LINER NOTES for TWO BIRDS TO KILL A STONE:

All songs by Ben Diamond (ASCAP) © ℗ 2024, except "Breathe Me In" by Ben Diamond and Jordan Diamond, "Mad Hot for Me" by Ben Diamond and Jerry Silverstein (ASCAP), and "The Collector" by Ben Diamond and Jerry Silverstein.

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Chris Fasulo at East Coast Recording.

Mastering by David Roman at 4130 Mastering.

Ben Diamond / Son Stone: Guitar and vocals

Jeff Brody: Bass on “Reeling Me In”

Terry Seidl: Vocals on “Breathe Me In” and “Mad Hot for Me”

1. Nothing Works the Way it Should  2:53
2. Two Birds to Kill a Stone  4:48
3. Breathe Me In  3:15  [Featuring Terry Seidl, Vocals]
4. Reeling Me In  3:01  [Featuring Jeff Brody, Bass]
5. Wave Goodbye to the Clown 3:11
6. Mad Hot for Me  3:13  [Featuring Terry Seidl, Vocals]
7. The Collector  3:11
8. Come to Me Susanna  3:58 
9. You Can Talk Dirty to Me  3:15

Here’s a little more about the songs:

“The 21 Club” is a song-writing group I started in 2021 with the goal of writing 21 songs in 2021, based on prompts. We've kept it going each year since with about 25 members.  Some amazing stuff has come out of this club!  All of the songs on this album were prompts from the club except the title track, “Two Birds To Kill A Stone,” which I wrote in 2018 in Hope, Alaska .. a town with two breweries, two dispensaries, and four permanent residents!  But that’s a story for another time …

Nothing Works The Way It Should” is one of the first songs I wrote in the club and is an homage to John Prine.  He passed in 2020 and I’d been listening to his catalogue for a month straight.  The prompt was “Broken” and this emerged, kinda suddenly. 

My son Jordan sent me the lyrics for “Breathe Me In” in late 2021 under the title “Let’s Not Fight.”  It sat on my hard drive for about six months until we had a prompt for “Seduction.”  I’d been working on a fingerstyle pattern that descended every note in the scale and I stumbled back onto Jordan’s lyrics and we worked feverishly to write a chorus and finish it up.  What a joy to collaborate with my son!  And Terry Seidl’s harmony track adds the poignancy I was hoping for.

The prompt for “Reeling Me In” was “Fishing.”  The night after the prompt was given out, I invited my friend Ross Scheintaub over for take-out sushi and he said, “I only eat sushi in a restaurant!”  In that instant, I had the opening line and the entire song mapped out.

Wave Goodbye To The Clown” was in response to the prompt, “Carnivals, Carnies, and Clowns.”  More John Prine influence, for sure. The lyrics were published in the July, 2023 issue of American Songwriter magazine.

Mad Hot for Me” is a co-write with fellow 21 Club member, Jerry Silverstein, to the prompt “Infatuation.”  Several months prior, a co-worker from down south said something like, “All you need are spark plugs and coils, Ben.”  I wrote that down, hoping to use it one day, and it gave us the opening line. (Thanks Matt Versley!)

The Collector” came from a prompt to empty a drawer or pocketbook and tell a story about the objects that fall out. Most of these items are from the drawer next to my bed, including a business card from someone with the last name Walter.  Jerry Silverstein wrote the melody and helped me clean up some rough spots in the verses. The lyrics were published in the November, 2021 issue of American Songwriter magazine.

Come to Me Susanna”  We’re mostly folk singers in the 21 Club, so I asked everyone to write a “Social Justice” song.  And then I found it really hard to write one myself!  In desperation, I scribbled out “This song has zero social import” and kept the pen moving, listing everything the song was NOT going to be about.

You Can Talk Dirty to Me”  Funny story.  The prompt was “If you could talk to a famous person.”  I was struggling to decide who I wanted to talk to, so I scrolled Facebook to distract myself.  At that moment, my friend Matt Ponsot sent this image to me and my friend Hank Stone.  I laughed till I hurt, then I wrote a song about it.

A person with long hair talking on a cell phone

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LINER NOTES for OUT OF EDEN:

