Photocopy of My Mind

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The Photocopy of my Mind album cover

The 'Photocopy' album by John Zonn, chronicles a short period in the life of a downturn, roughshod tunehead - whose passion for life and freedom leads him to delve into his past, in a desperate attempt to break out of the consumer-led lifestyle that has wrapped itself around him.

1 About
2 Trivia
3 Song Meanings
4 Shop
5 Reviews
6 External Links

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About

The songs were recorded over two or three days in July/August 2001, on a Fostex X-15 multitracker at a private house. It was done totally live, apart from two overdubs on the title track.

Zonn says: "Originally, the album was going to be called Picture Yourself, because I wanted to try to bridge the gap in time between my teenage 4-track recordings and these new songs. I had this line of a song in my head, which started 'Picture yourself in the mind of a teenager...', using the same melody as The Beatles 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', because that was one of my favourite songs when I was growing up. The idea was to ask the listener to try to imagine they were in the mind of a budding teenage rock star, who then failed to achieve his aspirations and who now, at the age of thirty, was thinking hard about what went wrong and was deciding to give it another go."

At the same time, Zonn was working on another idea to do with 'emotions' and how much a person actually expresses about what is going on inside their head at any given time. He came up with this notion that any form of creative product (including a song) inherently shows something of what had been going on in the creator's life at the time of making. The idea of producing a 'photocopy' of this elusive 'mind-emotion' or these 'thoughts' came about because he liked the sheer challenge of doing something as impossible as that.

"So, taking my inspiration from the people who photocopy their 'tits and bums' at office parties, I went on and photocopied my forehead, eyes and nose. I also did my mouth for the inside cover. As luck would have it, I was working in an office at the time, and was able to utilise their facilities in this subversive act! By the way, I would sacrifice anything for my art, but I really wouldn't advise trying to photocopy your face, as the light could possibly damage your eyes," Zonn continued.

"Anyway, I had written the song Photocopy of my Mind by this time; with the introductory lyrics about being a teenager etc. It suited my purposes to also put a backwards excerpt of the same song at the end of the album, to take you back to where you are now."

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Tracks

Track	Title	Duration
1	Photocopy of my Mind (song)	03:18
2	Frontier Pioneer (of a soul food sound)	05:38
3	Bless those Blues	05:26
4	Mucky Pup	03:09
5	Hands of the Brewery	05:36
6	Friday Evening	02:28
7	Enjoyment Party	04.04
8	Wounded Heart	04.05
9	You make me Melt	07.26
10	Body takes the Years	04:29
11	Night of the Moths	06:38
12	Bee Song	06:32
13	Photocopy of my Mind (Reprise)	00.56

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Chart Toppers

Not yet!!

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Credits

Performance Credits

John Zonn Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Psaltery, Tibetan Finger-Cymbals.

Technical Credits

John Zonn Producer/Engineer/Sleeve Design

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Trivia

Zonn felt that the black and white, grainy qualities that xeroxing produces would visually mirror the lo-fi audio production methods that he used for the recording.

Different versions of 'Hands of the Brewery', 'You make me Melt' and 'Body takes the Years' appear on the Portfolio Career album.

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Song Meanings

Photocopy of My Mind is about a man of thirty looking back to see where he went wrong in his formative years, and trying to correct the mistakes - with a little help from The Beatles!
Frontier Pioneer Is about someone like David Bowie being at the forefront of musical or cultural invention.
Bless those Blues The singer had forgotten how to write songs, because his life was too secure, until...
Mucky Pup A singer-songwriter's drunken realisation that his flat needs clearing up, because it's part of being adult and looking after yourself.
Hands of the Brewery A song about being behind bars, 'public' bars!
Friday Evening He's been behind bars all week, at work, and now, on Friday evening, he has the freedom to roam!
Enjoyment Party His relatives have just left, after his Grandmother's 89th birthday party, and he is a bit choked-up with emotion.
Wounded Heart Is about a man whose lover kind of takes him for granted, but maybe he kind of deserves it...
You Make Me Melt It's a love song, pure and simple, but one with hesitation and indecision attached!
Body Takes the Years This is a bluesy number, which describes the sense of agelessness achieved when you get to about 30.
Night of the Moths Elements of Black Sabbath and Hawkwind, plague this song, but quite rightly as it's about slaying moths indiscriminately with 'Doom', because they have decided to make their lairs in the home of the writer.
Bee Song "Am I or am I not a responsible and caring lover? And am I the one for you?" Expressed using the metaphor of Birds and Bees.
Photocopy of My Mind (Reprise) Instrumental turning point to take you back to the beginning!