Time Be Hard for the White Man

iTunes Release - July 1st, 2010! - Download All The Songs Now!

This Cd is a compilation of a musical journey I took with some friends of mine from 1982 to 1989. Our band was called 2nd Grade and while we never really made it out of my grandmother's basement in Severna Park we did have a lot of fun while actually producing some half decent music!!! The Band consisted of our Drummer Dr Dave the Party Slave who lived 3 doors down. Dave started coming over around 1983. He would play on Dave Maroza's (another high school buddy who I was jamming with) drum set and quickly I figured that Dr Dave was much better and much more Fun to jam with. Dr Dave will always be "The Life of the Party". So as Dr Dave "The Party Slave" and I started to get our act together another high school buddy kept coming by to listen to us. Fretless Mike lived less than a mile away and one day he told us he was going to buy a bass, teach himself how to play and join the band. Truth is we just laughed at him.

One day he showed up with a bass and not having a clue what I was doing I actually broke one of his strings that night as I thought it was tuned the same as a guitar. Well we figured that out and it wasn't long after that he joined the band. I think I met our lead guitarist Bob Zimmerman at Music and Arts in Severna Park as I would go up there to buy strings and other accessories. I must have mentioned to him that we needed a lead guitarist and since he also lived nearby the next thing you know we had a band!!! Bob played lead on 5 of the songs on the cd and Russell played lead on 3 songs. I met Russell in High School (Martin Spalding) and he was introduced to me as "Barney" because he looked just like Barney Rubble of the Flintstones. Russell was another add on who couldn't play a lick when we met but went on to be a dam good lead guitarist!!! Bob and Russell were great add ons but the nucleus of the band was always Fretless Mike, Dr Dave, and me alias Jimmy the Man.

All of these recordings sat around in a blue plastic box for the last 20 years until for some reason I decided to make this CD. I bought a tape to digital converter and that sat around for the about 6 months until I finally started listening to our old stuff and recording the best ones on my computer. I called Linganore High School and spoke with the Graphic Design Teacher Tracy J Bozzonetti and I told her I was looking for some help designing my CD cover and I would like to have a contest with her students and to the best design I would give $100.00. So she agreed and only 3 of her students took me up on the offer but I do have to say I was happy with the work. So I grabbed my guitar one day and went up to award the prizes but it seemed of the 3 contestants all of them had a design that I would use so I split it up and gave 3 awards of $60, $40, and $20. So everyone was happy and I even sat down and jammed on a few songs for them. Too Cool thanks Boz!!!

Time Be Hard for the White Man by 2nd Grade

Intro: This is an intro of our band at one of the first parties we held in my grand mother's basement (The Play Ground) probably in 1984

December: This is the first coherent song I think I ever wrote. I think it's really cool!!!

Fantasy in the City: This is another early original I wrote around 1984
Baby: I still really like this song but for some reason I never inked the lyrics to it and so we never recorded it with lyrics.

Let it Mend: I remember this as being my answer to "The Cars". I really liked the Cars in the 80's and I think I last saw them in concert at Merriweather Post in 1984. We had 4th row seats and I dumped a chick to go with another named Jill. I wrote the lyrics, played rhythm guitar and I actually played the keyboard for this one. This is one of 4 studio tunes we put on this CD. Very Cool!!!

Term Paper Blues: This is another of our 4 studio tunes that I wrote one night while studying for final exams at Anne Arundel Community College. We thought it was pretty good so we sent it in to 98 Rock for Kirk McEwen's "Home Tapes" show and if you listen at the end he disses my singing a little when he says "Got those Finl Zam Bu Bazy". Classic!!!

There's a Light in the Night and It's You: I remember this also as one of my first decent originals. I wrote it out and put it on a hook in my basement so I could read it while I played. This is the 3rd # of our studio trio and between a good mix from the studio and Bobby's awesome lead this is still an old favorite. Dr Dave always said it was his all time favorite!!!

And I Say Again: This is the first of bunch of songs I wrote about this chick named Jill I met in Ocean City in 1984. I was head over heels in love with her but it wasn't meant to be. Sally and I saw her in a grocery store in Towson around 1995 and after I introduced Sally as my wife and her jaw dropped to the floor. LOL

And Then I Think Again: I consider most of my songs to be pop tunes with a rockin edge. I guess I wrote this about an old girl friend named Stacy. One night I was up late after midnight listening to 98 rock probably downing a beer or 6 when Alan Cortiff said to call in for a Check Point, so I called in and I told him I wanted to play a tune for him and he came back a few seconds later and what you here is what you get. The cool thing was that it was recorded and it didn't come on until after I had hung up. So I recorded it on my boom box. All of our basement jams were recorded on that same boom box!!!

I Think I'm in Love Again: This is yet another song I wrote about Jill. It's a power ballad with a kick. Russell threw in a good lead and this is one of my all time favorites!!!

17 & Got a Credit Card: I can't tell you where this came from I just know I wrote it, Russell played lead and I still think this could be a good jingle for a credit card company!!! Credit Card Store???

