This is an escapist theme about going off to Mexico with my girlfriend to hear hot Latin music and drink authentic Mexican tequila in the middle of the winter, set to a Mariachi beat. As a child I loved Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’ Whipped Cream and Other Delights. It didn’t hurt that the album cover was risqué for a boy about to spend eight years in a Parochial grade school and four years in a Jesuit high school! The album was part of my Mom’s record collection and I wore out the needle of our RCA stereo playing it ad nauseam.
The genesis of this song occurred as I revisited this classic, Tex-Mex inflected record and sipped a Margarita on my back deck, watching the sun sink into the hills just beyond the Pittsburgh skyline. The actual title comes from an expression coined by Fritz Perls, a pioneer of Gestalt therapy who implored his patients to “Lose your mind and come to your senses.” Interestingly, the line has been updated with the newer, contemporary spin "Get out of your mind and into your life."
In a similar vein, the philosopher of funk and front man of Parliament Funkadelic, George Clinton, once phrased this sentiment even more prosaically, singing "Free your mind and your ass will follow."
Every now and then I’ll read a captivating line or story in a newspaper, magazine or book that fascinates me, triggering my writing process. I also write songs based on interesting turns-of-phrase spouted by people within earshot so be careful what you say around songwriters!