The Innocent Child

Ross wrote this song in 1982 about a friend's baby who tragically died
of SIDS.  It's a strikingly beautiful tune and there's something about
the way he sings it that gets me every time.

I got the idea for the accordion solo from a lullabye tape we bought
for our baby daughter.  It's not your ordinary lullabye tape -- it's
by Nicolette Larson and was produced by Andrew Gold!  Check it out if
you get a chance -- it's called "Sleep Baby Sleep".  It's wonderful
stuff that is definitely not just for kids.  Anyway this one song, "Oh
Bear", has this nice accordion solo, and it gave me a new appreciation
for the sweetness and innocence that a simple accordion part can
convey.

As luck would have it, my friend Franky's dad, Ben Gonzales, had an
accordion and I remembered fooling around with it at his house years
ago.  He was kind enough to let me borrow it and I worked with it
enough to get the solo to feel right.  Actually I also used the chord
buttons on the accordion to fill out the stronger "La, la" section
after the solo as well.

I was just starting to record the accordion when a gentle rainfall
started.  We don't get those terribly often here in the desert, and it
was so pleasant and peaceful.  I got the idea to go ahead and let the
rain leak in on the recording, and two seconds later I was recording
the rain on its own track, with the mic up to the window.  I took the
best of three tracks of rain.  My neighbor has a parrot and if you
turn the volume way up at the very end (hey, just like Sgt. Pepper!)
you can hear it squawking.