Even White Boys Get The Blues by Tadg Galleran

Tadg still performs with them, and his original tune "Even White Boys Get the Blues" is on The King Brothers' first CD, "Turnin' Up the Heat." Tadg also played keyboard for a number of dates with childhood pal Richard Mikuls in The Shuffletones. It was here that he met guitarist James Armstrong, who at the time was recording his own album for Hi-tone Records. One night at a gig, James mentioned needing a slow song to complete the album. Tadg replied, "Let's do it now," and wrote the lyrics to "Don't Kiss and Tell" on the back of a band flyer. He didn't think about it again for six months, when James showed up with a copy of the record. "Don't Kiss and Tell" was an immediate hit in Holland and continues to get airplay throughout Europe.

In 1994, Tadg joined up with friend and former Monkee Peter Tork to perform at a benefit dance. They had so much fun they decided to form a band together.Shoe Suede Blues produced two CD's and tours the country performing their own unique brand of Blues to sold-out houses. Tadg is currently on hiatus from Shoe Suede Blues.

Tadg is appearing currently with blues legend Bernie Pearl and still tours with The King Brothers band.

Tadg's own debut album, "Even White Boys Get the Blues," is a compendium of songs he has written

throughout his life.

CD Info

Songwriter's Notes

I've often wondered what inspired certain songs, and thought perhaps this would be an appropriate place to share some of the events and thoughts behind this album. ~Tadg

Even White Boys Get the Blues

Depending on how many times you've heard me do this song at gigs you have probably heard several versions of how I came to write it. Truth is that in 1985 when I wrote it, I had allegedly read where F. Lee Bailey had allegedly been arrested on alleged drunk driving charges. He allegedly chose to have his license suspended instead of taking a sobriety test, and allegedly was transported by limo until his driving privileges were returned to him. After some alleged thought on the unfairness of this situation, I allegedly wrote the lyrics to this alleged song.

Cab Driver

I worked as the manager of a music store in San Francisco for a brief period in 1987 or maybe it was 1986. One of the salesmen, John Bird, (an exceptional guitarist by the way) was feeling pretty rotten one day (maybe it was a cold or a hangover) and at one point he said, "I wonder how much cab fare costs to the middle of the bridge?" We all had a good laugh and I tucked away the ending line to what would become "Cab Driver."

Gingerbread

When I was 18 years old and performing in the Los Angeles cast of the Broadway musical "Hair," my father asked me to move back into the family home for awhile. I wrote "Gingerbread" in my old bedroom where Pop had read me the story about the Gingerbread Boy when I was a little kid.

Cash Check or Money Order

This song was written when I was 17 and still living with my parents. I wrote it with all the background parts in mind, but never got the chance to hear it fully performed until this recording.

Don't Kiss and Tell

My friend James Armstrong was working on his first CD for Hi-tone records. We had a gig with a band called the Shuffletones on Friday night between his first set of recording sessions and the second. When I asked him how it was going he said, "I wish we had a slow song". That night on the break I sat down with him and wrote "Don't Kiss and Tell" on the back of a band flyer.

A Mask of Gray

When I was 16, my parents were afraid that I might get caught up in the drug phenomenon that was occurring in 1967 in Southern California where we lived. They sent me to live with relatives in the San Francisco Bay Area (smooth move). My Uncle "R.L" took a keen interest in straightening me out. He was a retired Chief Petty Officer from the Navy. This song was protest against his efforts. Truth is, I'm grateful now for the values he instilled but at the time I was so full of it, all I could do was write this song.

40 Days and 40 Nights

When I was 19 I was still performing in HAIR, however by this time I was on Broadway in New York. I had been sent there to replace cast members who had moved on. I was put up in the President Hotel in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan with Teddy Neeley, Meat Loaf, Jobriath Salisbury and several other cast members. One night I wandered into the fire exit stairwell with my guitar. I strummed a few chords and realized the stairwell had a cool echo. I stayed there till four in the morning and came out with this song. The Biblical references are probably the only useful thing to come of my parents having sent me to Bible school year after year ...that and my unwavering sense of morality.

;)

Rhymes With Bad

This instrumental number came together on the spot on the first day in the studio at 10:00 AM. This was only a test to see if all the recording equipment and instruments were working properly. We saved it. These bad cats woke up ready to wail! enjoy.

From a Buick 6

This song leapt out at me from the "Highway 61 Revisited" album that Bob Dylan released in 1965. I was just a punk kid taking guitar lessons. I couldn't help but memorize the lyrics, which I can't ever seem to get the same two times in a row, but I love the groove.

Black Drawers

Someone who didn't know all the lyrics taught this song to me. When I discovered there were verses to go with this undeniably pelvic chorus, I chose to ignore them. My apologies to those of you who know the song. Even for those of us who don't, the tune still gets the old backfield in motion every time.

Wrong Doin' Woman

This song was written in stages. At first it was called Country Girl. However I discovered that this particular woman was too high falutin' and too low class to be from the country. This is a song about a woman who preys on men; the kind of girl who gets you to pay for her breast enhancement so she can get her boyfriend back.

Stagger Lee

This Lloyd Price tune is based on a traditional folk song. It tells of a man with a gambling problemS a problem he solves the old fashioned way. It was a simple time with simple solutionsS no visits to Peoples Court, no therapy sessions. Just go home and get the 44 and blow the bastard away. It was the first blues song I ever sang. I think I was six. It's still a great song.

Six Days on the Road

This bonus track was recorded in 1970 in a Torrance, California recording studio. The players include Willie Weatherly on guitar and lead vocals. Ted Neeley of "Jesus Christ Superstar" fame on drums and background vocals. Herb Steiner, formerly with Linda Rondstadt and the Stone Ponies ("Different Drum") on pedal steel guitar. An inspired bass player who I think was named Ritchie. And a seventeen year-old Tadg Galleran on harmonica. This was my first recording session. I was totally jazzed to be in a studio and to see this song pressed on a 45 RPM record. It was to have been released by Decca Records, but something happened on the way to fame and fortune. Hope you like it.

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