You Got the Magic Touch: This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I wrote it about Jill in 1985 and I believe this is one of the few songs on this CD where we we're a true 3 piece band of Dr Dave, Mikee and me.

Time Be Hard for the White Man: I had a really cool neighbor named Jeff and he was a piano playing partying dude. He was a super good piano player and played in a bunch of big bands in the 80's and 90's. I'm not sure why but he started saying Time Be Hard for the White Man as a joke I guess. So naturally I picked up on it and we started saying it. Well one day Dave, Mike and I were jamming and Mike had to leave early. Well as Mike walked out of the door he mentioned why he had to leave early and I said yea Time Be Hard for the White Man and he said too bad you can't write a song about it. Well I had been working on some cords E F# A and B. So I played them and sang the words and I looked at both of them and we were like sounds good!!!! So Dave and I played a few more songs and then we sat down and I wrote it. The Title immediately sounds racist to some (trust me there is not a racist note in the song) but if it is that's the only part as these are some of the lyrics:

Met me a beauty just the other day she said
Hey you're a cutie but I'd just like to say
Time Be Hard
She said I know I'm seem near but I come from a far
Close your eyes tight and wish upon my star
Time Be Hard
Go to school try to get smart but it seems I'm behind before I ever get to start
Time Be Hard
Work so hard think I'd get a raise do something right all I seem to get is praise
Time Be Hard
For the White Man for the Right Man
For the White Man
Time Be Hard for the White Man
Tell me Baby Time Be Hard
Time Be Hard for the White Man
And you Know Time Be Hard

This is the only real punk rock tune on the CD. For years Mike was telling me how good of a recording it was and I guess I just never paid attention but a few years later I listened to it and I was like WOW that is GOOD!!! We played it for a small crowd of maybe 15 that night live at the Playground (my grandmothers basement) and the barking you hear in the background is a few of my college buddies goofing around. I love the chimes part in the beginning and to this very day I've never played it so good. This is one of our best live songs ever!!! And in my mind it is one of the Top 100 Punk Rock Songs of all time!!! LOL Hey I can dream right!!!

At the Playground: I christened the basement "The Playground" as it was our playground so I had to write a song about it. We usually played it as the first song of the 2nd set starting with a Dr Dave Drum solo and then the intro which I thought was very cool. Russell's lead at the end was one of his best ever. As Fretless Mikee would put it, A Poppy Heavy Metal Mess!!!

Eric's Blues: Eric was one of my community college buddies and he was great guitar player but while were friends most of the time sooner or later we would end up fighting about something and that was it. He would come over once in a while to jam so this was Dr Dave, Mike, Eric and Me. Very Very Cool!!!

Term Paper Blues: This is a song I wrote while attending Towson State U so with a little help from a super cool disc jockey/guitar playing dude called Skizz we recorded this song at TSU. I also made a really cool music video for one of my video production classes for it. This was really the pinnacle of our music. Things really went down hill after this. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

My Girlfriend Left Me (cause I didn't have a queen size bed): My wife to be Sally was over at my apartment in Towson one night but she wouldn't spend the night because all I had was a twin bed to sleep in. So in the midst of our conversation (I wouldn't say it was an argument as I was trying to sell a luxurious evening with the man) I picked up my guitar and started to make up this song and I even called Mike to tell him about it and he just laughed. Well I didn't make the sale that night that but I won the war as she married me in 1995!!! It really became more of a cult song for us as Mike added his 2 cents. You have to buy the song to hear what I'm talking about.

Marijuanaville: I have to give Mike credit. He came up with the idea from Margaritaville, he wrote it, and we performed it. It seems some years later someone else stole his idea but let me assure you this is the original!! That's Dr Dave on Bongos!!! Click here to see lyrics to Marijuanaville.

Doesn't Time Fly When You're Having Fun: I really love this song. It's kind of like one those Bruce Springsteen songs where the lyrics repeat themselves over and over again but it is a Rockin Blues Tune and I love the long drawn out ending as it was always the last song of the night. I wrote it in 1984. This recording was one of the first times Mike ever played it with us as you can occasionally hear me barking out chords.

I was able to write all of these songs because I didn't know any better and no one ever told me I couldn't do it. My father was a guitar player but he wouldn't let me play because he thought it would take away from Boxing. (I was an amateur boxer) but when my parents split up the first thing I asked my grandmother to buy me was a guitar. I wasn't good enough to pick up songs off the radio so once I learned a few cords the rest as they say is history. All of the songs on this CD are not of "CD quality" but like I said earlier it's a compilation of our journey. I love Journey. Don't stop believing!!! Making Music is like Making Love for me and if you can think back to your younger days when you were making out with the hottest babe you had ever been with.....when you took a second to breathe.....well that's how it felt after jamming out to one of our best songs!!!Hey I have a lot more where this came from!!!

TBH
Yours truly,
Jimmy the Man

PS: I want to dedicate this CD to my grandmother Dee. She encouraged me, She would always listen to me play, and I'm sure she spent many a night wondering when we were going to stop making all that noise. :)