The Arc (1968)

Chad’s Memories

This album was to be our swansong, although we didn't know it at the time. (Or did we? Jeremy was hell bent on an acting career, so all the signs were there.) This LP marked the end of Jeremy's lyric writing as well. On occasion, after a bottle of wine (or maybe two), I have been known to theorize that his lyrics were largely autobiographical and that after some kind of catharsis, he walked away from the experience and never returned. (Like Brian Wilson burning his master tapes.)

Jeremy's song, "The Ark" will always be my favorite. I'm proud of that one and I think he should be too. (If anyone doesn't know what it's all about, leave a message on the bulletin board and I'll explain.)

"Sunstroke" was a reunion with Keith Noble, with whom I had written "Summer Song" along with his writing partner, Clive Metcalfe. (Splendid fellows - I miss them sometimes.) So there we were, two limeys baking in the California sun. I think we captured the feeling quite nicely, don't you?

"Sidewalk Requiem" marked a low point for me and thousands of others. I had been working in Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign and the events that transpired at the Ambassador hotel were a crushing defeat for all of us. Perhaps it's appropriate to reveal a historical footnote here. The day after the assassination, I and several  people who were working in the campaign, received a picture postcard from Hong Kong with the cryptic message, "The same goes for you". This was mailed before the assassination and the writer obviously knew what was about to happen. Needless to say, that was my first and last brush with American politics.

I'll end on a brighter note. I recorded "Pantheistic Study" alone in the studio with my firstborn son sleeping in a basket at my feet. Perhaps he absorbed the music somehow, because James Patrick Stuart grew up to be a superb musician. He came to me at age eighteen and said, "I hope you won't be disappointed, Pop, but I've decided against music as a career." I replied to the effect that I was quite relieved, actually. There was a pregnant pause and then he said, "I've decided to be an actor!"

Out of the frying pan into the fire . . . . But, as some of you may know, my fears were groundless. Patrick went on to play the evil Will Cortland on "All My Children" for two years in New York. After being killed with a tire iron during sweeps week, he returned to L. A. where he did a series of guest shots including "Seinfeld" and "Frasier".  This led to his co-starring with Nathan Lane in "Encore, Encore" on NBC in the Fall of 1999. (Too bad they cancelled that. I thought it was hugely entertaining, but I would, wouldn't I?) He's now on "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" on FOX, and the reaction from John Q. Public seems to be positive.