It features me on everything except for the drum computer which I programmed.

Musicians:

	Korg	- Drum Computer.
	Rick Holton	- Everything else.

Lyrics to Bolongo Bay

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