THE SONGS
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90.  MUTANT REACTION (Wheels, Draheim) - The genesis of this song is almost too weird and twisted to explain. The Chicago Static Cling took Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear" and wrote new music to it (and we blew f---ing Violent Femmes away when we opened for them in Milwaukee and closed our set with "Teddy Bear"!) New York Static Cling didn't want to do "Teddy Bear" but I thought Helen might. She dug it - but wanted to change pretty much everything about it...and did. So "Mutant Reaction" ends up with almost nothing in common with what we started with - and then, half-way through, it turns into a song ABOUT Elvis. Listen to it loud, in the dark, with incense. Seriously. With Helen we got to play CBGB's on a pretty regular basis. We recorded one of our shows there and have released it as "Helen Wheels & The Skeleton Crew Live At CBGB - No Stage Diving". Our 13-song set included 8 songs off the Helen Wheels CD: 91.  USELESS 92.  FIVE DOLLAR FANTASY 93.  GRAVEYARD DOWN THE ROAD 94.  IF YOU HAVE GHOSTS 95.  FOR A FAN 96.  MUTANT REACTION 97.  HOLY WAR 98.  TIMES SQUARE AIN'T THERE and... 99.   WALKING (J. Darroch) - Great song, big riff - by relatively unknown Aussie band, The Eastern Dark. 100.  ROOM TO RAGE (Wheels, Aaronson) - From Helen's past, her first single, a killer. 101.  DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND (L. Robin, J. Styne) - Marilyn Monroe's song but pretty much T-Bone Burnett's arrangement. 102.  SEX BEAT (J.L. Pierce) - The Gun Club's most covered song. Helen loved singing "We can f--- forever but you will never get my soul". 103.  16 WITH A BULLET (S. Morgan) - The Scott Morgan Band. I lived in Chicago from 1979-1982 and had a band there also called Static Cling. The band name, a handfull of songs and myself are the only things that carried over into the New York Cling. The Chicago Static Cling did record one full-length album that sat in the can until very recently. "Love Songs from the Snake Brain" consists of the following: 104.  ALL I'VE GOT IS YOU (Erangey, Draheim) - One of the best songs I've ever had a hand in - it reminds me a little of XTC - this song is about 60% Tony Erangey's. This performance is not great. 105.  AN AFFAIR OF VERY LITTLE IMPORTANCE (Draheim) - Based on a Bukowski story I read in Hustler. Exquisite lead guitar from Tony. Is this the best song I've ever written? 106.  BLACK NIGHT CRASH (Alber, Erangey, Draheim) - It started with the bass riff. Lyrics influenced by Dylan's book, "Tarantula". Backwards guitar leads! 107.  CANNIBAL LOVE (Erangey, Draheim) - Tony's words, my music. It was the B-side of our 7". Live it often served as a setting for some of Tony's most outrageous "performance art pieces". As such, there are many interesting stories connected with this song. NewYork Static Cling later "cannibal-ized" the music for a song we called "Hey Bartender" (not the R&B standard). 108.  CAROLINE (McAvoy, Draheim) - This is mostly McAvoy's with me re-writing &/or adding some minor parts. Steve and I had a certain few touchstones that we obsessed over (Squeeky Fromme, Olga Korbut). Here we fantasized about Caroline Kennedy to a Bo Diddley beat. 109.  DON'T BELIEVE IT (Draheim) - The music from this later evolved into Helen Wheels' "Relentless" and the lyrics and title turned into a new song for the N.Y. Static Cling. I remember the best performance of this song happening at an abandoned warehouse / punk nightclub in Chicago called The Space Place. We were on the bill with Desmond, The Men and - at the bottom of the bill - a very early version of The Ministry. 110.  I SEE YOU'VE GOT A BODYGUARD (Draheim) - A descending riff instrumental. My apologies for going overboard flanging the bass at the end.