Michael McNevin's second CD features his trademark story songs,
flowing fingerpicking, and goofiness. The cover displays one of
Mike's Etch-A-Sketch drawings, and there's a related song called
"Etch-A-Sketch." "Bagger," "Rogue River Revisited," "Two Feet Ahead
Of The Train" and "Mr Mayes" mine McNevin's Niles, California
childhood for song material. There's a lovely instrumental,
"Cropduster," and the truly dreadful "The Ballad Of Big Daddy's."
Only McNevin would write a dirge for a hamburger stand. Then again,
only McNevin could write the quietly magical "John's Cocoons," worth
the price of the CD and another true story.

1. Bagger
2. John's Cocoons
3. Two Feet Ahead of the Train
4. My Turn Again
5. The Ballad of Big Daddy's
6. Etch a Sketch
7. Song for Tracy
8. I'll Make Do
9. Rogue River Revisited
10. Cropduster
11. Mr. Mayes
12. Drought

JOHN’S COCOONS

Every Spring it happens like so many good things do
My big brother climbs the birch trees collecting moth cocoons
He puts them in a shoebox and he waits for them to hatch
Giant polyphemus moths, twenty one or two in the batch
And when they hatch it’s showtime, the family watches with delight
as he puts them on the kitchen curtains
so they can hang their wet wings against the light
and slowly they uncrumple and hours may go by
but you know patience is a virtue when you see them start to fly

And every spring it happens like so many good things do
My big brother climbs the birch trees collecting moth cocoons

Now they’re twice the size of swallow tails
Morning Cloaks and Monarchs are no match
Tan and Brown, thick as velvet, with painted decoy eyes of blue and black
and when their furry wings get dry enough, they fly from room to room
Their legs are like tarantulas and they sometimes land on you
but they have no bite or stingers, they are born without a mouth
They have one day to live and die and so it’s time for John to let them out

and every spring it happens like so many good things do
My big brother climbs the birch trees collecting moth cocoons

He has a microscope and a clarinet and he’s happy on his limb
He loves me as I am and I want to be like him
He’s good at drawing dinosaurs, prehistoric murals fill his room
He lets me in when I am bored, when I need a cocoon

Now one by one they leave us from the branches of our yard
And I’m sure no one would believe us if we told them it was hard
to see them fly beyond our fences, the wind lifts their body’s weight
to find the nearest birch trees, to find their mates and lay their eggs

So that every spring it happens like a flower in the bloom
My brother John emerges to climb the birches for moth cocoons
My big brother climbs the birch trees collecting moth cocoons