1. Another Perfect Day in Eden
Ben Diamond and Andy Wang
Steel: Taro Patch Tuning (D-G-D-G-B-D)

2. Wahine
Ben Diamond
Steel: Cyril's C Major (C-G-E-G-C-E)

3. Black Adder
Ben Diamond
Steel: Curtis D Tuning (D-A-D-A-D-E)

4. Stick it to the Man
Ben Diamond and Dan Doll
Steel: Curtis D Tuning (D-A-D-A-D-E)

5. Naked and Afraid
Ben Diamond and Dee Harris
Steel: F-Wahine (C-F-C-G-C-E)

6. Busted
Ben Diamond (Nod to Leo Kottke)
Steel: Curtis D Tuning (D-A-D-A-D-E)

7. End of August
Ben Diamond
Steel: Irish C Tuning (C-G-C-G-C-D)

8. Danse Macabre
Ben Diamond and Dee Harris
Steel: G Minor, Capo-2 (D-G-D-G-Bb-D)

9. Barefoot on the Range
Keola Beamer
Nylon: D Wahine (D-A-D-F#-A-C#)

10. Blue Morpho
Ben Diamond
Nylon: D Wahine (D-A-D-F#-A-C#)

11. Hawaiki Rising   (Hold on: Ho'okele Wa'a (Wayfinding))
Ben Diamond and Andy Wang
Steel: Cyril's C Major (C-G-E-G-C-E)

12. The Trouble with Monkeys
Ben Diamond
Steel: Curtis D Tuning (D-A-D-A-D-E)

13. Another Perfect Day in Eden (Reprise)
Ben Diamond and Andy Wang

Andy Wang: Guitar Lead on "Another Perfect Day in Eden"
Ben Diamond: Guitar.
Dan Doll: Lap Steel on "Stick It To The Man". Additional slide guitar on "Danse Macabre".
Dee Harris: Lead on "Naked and Afraid" and "Danse Macabre". Banjo on "Danse Macabre".
Emedin Rivera: Percussion on "Naked and Afraid".
Jeff Brody: Bass on "Wahine", "Busted", "Trouble With Monkeys", and "Naked and Afraid".
Lance Cheney: Drums on "Wahine", "Busted", and "Danse Macabre".
Patrick Ruhlman: Bass on "Another Perfect Day in Eden".

© 2016, Ben Diamond.  Email: lihslackkey-at-aol.com  www.ben-diamond.com

Artwork: "The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man", Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel, 1617

 

Out of Eden Cover Art

 

Custom Koa guitars by Vance Peters, Bucksport, Maine. http://www.vancestropicalfish.org/ (Yes .. the link goes to a tropical fish store .. Vance sells tropical fish and builds awesome guitars.  His guitar page is down right now, so contact him via the fish site.)  Or heck, he's on Facebook.

If you want to hear some of my older CD's, check out https://benkaimanadiamond.bandcamp.com/


Update: 2/15/2016.  Several fans have asked: “Hey Ben ... Just curious, why did you choose this painting for your ”Out of Eden" CD cover? Is there any significance to the music?"

Yes, the painting relates to the songs.  The album is called “Out of Eden”, which tells the story of man’s fall from grace and our search for redemption.  It is a concept album.  I’m telling the story of Eden without lyrics, using only the music and the titles.  
 
1. Another Perfect Day in Eden - Here, I'm setting the stage, before “the fall”.
 
2. Wahine - Wahine is Hawaiian for “Woman”, so here I’m introducing one of the story’s central characters. Same thing with the next song.
 
3. Black Adder - This is a type of snake – probably not the same type of snake referenced in the story of Eden, but I love the way the words “Black Adder” sounds, hard and biting.  And it goes perfect with the song.
 
4. Stick it to the Man - Well, now that I’ve got the characters introduced, what do they do?  They “stick it to the man” by disobeying his one command.
 
5. Naked and Afraid – In guilt, Adam and Eve feel naked and afraid.
 
6. Busted – This has a few meanings here. A. they got caught, busted.  B. The main riff is lifted from a Leo Kottke song called “Busted Bicycle”.  I might as well own up to it before I too am "Busted".  So I’m going for both meanings.
 
7. End of August - August being the end of summer, end of easy living, end of innocence.
 
8. Danse Macbre - The dance of death. Think Kane killing Able, suffering of humanity. Expulsion from Eden meant suffering and death.
 
9. Barefoot on the Range - Symbolizing man’s wandering the Earth in search of a new home.
 
10. Blue Morpho - The butterfly is a symbol of change, rebirth, hope.  The song is inspired by a short story in Bob Bobala's 2007 book of short stories entitled "Sex Without Sight".  The story has absolutely nothing to do with this album and everything to do with original sin .. or sin of some kind.  A great read in either case. (Available on Amazon)
 
11. Hawaiki Rising - Based on Sam Low's book of the same name about Polynesian “wayfinders” (double-hull canoe explorers who found the Hawaiian Islands – a new home, a new paradise).
 
12. The Trouble with Monkeys - This song is also inspired by one of Bob Bobala's stories in "Sex Without Sight".  If you want a succinct explanation, check out Wikipedia's explanation of the cover art.  The key is in the paragraph about the “the sanguine monkey next to Adam”.  Basically, even though we’ve found a new home, a new paradise, sin still lives within man (symbolized by the monkey, who also eats the fruit) and so we are bound to repeat our history.  And so that leads into the reprise of “Another Perfect Day in Eden”.
 
13. Another Perfect Day in Eden (Reprise)