Calico Train

Calico Train
This song began it’s life as an instrumental called, “Calico Mine Ride.” The Calico Mine Ride was an attraction at Disneyland when I worked there as a teenager, and I gave this song the title in tribute to the memories of those days. We recorded the instrumental and were about to be done with it, but I began to think the melody could take lyrics. John suggested the Irish flavor and I set to work. I wanted to write a song with the same theme as “I’m sitting on top of the world” (the Bill Monroe version), about someone who doesn’t let a breakup break them down: “now you’re gone, I don’t worry, ‘cause I’m sittin’ on top of the world!” John contracted the great Irish singer, Mary Black, Whom I had been listening to for many years, even using her music to “get in the mood” for specific acting challenges. She said yes, and we all flew to Dublin for one day to record her. She and her husband Joe were a delight and we ended the evening at a pub playing and singing with some great Irish musicians, who, mysteriously, never seemed to have to tune their instruments, and never made a mistake, even after tankards of Guinness.