Glen Foster celebrates the three Bs of life — Brains Brawn and Beauty — with a lighthearted new single and whimsical video premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The latest highlight from his recent Not Far Away album, Brains Brawn and Beauty is an upbeat slice of classic rock whose lyrics “speak to determination, making it and not being denied,” the B.C. singer-guitarist says. He ought to know — he’s been honing the track for 35 years.
“I first demoed Brains Brawn and Beauty in 1985,” Foster says. “I’ve been rewriting and refining the song ever since. I’ve never stopped playing this song and it’s been a staple of my live show now for years. It always remains relevant and keeps getting better, like single malt scotch maturing with age.”
He’s not kidding about the relevance: With lyrics about financial crises, income inequality and luck that changes in the flash of an eye, the song is just as topical as the day it came to him.
“In 1982 when interest rates and mortgages were soaring above 20%, I knew people who were walking away from homes and handing their keys to the bank, because they couldn’t afford the payments. This moved me to start writing the song, at least the first verse. I also observed people who were living way beyond their means and getting deeper in debt (living life like a dream). But what I really relate to is people who work hard, living within their means, and have earned ‘what they have to show for it.’ ”
For its long-overdue debut on CD, Foster pulled out all the stops, adding a tense silent movie-style interlude that begged to be depicted on video. “Originally the song had a middle-eight bridge that just played over diminished chords, and I would solo using a whole tone scale,” he explains. “It was pretty unique. As time went on I started to visualize a kind of silent movie happening instead, with a beautiful girl tied to the railway tracks being saved by a hero while the train is racing towards them and the bad guys are getting away with the money! Once I put that into lyrical form I could not get the image out of my mind. So when I went to make the video we got a beautiful girl, Jeanette McGonigle who does modeling, tied her to the railway tracks, got my friend, bluesman Whitey Somers (who dresses in white) to be the hero, and made an old-style silent movie that lasts 17 seconds in the middle of the video. ‘Sonny and Cher’ also make a cameo guest appearance.”
Watch Brains Brawn and Beauty above, read more about Glen Foster’s Not Far Away HERE, hear (and buy) the disc below, and connect with Glen Foster on his website, Twitter and Facebook.
