Our latest archive pick, Just Five Seconds, was recorded back in 1991, if memory serves, at AcqRock studio in Utica, NY. The track’s co-producer and sponsor was Bob Acquaviva, friend of Big Green, founder of the band Mere Mortals, producer, and all-around awesome dude. That’s the short story on how we made it. But what’s it about? Hmmm….
Tough question. Songs are always about a bunch of things and nothing in particular. But here’s a piece of the puzzle. Matt wrote this song after the 1987 collapse of the Schoharie Bridge on the New York State Thruway. He and our niece Mona were traveling along that stretch of highway that particular day and were held up in the consequent traffic jam. That was some of the input behind that lyric:
You could have been over the side
You could have been in the water
I was just two cars back
There was nothing I could have done to save you
You could have been drowning, or
You might have been broken to bits
I was just driving by
There was nothing I could have thrown to you
I just inspected those bridge supports
I checked them off as I ate my lunch
My pen said “years and years”
Ripped straight from the headlines. (35 years ago, of course.)
