Song Description

The lyrical intent/inspiration for the song Playboy are loosely based upon two inspirational sources: 1. the life of the an aging Rock music executive called Bernie Salazar depicted in the 2011 Pulitzer Price winning novel by Jennifer Egan called A Visit From the Goon Squad , described in Wikipedia as follows: "Most of the stories in A Visit from the Goon Squad concern Bennie Salazar, an aging rock music executive; his onetime assistant, Sasha; and their various friends and associates. The book follows a large cast of mostly self-destructive characters as they grow older and life sends them in directions they did not intend to go in. The stories shift back and forth in time, moving from the late sixties to the present and into the near future. Many of the stories take place in or around New York City, although some are set in California, Italy and Kenya."; and, 2. the life of famous American record Producer Phil Spector (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector) who created the "wall of sound" effect in popular music in the 1960's, and more specifically his recent conviction on charges of murder of a female prostitute in his home. The song tells the story of greed, materialism and celebrity staring directly into the face of a suicide by gunshot in his presence - Spector's alleged account of what happened. It was through a combination of watching the 2013 made for TV movie called Phil Spector (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745862/) combined with reading A Visit From the Goon Squad around the same time that the song concept came into my head. Although this was the inspiration, the song is not obviously about him or his experience but rather deals with larger sociological issues of American fame, greed, materialism and celebrity confronting darker realities of the human experience. It is intended to be a morality tale and to get the listener to think more deeply about spirituality.