Rebirtha

WIDESPREAD PANIC: New Frontiers, By Andy Tennille (07/01/06)

Buoyed by confidence from successful songwriting collaborations with Joseph on the duo’s 2004 Stockholm Syndrome project, Schools felt the time was right to try his hand at penning some Panic tunes.

“I’ve always been pretty jealous of the other guys’ ability to write such memorable songs because I’ve never been much of a lyricist,” the bass player confesses. “My lyrical input into Panic has been so utterly minimal, so my songwriting contributions are usually limited to conceptual ideas, like the tune ‘Rebirtha,’ which emanated from a bass line that was me discovering how cool George Porter and The Meters were and trying to write in that vein. J.B. liked it and wanted to do something with it, so I told him to think about the Ninth Ward and some just totally budonkadonk, sexy woman hanging out on the corner getting ready to go to the Treme Music Hall on a Saturday night; it was a concept and he went and ran with it.

“But writing actual lyrics has always been really difficult for me. When I’ve tried, they’ve just seemed contrived and unnatural. I’ve never been able to find my inner voice, but I’ve always been really comfortable writing with Jerry. There was sort of a shared empathy between us and some common experiences that made collaboration almost intuitive.”

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