Somewhere in the middle of writing Albert Einstein I asked Noah if he had ever thought of any inventions that he’d like to develop. I needed some of his 12-year old ideas to possibly give the opening of the store called Einstein’s Designs and Inventions of the Mind, as mentioned in the song, some authenticity.

He said that he’d think about it. I actually didn’t expect much, but when I next saw him he handed over a list of ten inventions that he had dreamed up. They were terrific! These inventions so reflected Noah’s sense of humor, inquisitiveness, intelligence and compassion that rather than using one of them in Albert Einstein, I decided to make them the fodder for a new song.

And so Inventions was born. The more I wrote, the more I wanted to write. The song began to stretch out beyond just a song into some form of an opus. Somehow, in the writing of this song, I believe I was able to catch in a bottle a grand insight into this young boy’s mind. His energies, his delight in life and his need to create all came through in the music.

Was this song much too adult, difficult, advanced, etc. for a 12 year old boy to be able to pull off? I didn’t know. But if anyone could do it, Noah could.

When I first played it for him, he looked at me as if I were crazy. But then he dove in and began to learn it. We worked on the song for over a year – phrase by phrase, bar by bar. I’ll let you decide whether or not he was able to pull it off.

We needed a trio of black chick background singers to join Noah in the song. I thought of the usual ladies I might hire for the job, but several were on the road and others were not available for various reasons. I knew that they needed to have a certain kind of humor and a certain kind of style – like a Jenny Burton. So one day, frustrated with my casting failures, I, on a whim, popped the question to Jenny herself. Would she play all three ladies? She laughed and said, “Sure, why not?”

On the day of the session, Jenny and I laughed through the 4 hours it took to record her 3 ladies. Each one had a different personality, and each one a different look. It was one of my favorite times with the song. She nailed it and brings the wealth of her imagination to the project.

Yesterday I mixed the song and when I was listening back to it near the end of the session, I wondered to myself, “Is this a Pop song, a theatrical song, a what? Again, I’ll let you decide. It’s a fusion of many things – just like Noah.

 

Inventions

Music by Peter Link

Lyrics by Peter Link and Noah Marlowe

Noah in Black; Girls in Red

Inventions!

I’d like to take a moment

And share with you my musings

And reflections on Inventions

Inventions!

I have a new idea

Nearly every day

A brilliant panacea for the problems of this world

That would blow them all away

 

So please stop and give a listen

Cuz you don’t know what you’ve been missin’

An’ before you start dismissin’ me

Ya’ might just oughta think about

The wondrous possibilities of life

Choir Shouts

Here’s ten!

And the girls sing …

Number 1 

An Invention that does my homework,

Yet I still retain

The concepts and their lessons in my brain

And the girls sing again …

Number 2

An Invention where I could use The Force

For good instead of evil

And bring joy to all the people in my life

Number 3

An Invention for the phone

When you call somebody more than once,

There’s a hand that taps them on the shoulder

Over and over

Until they pick up!

Oh!

Or a food Invention with attitude

That would shrewdly take any vegetable

And turn it in to cupcakes or ice cream

(Number 4!)

I’d scream!

I’d come unglued!!

I’d be overcome with gratitude,

Dude!!!

And Number 5?

An all-day chocolate sucker

That would keep us all alive

With time release capsules

That would give us all a laugh

Every hour and a half

Till we saw the light

And the joy of being alive

It’s how we’ll survive

Gimme five!

You got it! (Slap!)

Instrumental Break

We now break down into a totally silly instrumental replete with crowds of laughing people – insane joy and celebration!

Inventions!

Now if you’re getting’ weary

I’ve got five more ideas

Guaranteed to knock yer socks off

Inventions!

The brainchilds of an egghead

That will blow your mind

The kind of innovations that you just can’t do without>>

And that revolutionize mankind

 

So ya’ gotta stop and give a listen

Cuz you don’t know what you’ve been missin’

An’ before you start dismissin’ me

Ya’ might just oughta think about

The wondrous possibilities of life

Number 6 

An Invention that when you’re steppin’

Into a swimming pool

It adjusts the water’s temper’ture from cold to cool

From warm to hot

Say what?

Yeah, just the way you like it

Right there in a flash

Right on the spot!

I like it

I like it

I like it!

And the choir SHOUTS …

Seven!!!

An Invention where I could reach my arm

Right in to outer space

And play Quidditch with the planets and the stars

And galaxies!

And nebulae!

We like it!

A universe of zoomin’ broomsticks…

…Right here in my room

An’ while I’m at it

Time would slow down

Till the world around me

Just stood still

We like it

We like it!

Now on to Number eight!

An Invention for the world

That would turn all cars into bumper cars

So that driving off to work each a’ morning

Morning after morning

Would just plain be more fun!

Uh huh

Uh huh …

It’s kinda dumb

But we like it

Car Crash

Now Divine Number nine!

Lemon bread!

Another food invention with attitude

Imagine waking up every morning to

A plate piled high with luscious lemon toast

With little bits of lemon rind

Swimmin’ in the butter

Now just lay on some jam

I am

Oh yes I am …

Or dust it with a bit of brown sugar

Oh baby, now ya’ got me goin’

And I like it ooo

I’d scream!

I’d come unglued!!

I’d be overcome with gratitude,

Dude!!!

Looks like we’ve come to the end

Cuz it’s time for Number ten

I’d change a lot of things

But my fav’rite one is this

It’ll prob’ly sell a million

And it just can’t miss

It’ll fix yer problems too

Like those bullies back at school

 

So show a little muscle

And pretend you’re kinda cool

When the yoyos start their bluster

An’ start actin’ like the fool

My fav’rite one is this

It just starts changin’ all the rules

It’s a way of staying alive

It’s how I survive!

 

So when them sleazy little creeps

Start to play their little game

Just pick up one of my Bully Bashers

Smile and take aim

Just push the red button

And out of thin air

They suddenly gets a wedgie

And are hung up from their underwear

We love it

Just tell those kids to shove it

And leave ‘em hangin’ there in mid-air

Inventions

Inventions

Oh the wondrous possibilities of life

Inventions

Inventions

Yeah the wondrous possibilities of life

Inventions

Inventions

And the wondrous possibilities

Of Life!