While I was slogging through a spring allergy phase (2025) that drives/dives me down into the realm of Worf voice, I was listening to the truly lovely harmonies that appear on “Honeybee,” by Steam Powered Giraffe; and when taken altogether, that experience put me in a sort of a Barry White, Isaac Hayes kind of a mood… albeit the notion of those voices shifted towards representation by backing vocals and ad libs. That all coincided with my mulling over plans for the next phase of my life, which involved fairly imminent retirement. In that frame of being, it occurred to me that there might be someone out there looking for someone like me… someone else who would like a mature romantic relationship without fights, and an emphasis on staying together.

You know what I mean… a bond that involves snacks (as symbolic of loving someone just as they are).

So, all of a sudden, out poured these lyrics, albeit in this case I needed to go through more than the typical number of revisions.

Broadly, the problem was that I just wrote too much at first. I wanted the spoken, free narrative quality to appear in parts, but the music ended up plodding along repetitively: it was trying to cover too much material whose structure was too loose. There were too many topics being covered in the song, and each verse was having to act almost like two verses with a hook in the middle. That was just too cumbersome for the music, where the relaxed, calming, and sensuous melody that I wanted was becoming oversimplified and repetitive so it could just clump along like an onerous hike through mud; basically, the song wasn’t sure how it was going to cover all of that material in an interesting way, so it just broke down and repeated itself into boredom.

I had gone too far in trying to complete the whole structure for consistency’s sake, and stretched the song beyond its limits of being interesting, so I trimmed off about half of each verse, removing material that was just trying to fill in the less interesting subjects.

The refined result was much more pleasant.

But then, several months later, when I listened to that version as part of the Ravelsway album as a whole, the music just didn’t fit… which wasn’t terribly surprising given that the rest of the album had been written in a fairly cohesive mood. The original version of the song wasn’t sweet and gentle enough; for example, it kept soaring from the bass-baritone range into prolonged, loud falsetto modulations that were right for the original song (as they had derived from swells in the musical passages that I was feeding in), but they made the song too intense for the new context.

The thing is, I didn’t want to lose that feeling entirely. 

What came to mind was Minnie Riperton singing “Loving’ You,” and I started writing passages for piccolo, then changed to flute. You’ll hear what I mean in the swirling high notes. Those bits led to an entire re-orchestration, and I ended up liking the new passages so much that I included a particularly long instrumental outro (albeit with a little vocalization).

Intimate Rhythms ended up being the earliest written of the songs to appear on this album (as well as the last finished), followed by In the Maine.

[2025-05]

Lyrics

You looking for a husband?

Maybe I should be your ol' man

    (He could be the one)

Yeah, I'm gonna retire soon

    (A new lifetime)

That stable income... feels so smooth

No heavy debts to weigh us down

Bills are always paid

    (Paid in the shade)

Watch me balance that budget

    (Financial stability)

You want more?

    (As security grows)

My insurance is comprehensive

    (Dental and vision)

And baby, you know what comes next…

We should have some snacks

Oh yeah, baby

    (Oh yeah)

Let's have those snacks

Those tasty snacks

    (Those tasty snacks)

We can relax with our snacks

    (They can relax)

You name it

You got it

I'm all in,

    all night long

My kids are all grown and gone now

    (Lone paradigm)

The house to ourselves

Me and you

We can get our groove on, baby, and watch some TV

    (TV and movies)

Or get all freaky and read

    (Read a whole book)

You want more?

    (When loving each other)

Then we could share deep conversation

    (Gentle expression)

You crave it

I'll find it

I'm here now,

    not going nowhere

    (Not going nowhere)

Never wanna waste time on fights

    (Peace of mind)

Our priority, you and me

How we're gonna stay together

Not about scoring a win

    (Begin within)

Not when we can compromise

    (Sweet compromise)

You want more?

    (As time goes on)

The only pressure is magic massage

    (Perfect precision)

And honey, here's what you deserve...

We should have some snacks

Evening snacks

    (Oh yeah)

Oh yeah

    (Let's have those snacks)

Those tasty snacks

    (Those tasty snacks)

We can relax with our snacks

    (They can relax)

I'll give you what you need... 

Chocolate

    (Sweet chocolate)

Popcorn

    (Buttered popcorn)

Ice cream

    (Deluxe toppings)

And peanuts

    (Candy coated for your pleasure)

All night long

I always take my meds on time

    (Right on the dime)

So we can stay up, until nine

Maybe even till nine-thirty,

    if you're turning wild

    (Wild and beguiled)

Want adventure?

We'll go crazy

    (Crazy for you)

You want more?

    (When the lights go down)

Twin CPAPs… breathe nightly harmonies

    (Symphonic fusion)

You dreamed it

You found it

I'm yours now,

    for all time

    (Whatever you desire)

    (It's yours tonight)

Let's just stay at home

    (Home together)

Fuzzy orthopedic slippers on

    (Maximum comfort)

That's what I call true love

    (True love)

You were looking for a husband,

    and baby…

    (You found him)

You found him

    (She found him)