Tubeman

This song was inspired by an art show consisting of paintings by Christin Couture. She had painted a series of paintings of people floating on inner tubes surrounded by water. There was an aura of mystery in these vast oceans with tube people at sunrise (or is it sunset?) -pink reflected across the clouds.
We researched coast guard reports to learn the correct terminology. After having the initial idea to create a coast guard related incident, we were stunned and amazed when we studied the reports, showing the work that the US Coast Guard does on a regular routine basis, every single day. We tried to incorporate their terminology to give the song a feeling of authenticity. The fictional pilot captain is based on Flo's uncle who was shot down in Europe (France?) during World War II. He came from Marblehead Massachusetts.
For a sense of place, we used Cape Ann on the Massachusetts North Shore near Gloucester. For this bizarre story to work, we had to make it sound and feel like it came right off the coast guard report. We tried to create the reactions of real people to an inexplicable event. But we also wanted to maintain an air of mystery and freedom suggested by the original paintings that had inspired it. We also hoped to capture the feeling and fantasy of freedom that people experience when floating on their inner tubes. It's also suggestive of someone re-examining his life, and his values -trying to decide what is really important and significant about life.

upbeat tempo, hooky, mysterious, upbeat feel,with a slight melancholy undertone